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DEVELOPING NEW BUSINESS IDEAS120

Tom Kelley as the ‘corporate spark plug’ for new ideas, the Tech Box
has been adopted at all IDEO offices worldwide.91

Famous for his BBC TV series Changing Rooms, Laurence Llewellyn-
Bowen highlights the importance of continually seeking, and keeping,
images and designs to inspire him with ideas for potential room make-
overs. As the flamboyant designer puts it: ‘In much the same way that
we visit our hairdresser clutching a picture of Kylie, magazine “tear
sheets” are a prize jewel in our design treasure chest. No matter if you
aren’t planning a room at the time – if you see an idea you like, tear it
out! Keep a big box full so that when it comes to the right time you will
have great fun sifting through all the possibilities.’92 He is a particularly
ardent advocate of digital cameras to record ideas, whether seen in shop
windows, friends’ houses or holiday spots.

jolt yourself out of the rut Some companies deliberately go as

far as regularly changing the décor of their environments to expose their
staff to new stimuli and to avoid them becoming stuck in routines.

Creative communication company St Luke’s, for example, employed an
artist-in-residence with only one brief, namely to surprise the company
with art. As chairman Andy Law noted in his account of the company’s
early years: ‘We loved the thrill of this kind of constant change and
enjoyed seeing ourselves provoked into a debate by the arrival of an
army of tiny mice that appeared painted everywhere and which, when
looked at closely, built up through clues a picture and view on the role
of modern art.’93

structured use of unrelated stimulus materials There

are a number of ground rules which you can follow to make the most of
unrelated stimulus materials, particularly pictures. These are based on
the principle of placing diverse or unrelated elements together in order
to provoke different insights into an issue or opportunity.

The ground rules are as follows:

1 Select from a variety of contexts pictures which contain a range of
objects, actions, textures and other stimuli.

2 Begin by focusing on a picture unrelated to your problem. Describe
the picture in detail, noting any relationships, concepts and principles
present. In particular, describe whatever action you see, actual or
implied. The purpose of this stage is to stimulate ideas, not to achieve