Using Vision Boards to Innovate Better

Creating a vision board is an effective way to promote innovation in any organization. They are also a secret to success for entrepreneurs across a variety of industries. Vision boards provide an excellent opportunity to brainstorm, set objectives, and visualize goals. They can also be utilized to maintain inspiration and track progress.

Let’s dive into what a vision board is, why it is important for innovation and strategies for making the most of your vision board.

What is a Vision Board?

A vision board can be anything you want it to be, as long as it visualizes your product, project, or objectives. Many people find that vision boards are an effective way to focus on the big picture and stay motivated when pursuing their goals. They can also act as a reminder and source of inspiration when creative solutions are needed.

They are often created by gathering images, words, and phrases that represent your desired outcome. Your board can be physical or digital, individual or collaborative. It might be structured and categorized, or it could be a free-form collage. It may even be a work in progress that will continue to evolve during the creative process.

And no, vision boards aren’t just for visual products, as visualizing any objective can be of value.

What Are the Benefits of Having a Vision Board for Innovation?

Did you know that 1 in 5 entrepreneurs created a vision board before launching their business? The benefits of visualizations are backed by neuroscience. Not only that, but of the 1 in 5 entrepreneurs that created vision boards before they launched—76% are where they envisioned they would be.

A few of the reasons why boards work is because they:

• Provide clarity, while minimizing the stress and doubt of new endeavors.
• Are a powerful tool that can help stimulate and facilitate creative thought and innovation.
• Are a simple yet effective way to capture ideas, visualize goals, and set yourself up for success.
• Hold you and your team accountable to your individual job duties and overall goals.
• Help you and your team stay organized and focused on the big picture.
• Can be utilized to identify potential solutions to problems and challenges that arise.
• Identify the key elements of your goals and objectives, track your progress over time, and make sure that you stay motivated.

How to Create an Effective Vision Board?

To create an effective vision board, begin by identifying your core objective or creative constraints. For example, the key features or pain points your product solves that you or your competitor’s product currently doesn’t address. Then, let the brainstorming begin.

This often begins by identifying words, quotes, or phrases. Depending on the project, colors, look, and feel. If relevant, images, data, graphs, and charts.

This is a process, so the first stage is allowing ideas to flow.

Should Your Vision Board Be Physical or Digital?

One of the reasons vision boards are effective is that they serve as a daily reminder of your objectives. While a physical board is ideal, it’s not always an option. If your team is hybrid or if the board is shared, a digital board may be the only option.

To keep digital boards top of mind, consider:

• Adding it to your project page in your PM or innovation platform.
• Encouraging your team to print it out and post it in their workspace.
• Suggest that your team use it as their laptop or computer screensaver.

Just ensure that as digital boards evolve everyone on the team has easy access to the most up-to-date version.

Should Vision Boards Be Shared or Individual?

This will vary to your existing needs. You may create a physical or digital board for your entire team to reference and a solo board for your portion of the project. Or just a solo board for anything you are working on, either professionally or personally. Even if created for professional innovation, solo boards can be highly personal, and you may choose not to share your vision—and that’s ok!

As long as it is working for you, there is no right or wrong.

What Medium Should You Use to Design Your Vision Board?

If you are making a board for yourself, use the tool you are the most drawn to, but don’t underestimate the power of hands-on creation. Or begin with a virtual board to gather online images, then transition to a physical board—or vice versa. Boards that must be shared with remote groups will need to be virtual, or both virtual and physical.

Your top mediums include:

• Poster boards
• Bulletin boards
• Dry erase boards
• Digital whiteboards
• Virtual whiteboards
• Pinterest
• Canva or other digital tools

If your board is physical, use markers, post-its, dry-erase squares, images, data, graphs, charts, magazine cutouts, and textiles, to curate your vision.

Should Your Vision Board Be Free Form or Categorized?

This is up to you, or you and your team. There are benefits to both, and you may create both free-form or categorized boards depending on the project.

For example:

• You may begin with free form while brainstorming, and transition it into structured categories as the process evolves.
• Boards can be created featuring competitor products, taglines, and branding to inspire innovation.
• You may categorize your board by your creative constraints, project phases, or objectives.
• Product boards may include demographics, needs, revenue streams, and other metrics.
• Marketing boards may be categorized by sales channels and communication methods.

Conclusion

Creating a vision board is an essential tool for any innovator, as it encourages creative thinking and helps to keep your goals in sight. By understanding how boards contribute to innovation you can harness their power to stay on track and reach your goals.

Boards ensure you visualize your outcome, remain focused on the big picture, and take advantage of any opportunities that come your way. Once you have identified your innovative objective, IdeaScale is here to help you strategize, scale, and bring your ideation to life.

Reach out today for a free demo of our innovation platform!