Class 10, hybrid format

The exercise · 6:51 PM

Running Forced Connections live on the Ideation Atlas

The tool

39 ideation methods, each with an AI-assisted variation.

Ceren's own build, on Base44 : an explanation, an analogue practice, and an AI-assisted variation for each of 39 methods, sorted into Divergent/Classic, Perspective & Empathy, Association & Connection, Reframing & Provocation, and Narrative & Future. The room worked Forced Connections: name your challenge, add a few genuinely distant domains, ask for a handful of real insights from each, then pick the collision worth pursuing.

Cap the output. About five sentences per domain, so it doesn't flood you.

Stay vague to reach surprising places

Tony's warning, repeated through the room: if you let on that you're honing toward one idea, the model "chases you and paints you into that corner." The method works because the domains stay unrelated on purpose.

Branching a thread

Edit an earlier turn, or use the three-dots menu and "Branch in new chat," to fork a research direction while keeping the original intact. One classmate reached Pauline Oliveros's Deep Listening this way, starting from a science-center exhibit brief.

The power is in the prompt

Sydney's own admission: she wrote her research-collaborator persona, then used an LLM to troubleshoot and harden it, so it pushes back instead of turning into a generic idea machine. Writing the prompt is itself part of the craft.

Methods and prompts

Five methods to take with you

METHOD 01 · 6:43 PM part of: structure your ask

Interviewer mode

Before you generate anything, let the model find your real problem. It asks one question at a time until the actual challenge surfaces, instead of you guessing at a brief.

Where it came fromOne of the four LLM ideation modes Ceren Topcu-Weigand named in class 10, where the model asks questions one at a time until the real challenge surfaces instead of you guessing at a brief.Use it whenUse this at the very start of a project when you are not yet sure what the actual problem is and want the model to help you find it before generating solutions.

Same idea elsewhereGive it two keyframes instead of one description (class 2) · Speak the language of the internet (class 3) · Write it as a GOLD block (class 4)

Working prompt

Ask me questions one at a time until you understand my challenge. Don't offer solutions yet, just keep asking until the real problem is clear, then summarize it back to me before we go any further.

You will know it worked whenit asks one question at a time and holds off on offering solutions until it summarizes the problem back to you.

METHOD 02 · 6:43 PM part of: reject the first draft

Critique mode

Grade your own idea before you present it, using an outside voice instead of your own comfort with it. Judge it yourself first: the model's job is to check your grade, not set it.

Where it came fromAnother of Ceren Topcu-Weigand's four ideation modes in class 10, where the room graded their own concept first, then had the model act as an outside design educator to grade it independently.Use it whenUse this once you have a concept ready to share and want an honest outside grade to check against your own.

Same idea elsewhereSet up a debate partner (class 4) · Build cheap and then swap the model up (class 8) · Find where the workflow breaks (class 11)

Working prompt

Here's my concept: [paste]. I'll grade it first: my score out of 10 is [your number], and the weakest part is [your answer]. Now act as an experienced design educator, grade it 0 to 10 yourself, and name the 3 most important improvements. Tell me where my own score was wrong.

You will know it worked whenit gives its own number apart from yours and names three specific improvements, then tells you plainly where your own score missed something.

METHOD 03 · 6:43 PM part of: keep the judgment human

Interpreter stress test

Rewrite the idea in three unrelated voices and see what survives. Decide for yourself which retellings still hold the core meaning before asking the model to check your read.

Where it came fromTaught by Ceren Topcu-Weigand in class 10 as a way to stress test an idea by rewriting it in three unrelated voices, such as a tabloid headline, a love letter, and a legal contract, to see if its core meaning survives.Use it whenUse this when you want to know whether an idea's core meaning is strong enough to hold up outside its original form.

Same idea elsewhereJudge AI output with your own trained eye (class 1) · The sea-of-sameness check (class 2) · Pick the relationship on purpose (class 2)

Working prompt

Rewrite this idea [paste] as a tabloid headline, a love letter, and a legal contract, keeping the core meaning intact in all three. My read: it survives in [name which ones, for you]. Now you check me: does the core idea actually hold in the ones I picked, and where does it break in the others?

You will know it worked whenit checks your guess about which retellings still hold the core meaning against what actually survived in each of the three versions.

METHOD 04 · 6:51 PM part of: go wide then narrow

Forced Connections

Ceren's Ideation Atlas method, run in a plain chat. Give the challenge, add distant domains on purpose, cap the output so it doesn't flood you.

Where it came fromRun live in class 10 from Ceren Topcu-Weigand's Ideation Atlas, forcing a challenge through several deliberately unrelated domains to surface genuine insights from the friction.Use it whenUse this when you are stuck on a familiar idea and want a genuinely new angle by connecting it to something far outside its usual context.

Same idea elsewhereThe lateral reframe (class 2) · Start a fresh chat instead of one long thread (class 3) · Force the creative partner deeper (class 4)

Working prompt

Here's my challenge: [paste]. Force it through these four unrelated domains: [name four, deliberately distant]. For each one, give me 2 to 3 genuine insights, about 5 sentences total per domain. Don't soften the domains to fit the challenge, let the friction do the work.

You will know it worked wheneach of the four domains produces insights that actually come from that domain's own logic, not the same idea restated four times.

METHOD 05 · 8:02 PM part of: context beats prompts

Build your writing-style guide

Sydney's second method: edit a sample paragraph conversationally, then have the model analyze the whole exchange and write a reusable style guide you save and upload wherever you write.

Where it came fromSydney Seifert-Gram's method in class 10, editing a sample paragraph conversationally and explaining each change, then having the model turn the whole exchange into a reusable style guide.Use it whenUse this once you want a portable record of your writing voice that any AI tool can follow without you re-explaining it each time.

Same idea elsewhereControl the input and build gradually (class 2) · Show it your voice and not just the output (class 3) · Evolve the reference instead of restarting (class 5)

Working prompt

Write two paragraphs on [any subject]. I'm going to edit them conversationally: for each change I'll tell you why I'm making it and the tone I actually want. Once we're done, analyze the whole exchange and write me a reusable style guide, as rules with examples, that I can save and hand to any tool.

You will know it worked whenthe style guide it writes back names specific rules with examples pulled from your actual edits, not generic writing advice.

Every frame from this class

57 captures, in order. Click any one to see it full size.

The five objectives

Title slide introducing guest speaker Ceren Topcu-Weigand, a Creative Director and curator, with her headshot and bio bullets on clients and education.