Brainstorming Tools:
Drawing on Big Creative Ideas

By
Mike Brown

When it comes to brainstorming tools, everyone has their particular preferences for what stimulates big creative ideas.Personally, when Angela Dunn, founder of #Ideachat, put a call out for a number of us to share our favorite creativity and brainstorming tools, I didn’t hesitate for a minute. My choice had to be the Crayola Giant Floor Pad (affiliate link). With each sheet providing nearly 352 square inches of wide-open creative space, the Crayola Giant Floor Pad, coupled with a Sharpie Marker, is a go-to brainstorming tool for me, whether working alone or with a group.

11 Reasons Why the Crayola Giant Floor Pad Tops My Favorite Brainstorming Tools List

Rather than simply sending Angela a written list of why this was my favorite among all my brainstorming tools, I used one of my new creative devices, the iPad, to take a photo of this handwritten and cartooned blog post. It highlights the 11 reasons why I gravitate to these big sheets of paper:

  1. There are no boundaries or lines
  2. There is ample room for making strategic connections
  3. It’s possible to depict BIG creative ideas
  4. There’s no need to charge the Crayola Giant Floor Pad
  5. There is ample space to depict different types of creative thinking
  6. Take a digital photo and your creative ideas are easily shared with others
  7. They can be both a launching pad and a destination for creative ideas
  8. Bold creative ideas have the opportunity to come to life
  9. It’s a no-glare surface
  10. Pages can be removed without fuss or muss (although be careful tearing a page out around the cut-out handle)
  11. Angela (or @BlogBrevity as she is known on Twitter) also uses Crayola Giant Floor Pad sheets as brainstorming tools
What are your favorite brainstorming tools?
Care to send a picture of your favorite brainstorming tools or post a comment about them? It would be especially great to know what you use on the iPad to trigger your creativity.
Mike Brown is the founder of the Brainzooming Group. He has been at the forefront of leading Fortune 500 culture change, contributing new approaches in research, developing simplified tools for innovation, strategy planning, and aligning sales, marketing, and communications strategies for maximum business results. Additionally, he’s won multiple awards for his strategic brand-building approach to customer experiences in NASCAR and conference event marketing efforts.