Creative Matrix: find new ideas from unusual combinations

Creative Matrix, the design thinking method to bring innovation to life

To spark innovative ideas as a team, is there a better way to think together than during your brainstorming or ideation workshops? This is where the Creative Matrix template comes to help you.

This method is based on a grid format, in which you combine items that are not usually found together. In the columns, you can for example take your clients’ or your prospects’ segments and, in the heading row, agree while meeting with your team which categories you want to see intersect. 

Be it problems, types of offers or other changing aspects of your business (advertising, social networks, promotion, engagement, products, experience, partnerships etc.), open up your thinking to all kinds of possibilities and unusual intersections. This is how product innovation takes shape!

By representing the intersection between these different ideas, this design thinking method will help you will discover new combinations to explore, or even find some solutions to the most tricky problems. All you have to do now is draw up an action plan as a team to bring these new ideas to life!

Why use this design thinking method as a team?

In our work, we are used to what we have been trained to: first, when studying or learning. And then, sometimes, we benefit from trainings in hard skills and professional techniques, such as project management, management or brainstorming methods, depending on our job. This is why it is sometimes beneficial to try out new design thinking methods, to let our ideas run free and keep on innovating all the time.

What's more, in a hybrid work environment, with design and production teams sometimes working from different locations, with some members working remotely or on sites far away from each other, it is important to stay connected with each other's day-to-day reality. What better way to come up with real product innovation than taking inspiration from the experience and day-to-day reality of each member of your team? An electronics assembler would not associate ideas like as a salesperson in direct contact with their clients.

With the Klaxoon whiteboard, you can facilitate a design thinking workshop anywhere, and from any connected device. What are you waiting for? Spruce up your brainstorming with Creative Matrix!

How to build a Creative Matrix with Klaxoon

Start by inviting all your team members to your whiteboard. Prepare your design thinking workshop by first of all writing down the problem to be solved, or the topic for which you want to generate new creative ideas. Don’t forget to add today’s date!

Then, fill in the types of persons to be affected by your actions in the yellow boxes, by editing the text block. Once it’s done, enter the types of offer or enablers that come to mind in the black boxes on the left. The "Other solutions" line at the end works like a joker, where you can put all the ideas that don’t fit in the other columns.

You’re all set for your team brainstorming session! Set the timer at the top for 5 minutes, during which time each participant sends their ideas to the Board. Then, spend 10 minutes reading each other’s ideas, discussing them with each other if need be (in person if you are in a face-to-face workshop, or via Klaxoon’s videoconferencing tool Live), and add more information to the Board. The goal is to have filled in all the boxes at the end of 15 minutes. Then, everyone votes for their favorite ideas thanks to the “Like” button.

Finally, copy the most liked ideas – as many as you decide together – into the Action Plan area, and add some actions for each idea together. Use Dimensions to assign these actions to people, and add a delivery date. Now, you're ready to really start innovating!