Guided Practice Let’s Brainstorm an Idea

Step 1: Let’s relax and have some fun.

Step 2: Identify the goal, wish or problem. For this lesson your goal will be to brainstorm an idea for a t-shirt design. –What are some ideas you have for a t-shirt design? –Do you have a funny slogan you could make into a t-shirt? –Do you have an interesting graphic you would like to see on a t-shirt? –What are things of interest to your generation that you might want to see on a t-shirt? –What are sayings that are unique to your generation that might work as a t-shirt design? –Do you like simple or complex t-shirt designs? Is there a simple design you can think of? Write down the goal on your brainstorming paper.

Step 3: Fact Finding You have five minutes to Research on the internet – look at other ideas people have come up with for the same challenge Explore – Creative ideas are all around us. Look around you, be observant. Look in the dictionary. Look at magazines. Write it down– When something sparks an idea write it down or write down your ideas on how you could use that concept in your own way. Write down what you found out on your brainstorming paper.

Step 4: Generate Ideas You have five minutes to write down as many ideas that you can think of for your t-shirt design. Write down your ideas on your brainstorming paper.

Mind Mapping Your Ideas Now you will expand on your idea by creating a mind map of the idea. Start by listing t-shirt design idea in the center. Then write down anything that relates to the center thought. Branch off new ideas until you run out of paper. If you need more space write on the back of the paper. Work quickly and see how many ideas you can come up with in five minutes. Write down your top ideas on the paper.

Step 5: Explore the Ideas Each group will receive 20 Post-it notes. Write down your top ideas on the post-it notes. Each group member will take turns bring one of the post-it ideas up. As they bring ideas up, the teacher or a student, will facilitate combining similar ideas, categorizing the ideas, connecting the ideas and linking random ideas.

Step 6: Evaluate the Ideas You will have 10 minutes to share your ideas with other students. When I say go you will pair up with another student. Each of you will have one minute to talk about your ideas and find out what your partner thinks of your idea. We will do this for 10 minutes, so you will pair up and get feedback from 5 different students. Based on the feedback you received, you will choose the best idea.

Step 7: Take Action on Your Ideas Now that we have narrowed it down to your top idea you will take action on your idea. Each student will complete 10 thumbnail sketch ideas for that idea. Thumbnail sketches are simple, rapidly drawn designs for a layout.