Design Thinking
Ideation: Inventive step is about finding the non-obvious idea
Most ideas are obvious because it’s easier to look for the obvious than to challenge yourself to come up with something new. But, sometimes, great inventions come from finding the non-obvious idea, something that has never been done before and is hard to see or find. This takes creativity, imagination, and lots of hard work.
In a TedTalk, Inventor and Designer Jay Silver explain how he came up with the idea for his popular invention, the MaKey MaKey. He talks about how he started with a basic problem- making it easier for people to create things- and worked backward from there.
Interestingly, his talk was when he said that you don’t have to be a genius to come up with great ideas. Anyone can do it, as long as you’re able to look past the obvious to see what’s possible.
The term inventive step is mainly used in Europe and referred to as the non-obvious step in the U.S. It’s often used in the patenting process to determine whether an invention is novel. To pass this test, the invention must have never been done before and is not easily found.
You might also hear these terms used when talking about design. Designers might accept the daunting task of creating something new that has never been seen before. This is…
