10 Plus 10 is a structured sketching method that pushes designers past the obvious first ten ideas to find the ten more interesting, unexpected, and innovative ideas that lie beneath. It is built on the insight that initial ideas in any ideation session tend to be safe and familiar: the first ideas that come to mind are the ones most thoroughly mapped by existing conventions. By deliberately generating a second set of ten ideas after the first set is exhausted, designers force themselves into genuinely novel territory.
What It Is
The method is simple: a designer or design team generates exactly ten sketched ideas for a specific design challenge, then generates exactly ten more. The first ten ideas tend to be variations on familiar solutions. The second ten, produced after the obvious options have been used up, tend to be more unusual, more risky, and more generative. The constraint of needing exactly ten in each set is deliberate: it prevents the natural tendency to stop at three or four ideas when the easiest options have been sketched and the creative effort required increases.
How to Run It
Divide a sheet of paper into twenty equal sections, ten per side, or prepare twenty index cards. State the design challenge clearly. Set a timer and sketch one idea per section, aiming for rough, quick thumbnails rather than detailed drawings. Complete all ten sketches on the first side before turning the paper over or starting the second set of cards. When beginning the second set, deliberately avoid ideas that are variations of the first ten. Look at the first ten and ask: what has not been tried? What would the opposite look like? What would a completely different context suggest? After both sets are complete, review all twenty ideas and select the most promising for development.
When to Use It
10 Plus 10 is most effective during the ideation phase when designers are working on specific interface or interaction challenges rather than broad conceptual questions. It works well as an individual warm-up exercise before a collaborative sketching session, ensuring that every participant arrives with a range of ideas rather than defaulting to familiar solutions in the group setting. Use it when early ideation is producing safe, incremental ideas and the team needs a technique for breaking out of well-worn patterns.
Tips for Success
Resist the temptation to refine or improve the first ten ideas during the second ten. The goal of the second set is breadth and surprise, not polish. Set a strict time limit per sketch, such as two minutes, to prevent over-investment in any single idea. After completing both sets, share them with a colleague or the team before selecting ideas for development: ideas that seem unremarkable to the person who generated them often spark genuinely interesting responses in others.
