Every method, organized by approach. Pick the one that fits your current challenge — or explore them all.
Rigorous, step-by-step frameworks built on decades of research into how inventive solutions are actually found.
Resolve contradictions using patterns extracted from 400,000+ patents
Seven directed lenses that systematically mutate any concept into novel alternatives
Build a parameter grid and mine every combination for hidden solutions
Strip away assumptions and rebuild solutions from the ground up
19 strategies refined over centuries by mathematicians — most transfer directly to non-technical challenges
Alternate between wide-open generation and rigorous selection — never mix the two
Techniques that deliberately flip, invert, or reframe how you look at a problem — revealing options invisible from your default angle.
Six color-coded modes of thought that prevent ego and emotion from clouding decisions
Deliberately shift how a problem is defined — the frame determines what solutions are visible
Edward de Bono's toolkit for escaping the grooves of habitual reasoning
Inject absurdity into your thinking — then harvest the practical ideas that survive
Deliberately invert 10 common thinking errors to open up solution spaces you'd normally skip
Methods that leverage cross-domain pattern-matching — the cognitive mechanism behind most breakthrough innovations.
Transfer solutions from distant domains — the mechanism behind most breakthrough innovations
Nature has already solved most of the problems we face — study the blueprints
Use metaphor and analogy to create psychological distance from a problem — then return with fresh eyes
A toolkit of cross-disciplinary thinking lenses — borrowed from physics, economics, biology, and psychology
Climb to the 'why' of any problem, or descend to the 'how' — each level reveals different solutions
Human-centered and hands-on frameworks that treat making and testing as thinking tools in their own right.
The Stanford d.school framework that centers every solution on actual human needs
Build it to understand it — physical manipulation unlocks cognition that pure reasoning cannot
Structured play activities that surface real priorities without triggering defensive thinking
Paradoxically, restricting options forces the brain to find non-obvious solutions
A two-phase cognitive model: create pre-inventive forms, then mine them for applications
Open-ended, stimulus-driven approaches that harness randomness, combination, and narrative to surface unexpected ideas.
Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt's cryptic card prompts — constraints that paradoxically unlock creativity
As Steve Jobs said: creativity is just connecting things — these techniques make that systematic
Narrative structures are how human brains naturally organize complexity — use them deliberately