Ideas from everywhere

Where do we get our ideas from? An old question, with many answers. Says author Neil Gaiman: 'You get ideas from daydreaming. You get ideas from being bored. You get ideas all the time. You get ideas when you ask yourself simple questions, like "What if...?", or, "If only", or, "I wonder"'. Continues Gaiman: 'An idea doesn't have to be a plot notion, just a place to begin creating. Plots often generate themselves when one begins to ask oneself questions about whatever the starting point is'. Moreover, 'Often ideas come from two things coming together that haven't come together before'. So, where does Gaiman get his ideas from? 'I make them up. Out of my head'. It seems his observations may apply to design ideation too. Source: neilgaiman.com