The Catalogue
52 battle-tested brainstorming techniques, organized into three modes of thinking. Each one includes step-by-step guidance and a hands-on practice activity.
Linear Thinking
Structure your thoughts to find logical solutions using systematic, step-by-step techniques.
Cherry Split
Fractionation: Break problems into manageable parts.
Circle of Opportunity
Force connections between random words and your problem to generate unexpected ideas.
Clever Trevor
Gain fresh perspectives by talking to someone completely unrelated to your industry.
False Faces
Reverse your assumptions to uncover hidden opportunities and unconventional solutions.
Future Fruit
Map out multiple future scenarios to build a strategy that works no matter what happens.
Hall of Fame
Borrow the minds of history's greatest innovators to solve your modern challenges.
Idea Box
Break a problem into parameters and combine variations to explore thousands of potential solutions.
Idea Grid
Categorize products by logic and emotion to find the perfect marketing and product strategy.
Ideatoons
Identify successful patterns from nature or other industries and adapt them to your unique challenge.
Lotus Blossom
Systematically expand a central theme into 64 detailed ideas using a structured grid.
Metaphorical Thinking
Solve complex problems by comparing them to completely unrelated systems like gardens, rockets, or orchestras.
Phoenix
Rise from the ashes of a failed project by asking a series of brutal, systematic questions.
SCAMPER
A checklist of 7 action verbs to help you modify, adapt, or transform any existing idea into something new.
Slice and Dice
Deconstruct a product into its base attributes and modify each one to reinvent the whole.
The Great Transpacific Airline
Force connections between disparate industries to generate breakthrough innovations.
Think Bubbles
Use radiant thinking to visually map out your ideas, uncovering connections that linear logic misses.
Tug-of-War
Map the driving and restraining forces of a change to find the leverage points that move you toward your goal.
Intuitive Thinking
Tap into your subconscious mind and imagination to unlock creative insights.
Blue Roses
Cultivate your intuition to find rare, breakthrough insights that logic alone can't reach.
Brutethink
Use random words to break mental blocks and force unexpected associations.
Chilling Out
Disengage your conscious mind to allow your subconscious to make deep, creative connections.
Da Vinci's Technique
Think like a Renaissance master by using sketches and visual metaphors to unlock hidden solutions.
Dali's Technique
Tap into the semi-conscious state between wakefulness and sleep to harvest surreal, high-impact ideas.
Dreamscape
Program your subconscious before sleep to solve complex problems through symbolic dreams.
Not Kansas
Escape the 'Kansas' of conventional reality and solve problems in a fantastical mental landscape.
Rattlesnakes and Roses
Solve problems by comparing them to something beautiful (a rose) or something dangerous (a rattlesnake).
Stone Soup
Start with an impossible, 'magical' solution and work backward to find practical, revolutionary steps.
The Book of the Dead
Translate abstract problems into a symbolic pictorial language to uncover a narrative of hidden solutions.
The Great Unknown
Shed your expertise and approach your problem with a 'Beginner's Mind' to uncover what experts have missed.
The Great Unlearn
Actively discard outdated beliefs and 'best practices' to create the mental space for disruptive new ideas.
The Great Unthink
Suspend all logic and embrace the absurd to find paradigm-shifting ideas that your rational mind would never allow.
The New Child
Re-embrace the curiosity and fearlessness of childhood to solve complex problems with uninhibited wonder.
The New Consciousness
Expand your awareness beyond the individual to tap into the 'Collective Intelligence' of humanity and the planet.
The New Death
Master the art of 'killing off' stagnant ideas and projects to clear the path for radical new growth.
The New Energy
Re-imagine your personal energy as a renewable, abundant resource to sustain peak creative performance.
The New Everything
The ultimate creative leap: Re-imagine the foundational laws of existence to make your problem impossible to even exist.
The New God
Assume the role of an omnipotent entity to envision 'Divine Solutions' unconstrained by human limitations.
The New Life
View your problem as a living, breathing organism that needs to evolve, grow, and adapt to survive.
The New Man
Redefine your identity and capabilities by adopting a new set of values, skills, and perspectives.
The New Matter
Re-imagine the building blocks of your world as fluid, information-rich, and infinitely reconfigurable.
The New Reality
Shatter your current paradigm and build a new context where your problem is naturally solved by new 'Laws of Physics'.
The New Self
Consciously design and embody a new personal identity optimized for creativity, courage, and adaptation.
The New Space
Re-imagine the boundaries and relationships of physical and conceptual space to find room for radical innovation.
The New Time
Shatter the illusion of linear time to see your project's past, present, and future as a single, actionable moment.
The New Universe
Escape the limitations of the known world by designing an entirely new universe with its own unique laws.
The New Woman
Tap into the 'Divine Feminine' qualities of intuition, empathy, and collaboration to solve problems that logic alone cannot.
The New World
Declare your current industry or system obsolete and design a 'New World' where your solution is the standard.
The Shadow
Confront the hidden, uncomfortable truths about your problem to unlock deep, transformative solutions.
The Three Bs
Leverage the power of incubation by stepping away from your problem to the Bed, the Bath, or the Bus.
True and False
Master 'Janusian Thinking' by holding two contradictory ideas in your mind at once to spark a revolutionary synthesis.
Group Techniques
Harness the collective intelligence of your team with collaborative methods.
Brainstorming
The classic group technique for generating a massive quantity of ideas by separating creation from evaluation.
Brainwriting
A silent group technique that eliminates 'loudest voice' bias and allows for simultaneous, anonymous idea generation.
The Circle of Fortune
A structured group brainstorming technique that ensures every voice is heard and every idea is built upon.