Ideas in Space
When do we employ a spatial metaphor in talking about ideas? Any time we use a word or phrase which implies discovery, distance or direction. For example, when we say: I’m looking for a solution. She’s thinking outside the box. This concept is going in a different direction. When we’re using a spatial metaphor to talk about ideas, we’re assuming that: an idea is an independent something, an object or an entity or just a definable set of characteristics; and … the idea can be placed in some relationship to a spatial system, e.g. a set of coordinates along abstract dimensions. The notion that an idea exists separately from the individual thinking it may be related to the earliest carvings and cave paintings, attempts to convey or record the reality of an animal separate from the hunter’s memory. Plato elaborated this impulse in his Theory of Forms, to the point where the “ideal” concept existed prior to and separate from human thought. We don’t have to go as far as Plato in assuming that ideas are real and ideal. We can use the “prior existence” of ideas as simply part of the metaphorical framework we use to talk about ideation, because it can be helpful in developing methodologies and exploring our own assumptions. In this formulation, we don’t invent or “give birth” to an idea, it exists already and we discover it. In order to find it, we have to look at the right place in some abstract “idea space”. The space is defined by any number of dimensions, which measure the characteristics of the ideas. For example, a particular type of apple might be located in a space defined by its physical properties. One dimension might be color; a second dimension, size; a third, taste; etc. A Granny Smith apple would be located at the intersection of: color: green size: medium taste: tart Given enough dimensions, we can uniquely characterize a Granny Smith apple. But characterization is not the major value of the exercise. Once we’ve navigated to the intersection where the Granny Smith apple is located, we can easily find another apple with slightly different characteristics. A little farther along the color line, we might find a Honey Crisp or a Fuji, much redder. Take a left at taste and a little up on the size dimension, and you can find a Golden Delicious, much sweeter and usually a bit larger. For a product concept, such as a new toothbrush or automobile, there are many more dimensions, including functional, market, and branding characteristics. And we can find similar product concepts (all potential innovations) just by walking a little farther in one direction or another. Off the bat, using a spatial metaphor as a cognitive framework has a number of advantages. We can always find new ideas simply by defining the characteristics of the original idea as dimensions and then looking for variations, either small or large (near or far away). We can systematically vary different characteristics and create new combinations, sometimes radical ones, but still map the ideas in relationship to each other. We can look for ideas in specific places, for example, between two old ideas, or in a completely different quadrant of the idea space. And we have a built-in matrix for filtering ideas, based on one or more dimensions of the idea space we’ve...
read more