Developing an Idea

People actively engaged in education often have great ideas and wonder if anything might come of them if pursued. A good measure of whether a concept will work is its ability to be translated and understood in practical terms. Work with a fellow student, or even someone else in the relevant academic department, to systematically mind-map the idea on a white board and you will be amazed at what transpires.

• Features
• Challenges
• Modelling

Begin by looking at some general terms like features, challenges and modelling and grow the concept in terms of its specifics. For example building from features will take the general idea and force you to think through the specific componentry of your concept. Use features as a starting point to establish the core ideas as well as others that might grow from that central theme. Challenges may seem an unusual thing to map, depending on what your concept is, but there are few ideas out there that won’t meet a critic and some roadblocks. Figuring out what these might be and dealing with them at the outset will preclude later disappointment.

Sculpting the Idea

Modelling has the potential to grow ideas within your ideas. Every concept requires a series of steps and processes in the operation or integration of the idea. Another term for modelling which possibly represents the process more specifically is sculpting. If you think of your concept in terms of a sculpture you determine the medium (i.e.: clay, plastic, metal) and then establish how you will form and mold, step by step, to make the shapes and images you desire. These ideas are easily imagined in terms of a sculpture but remarkably, they work equally well whether the concept is a tangible or intangible.