Once you’ve completed the research phase, it’s time to identify Key Themes.

Look closely at the insights you and your team gathered to identify key themes, concepts, ideas, or feelings that are repeated over and over.

Key themes are the platforms around which you will develop your solutions.

Example: If your challenge is to build customer loyalty and your research showed that people are loyal to brands with excellent customer service, then a key theme might be:

“Customers feel high-quality and consistent customer service is key.”

Identifying Key Themes

• Have all team members post their insights on a wall.
• Read through all insights.
• Jot down sentiments that come up over and over. These are your themes. They will become the jumping off point for ideation. For example, if a common theme is that people are confused by the overwhelming selection of vitamins so they don’t choose anything, you will ideate around how to make the selection process easier. Aim to identify between three and five themes.