I always thought that an idea was a special gem that could be turned into an amazing thing given some work. I have had many idea’s in my life for different things. Toys, books, games, applications; all of these idea’s have been special to me.

Idea’s as special flowers came from being an artist. When creating a piece of art, I would have an idea for myself and then produce my work. If people liked it great, if they got it even better, if not, no biggie it was special to me.

Producing a single piece of art can take an hour or a month depending on many things. Now that can be a lot of effort, but the whole time the idea is the most special thing. The reason is that everything is happening in isolation. Depending on the artist, they might get input from a few select people during the creation process. All of this leads to emphasis on the idea.

A product that is meant for public interaction is a completely different beast. Does the idea I have relate to others? If it does, is it evident enough for them to bother with it? Do they find it fun/exciting/engaging? Is it cost effective to mass produce?

There are some similarities between art and these other ideas, like finding a market that will appreciate the product, but with art it mostly happens after the fact. With a product there will probably be many aspects that I don’t know how to do. Pulling in other people immediately adds complexity as well as cost.

I still believe an idea is special, but now I know that there is a ton of work involved to bring it to market. This makes the idea an important but very small piece of a much larger story. Idea’s are more like hunks of rock that may contain an amazing gem inside, but you never know until you refine it.