DESCRIPTION
Visual, collaborative, flexible ideation that bridges raw ideas and structured storytelling early on. It fosters co-creation, organizes creativity visually, and aligns narrative development with business goals from brainstorming, it ensures output is story-ready, at least content-wise. 🙂 It’s ideal for ideating campaign angles, brand stories, pitches, and product positioning.
Origins:
The Idea Board evolved from classic brainstorming practices (rooted in Osborn’s 1950s work on group ideation) and modern digital tools.
USED BY
Commonly used in marketing, creative agencies, brand workshops, and internal communication strategy sessions or any environment where teams need to craft compelling business narratives.
Approximately needed time
- Step 1: 30 minutes
- Step 2: 30 minutes
- Step 3: 60-90 minutes
- Step 4: 30-60 minutes
- Step 5: 60 minutes
- TOTAL: around 4-5 hours
METHOD
MATERIAL YOU COULD NEED: Mindmap tool and stuff to write. (Digital) Post-Its or sticky notes.
STAKEHOLDER GOOD TO KNOW: Brand strategist, creative lead, product/business owner, campaign manager, decision makers, copywriters and texters, marketing designers.
STEPS
SCOPE & FRAME: Focuses team and shapes narrative direction.
Decide your storytelling goal. What is it all about? What are the features. When do you plan the launch? What is the pitch? Does it need a Beta/MVP phase?
Choose a board framework you want to use. Mind‑map, category chart, Kanban; etc..
Supporting methods: Persona Canvas (supports audience clarity), Storytelling Canvas.
Example: Goal: craft a campaign story about a crime podcast. Framework: 2×2 matrix (Emotional vs Rational triggers).
POPULATE FREELY: Get raw data and ideas for your product.
Brainstorm and gather all ideas and topics coming up in teams mind. Dumps all ideas, headlines, metaphors, hero characters, conflicts, etc. Collect and listen, do not critique or judge. There is place for dismissed or postponed elements at a later stage.
Supporting methods: Brainwriting, silent idea generation.
Example: “Trigger Killer”, “Born, Killed, Hidden”, “Gone from Bonn”. 😉
CHIT CHAT & DISCUSSION: Exchange and dismiss.
Now it’s time for deepening the single topics, ideas and in worse case to dismiss. Deepens the product value by adding and clustering ideas matching and uncovers narrative connections.
Review each idea: ask “why?”, “how could it unfold?”, “What difference does it make?” and identify and elevate promising scraps by linking to audience, brand, benefit, etc.
Supporting methods: A/B testing of messages/features, customer surveys or live interview after presentation.
Example: “Born, Killed, Hidden” -> Does it makes a differences when or where the person was born? Is “hidden” to soft?
ORGANIZE & PRIORITIZE: What works and what doesn’t.
Filters ideas into actionable story threads. Challenge if the messages and the ideas behind works. Categorize your ideas visually and create clusters, similar to those in mood or vision boards. Create and design themes, describe emotional hooks, idenitfy right communication channels.
Supporting methods: Dot voting, anonymous voting.
REFINE STORYCRAFT: Create the story grid and narrative skeleton.
You’ve just created a solid baselin for your product story. Merge winning elements into storytelling techniques to craft the message you want to send. Flesh out with emotional beats, protagonist, resolution, challenges & solutions.
Supporting methods: Story board
Example: “Born, Killed, Hidden … in Buenos Aires”. How Argentinian police solved the case which wasn’t one until X-Mas…
