In his book, A Technique for Producing Ideas, the advertising creative James Webb Young proposes a simple 5-step process:

• Gather research and materials
• Go through the materials and allow the mind to “digest” them, generating tentative or partial ideas
• Walk away from your thinking to go and do something completely different and relaxing
• Allow the idea to come to you passively (this could happen anywhere and at any time)
• Revisit your idea in the cold light of day and refine it

The process has been lauded by many creatives inside and outside the ad industry. Even though the book was published in 1965, you’ll see from recent reviews on Amazon that it is considered to be just as relevant today as it ever was. However, what if you are trying to generate ideas for a website? I am not talking about ideas for a simple brochureware website, but a site that truly engages its audience and actively draws them to visit it. Does Young’s technique still apply for generating website ideas?

I can confirm that Young’s technique does still apply – I have used it myself for this very purpose. However, I adapt it in one small way in order to suit the task:

Whilst Young stresses the need for discipline in going through each of the steps in order, he highlights the importance of the first phase. When used to generate ideas for advertising creative this phase requires the idea generator to gather specific research on the product and consumer on which his ad will focus, while also gathering general, unrelated materials. He suggested keeping scrapbooks and makes the point that this gathering of general materials is a life-long, constant project.

This is the area on which I believe you need to focus when generating website ideas. You need to feed your mind with many examples of other websites already out there. You need to read the digital section of Advertising Age, subscribe to sites and use tools that are not even targeted to you, visit the “our work” sections of digital agency websites (such as ours!), install apps on your phone. This is not about stealing and re-hashing someone else’s website idea. I am talking about fully opening up your mind to the countless possibilities of the web. Fusing these with specific insights related to your product will help shake up the kaleidoscope that is your mind and generate original thinking.

You can buy Young’s book here. It’s 50 pages short, concise and cheap.