All ideas follow a five-step process:<ol><li>The gathering of raw materials—both the materials of your immediate problem and the materials which come from a constant enrichment of your store of general knowledge.</li><li>The working over of these materials in your mind.</li><li>The incubating stage, where you let something beside the conscious mind do the work of synthesis.</li><li>The actual birth of the Idea—the “Eureka! I have it!” stage.</li><li>The final shaping and development of the idea to practical usefulness.</li></ol>

The Method For Producing Ideas

It is such a terrible chore that we are constantly trying to dodge it. Instead of working systematically at the job of gathering raw material we sit around hoping for inspiration to strike us.The materials which must be gathered are of two kinds: they are specific and they are general.

Gathering Raw Material

An idea is nothing more or less than a new combination of old elements.

Ideas Are New Combinations

What is most valuable to know is not where to look for a particular idea, but how to train the mind in the method by which all ideas are produced and how to grasp the principles which are at the source of all ideas.

The Art Of Producing Ideas

"You will find that a good idea has, as it were, self-expanding qualities. It stimulates those who see it to add to it. Thus possibilities in it which you have overlooked will come to light."

<ul><li>An idea is nothing more nor less than a new combination of old elements.</li><li>The capacity to bring old elements into new combinations depends largely on the ability to see relationships. The habit of mind which leads to a search for relationships between facts becomes of the highest importance in the production of ideas. And this habit of mind It's something that we ca cultivate.</li></ul>

Producing Ideas: Leading Principles

A step-by-step technique for sparking breakthrough creativity in advertising--or any field Since its publication in 1965, A Technique for Producing Ideas has helped thousands of advertising copywriters smash through internal barriers to unleash their creativity. Professionals from poets and painters to scientists and engineers have also used the techniques in this concise, powerful book to generate exciting ideas on demand, at any time, on any subject. Now let James Webb Young's unique insights help you look inside yourself to find that big, elusive idea--and once and for all lift the veil of mystery from the creative process. "James Webb Young is in the tradition of some of our greatest thinkers when he describes the workings of the creative process. The results of many years in advertising have proved to him that the key element in communications success is the production of relevant and dramatic ideas. He not only makes this point vividly for us but shows us the road to that goal." --William Bernbach, Former Chairman and CEO, Doyle Dane Bernbach Inc.

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A step-by-step technique for sparking breakthrough creativity in advertising--or any field Since its publication in 1965, A Technique for Producing Ideas has helped thousands of advertising copywriters smash through internal barriers to unleash their creativity. Professionals from poets and painters to scientists and engineers have also used the techniques in this concise, powerful book to generate exciting ideas on demand, at any time, on any subject. Now let James Webb Young's unique insights help you look inside yourself to find that big, elusive idea--and once and for all lift the veil of mystery from the creative process. "James Webb Young is in the tradition of some of our greatest thinkers when he describes the workings of the creative process. The results of many years in advertising have proved to him that the key element in communications success is the production of relevant and dramatic ideas. He not only makes this point vividly for us but shows us the road to that goal." --William Bernbach, Former Chairman and CEO, Doyle Dane Bernbach Inc.