The image on the left demonstrates a photograph taken with a small aperture, leaving the entire image in focus. The image on the right demonstrates the shallow depth of field produced by a wide aperture. Innovation as a Camera: Part 2 By Greg Cobb, ITG Facilitator (Photography is the art of taking billions of scattered photons and creating an ordered image that tells a story, evokes emotion—or is just plain pleasing to the eye. In the same way, idea generation at Ideas To Go is the high energy art of taking the chaotic cloud of ideas in any organization, and refining them into a strategy with a clear purpose and feasible next steps. In this blog series we’ll delve into this photography-inspired metaphor as a practical and helpful way to think about the innovation process.) Aperture—What’s in focus? Aperture is the camera setting that determines the size of the opening through which light will pass. Adjusting this setting determines the depth of field—or how much of the image is in focus. It also affects how much light will enter the camera. Aperture is often set based on the types of images the photographer would like to create: Opening the aperture wide will result in a shallow depth of field. This brings a narrower area into focus, blurring the background. A wide aperture is used to call attention to a specific subject, obscuring the details of the scene around it. While a wide aperture captures one aspect of a scene in a compelling way, it can make the context of the scene difficult to determine. Restricting the aperture opening to a fraction of its capacity allows more of a scene to come into focus. Small apertures are used to take pictures of landscapes, and scenes in which detail throughout the depth of the image is desired. A small aperture captures all of the detail of the scene, but is more difficult to compose—and can lack focus or meaning if done incorrectly. Application: Innovation Process Facilitation Innovation, like photography, requires experienced guidance to successfully utilize content and deliver on project objectives. An effective facilitator not only understands how to uncover ideas that are far outside of a client’s business plan, but can also avoid collapsing into close-in, safe ideas that won’t deliver the “push” clients look for. Ideas To Go Facilitators are masters of process, actively guiding each project based on a client’s needs—while keeping each participant focused on the goal. During ideation, insights and possibilities generated by both the client team and Creative Consumers® associates are facilitated with a process designed to optimize quantity, variety, novelty and detail over the course of the session. At the convergence stage, Facilitators again encourage clients to focus on their business objectives—while still allowing some stretch and risk-taking—as they go through the difficult process of selecting their top ideas. In the end, although the scope of a project is set by the client team, it is the responsibility of the Facilitator to create a project design and process that ensures that the area of focus is neither too narrow nor too broad—and results in the best innovation scene possible.

The image on the left demonstrates a photograph taken with a small aperture, leaving the entire image in focus. The image on the right demonstrates the shallow depth of field produced by a wide aperture.

Innovation as a Camera: Part 2

By Greg Cobb, ITG Facilitator

(Photography is the art of taking billions of scattered photons and creating an ordered image that tells a story, evokes emotion—or is just plain pleasing to the eye. In the same way, idea generation at Ideas To Go is the high energy art of taking the chaotic cloud of ideas in any organization, and refining them into a strategy with a clear purpose and feasible next steps. In this blog series we’ll delve into this photography-inspired metaphor as a practical and helpful way to think about the innovation process.)

Aperture—What’s in focus?

Aperture is the camera setting that determines the size of the opening through which light will pass. Adjusting this setting determines the depth of field—or how much of the image is in focus. It also affects how much light will enter the camera. Aperture is often set based on the types of images the photographer would like to create:

Opening the aperture wide will result in a shallow depth of field. This brings a narrower area into focus, blurring the background.

  • A wide aperture is used to call attention to a specific subject, obscuring the details of the scene around it.
  • While a wide aperture captures one aspect of a scene in a compelling way, it can make the context of the scene difficult to determine.

Restricting the aperture opening to a fraction of its capacity allows more of a scene to come into focus.

  • Small apertures are used to take pictures of landscapes, and scenes in which detail throughout the depth of the image is desired.
  • A small aperture captures all of the detail of the scene, but is more difficult to compose—and can lack focus or meaning if done incorrectly.

Application: Innovation Process Facilitation

Innovation, like photography, requires experienced guidance to successfully utilize content and deliver on project objectives. An effective facilitator not only understands how to uncover ideas that are far outside of a client’s business plan, but can also avoid collapsing into close-in, safe ideas that won’t deliver the “push” clients look for.

Ideas To Go Facilitators are masters of process, actively guiding each project based on a client’s needs—while keeping each participant focused on the goal. During ideation, insights and possibilities generated by both the client team and Creative Consumers® associates are facilitated with a process designed to optimize quantity, variety, novelty and detail over the course of the session. At the convergence stage, Facilitators again encourage clients to focus on their business objectives—while still allowing some stretch and risk-taking—as they go through the difficult process of selecting their top ideas.

In the end, although the scope of a project is set by the client team, it is the responsibility of the Facilitator to create a project design and process that ensures that the area of focus is neither too narrow nor too broad—and results in the best innovation scene possible.

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