The term ideation is from 1829. The term idea is from the late 14c., "archetype, concept of a thing in the mind of God," from Latin idea "Platonic idea, archetype," a word in philosophy, the word (Cicero writes it in Greek) and the idea taken from Greek idea "form; the look of a thing; a kind, sort, nature; mode, fashion," in logic, "a class, kind, sort, species," from idein "to see," from PIE *wid-es-ya-, suffixed form of root *weid- "to see."

Ideation is the process where one generates ideas and solutions through sessions such as Sketching, Prototyping, Brainstorming, Brainwriting, Worst Possible Idea, and other ideation techniques. It is used to describe the sequence of thought from idea generation to idea implementation. The result of mental activity can be based on past or present knowledge, thoughts, opinions, convictions or principles. FInd a problem and begin to generate solutions. No wrong answers.

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Archetype of mind, fashionable ideas, a wealth of concepts