SCAMPER
A list of seven questions for generating ideas from something that already exists: substitute, combine, adapt, modify, put to another use, eliminate, and rearrange.
What it’s for
It helps you get new ideas out of something familiar when you don’t know where to attack it: each letter is a different starting point.
Key elements
Start from something
A product, a service, or a specific step.
One question at a time
Answer one question before moving on to the next.
No discarding yet
First gather ideas; choose later.
How it’s done
Choose what to transform: a product, a service, a step.
Go through the seven questions: what do I substitute, what do I combine, what do I remove…?
Choose the ideas worth testing.
Applications in design
When to use it
To improve something that already exists, not to start from scratch.
Avoid
Filling in the seven letters as a formality.
Don’t fall for it
If a letter gives you nothing, move on; go back to the most fruitful ones before choosing.
Connections
Authors and works
- 1953
Alex F. Osborn
Proposed a list of questions to spark ideas, from which SCAMPER comes.
- 1971, 1972
Bob Eberle
Arranged the questions under the acronym SCAMPER to develop children’s imagination.
Sources
Original sources
- Eberle, B. (1971). SCAMPER: Games for imagination development. D.O.K. Publishers.
- Eberle, B. (1972). Developing imagination through SCAMPER. Journal of Creative Behavior, 6(3), 199–203. View source: Eberle, B. (1972)
- Osborn, A. F. (1953). Applied imagination: Principles and procedures of creative thinking. Scribner.
Last reviewed: