To kick off ideation for the major project, I created a mind map of topics I’d be interested in basing my project around. I also starting branching these topics out around more specific areas of the topics. To give myself an initial focus, I picked 5 topics from these to consider further. At the moment, I’ve picked these topics just based off what I’d be interested into looking into. While viability will be important to consider during ideation, I think it’s also important to think about what I would like to work on, as the more enthusiastic I am the better the project will be.
After selecting 5 topics, I mind mapped further into each. This was useful as it let me think deeper and find sub topics. I think keeping my project specific and focussed around a couple of issues within a topic will be important, rather than trying to cover too much.
I think not just sticking to one topic could be interesting, and instead trying to find an idea that solves multiple problems at once. To explore this further, I copied words and phrases from my mind maps to post-its. This gave a range of pure concepts, rather than having them connected to an overall topic.
After setting up the post-its, I spent some time combining and rearranging them. I was trying to find combinations that could form the basis of project ideas. Some of my strongest combinations were:
A tool or workshop to teach design in schools as the “art and design” subject is so focussed on the art.
A tool or workshop to introduce education of AI surrounding responsibility and effective usage.
A best practice solution for transport networks to improve digital services.
Some way to alleviate traffic during high congestion times, focussing on the optimisation and quality of driver timing.
A way to streamline waste management and sorting which is still done manually.
A solution to improve the start of life for asylum seekers being housed in hotels and alleviate racism surrounding the topic.
Developing political education in schools focussing on soft skills like debate and critical thinking.
I found this technique to be really useful and let me establish a solid set of ideas to consider further. After this exercise, I formalised these ideas into a list to take further.
