SCAMPER is a structured creative thinking checklist developed by Bob Eberle that prompts designers to approach an existing product or idea from seven distinct angles: Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify/Magnify/Minimise, Put to other uses, Eliminate, and Reverse/Rearrange. Each prompt forces a different type of transformation on the design challenge, systematically exploring the space around an existing idea rather than searching for inspiration in an open-ended way. It is particularly powerful for improving and innovating on existing products rather than designing from scratch.

What It Is

The seven SCAMPER prompts each represent a different creative operation. Substitute asks what could be replaced. Combine asks what could be merged with something else. Adapt asks what could be adjusted from another context. Modify asks what could be changed, enlarged, or shrunk. Put to other uses asks what else this could do. Eliminate asks what could be removed entirely. Reverse asks what could be turned backwards or rearranged. Each prompt applied to an existing product or process generates candidate ideas that would not arise from unconstrained brainstorming.

How to Run It

  1. Define the product, service, or design challenge to be SCAMPERED.
  2. Work through each of the seven prompts systematically, generating at least two to three ideas per prompt.
  3. Set a strict time limit of three to five minutes per prompt to maintain energy and prevent over-analysis.
  4. Capture all ideas without evaluation during the generation phase.
  5. After completing all seven prompts, review the full set of ideas and select the most promising for further development.
  6. Consolidate related ideas from different prompts that point toward the same underlying innovation direction.

When to Use It

SCAMPER is most effective for incremental and adjacent innovation: improving an existing product, redesigning a service touchpoint, or identifying quick wins in a mature product roadmap. It is particularly valuable when the design challenge is well-defined and specific — SCAMPER applied to a specific flow or feature is more productive than SCAMPER applied to an entire product vision. Use it when the team needs structured ideation prompts rather than open-ended brainstorming.

Tips for Success

  • Apply SCAMPER to a specific, well-scoped design challenge rather than a broad one: the prompts are more generative when targeted.
  • Record the prompt that generated each idea — this helps teams understand which creative operations are most fertile for a given design challenge.
  • Revisit SCAMPER at multiple stages of a project: 'Eliminate' is particularly powerful in late-stage design when the temptation to add rather than remove is strongest.
  • Combine SCAMPER with analogous inspiration: applying SCAMPER to an analogue from another domain often produces more novel results than applying it to your own product.