Visual Brain Dumping

Visual Brain Dumping is the brainstorming of scribbling. Approach a visual brain dumping session the same way you would brainstorm. As brainstorming, the scribbling approach can also be used for groups, but especially in groups of non-artists, not everyone feels comfortable drawing on a huge whiteboard or an a piece of paper that is shared publicly. So, most often Visual Brain Dumping (VBD) should be used as a personal and private method for creating ideas.

When to use Visual Brain Dumping

VBD should be used after the research has been done. In rare cases, you can use the method to find ideas for your research, but most often this is better done using traditional brainstorming with words and their associations.
Scribbling ideas can be the first method of the “real” creative process, in which you come up with ideas to pursue further in the later stages of the design process.

How to use VBD

The structure is the same you would use for brainstorming:

1. Surround yourself with the information you’ve gathered during your research (check your project swipe file, scan the information your client gave you…)
2. Start scribbling small symbols, icons, and ideas (keep every idea short; maybe you want to use a timer set to a maximum of 60 seconds for each scribble)
3. Scribble down at least 20 ideas without evaluating them
4. Stop and find the ideas that you want to pursue further (3 good scribble ideas should be there – if not, repeat step 2 for 20 more ideas)
5. Create scribble variations of the 3 good ideas you’ve found (at least 10 variations for each)
6. Let it rest for a day and evaluate your ideas the next day with a fresh mind

The final step is to decide if you’ve found an idea worth exploring or not. If not, do some more research and repeat the VBD method to find new (and better) ideas.

Where to go next

Even if you’ve found a perfect idea, you haven’t reached the end of the design process. Most often, we only think we’ve found the perfect idea, but the more we get to know a project, the more we find out, that our idea is far from being perfect.

Use VBD to get a good start into the creative process, but don’t confuse it for reaching the end of that process.
Add variations with colour, effects, filters, textures, and more in future steps. And if things don’t look perfect anymore after adding these variations, don’t be hesitant to get back to step one and repeat the VBD.