Brainstorming!

I'm surprised at how many people think that brainstorming is just sitting down and coming up with an idea. Brainstorming is an art in itself.
When you think about things your brain makes connections. These electrical connections form paths that then become like little roadways in the brain. People tend to get lazy. The mind tends to get lazy, so it will run along these same pathways. This leads to the same old ideas.
Think of it like the brain is a jello mold and your pouring water down on it. It begins to form channels in the jello. The more hot water, the deeper the channels get. You need to jump your brain out of those channels and into new sections, new pathways and new ideas.
There are lots of excellent techniques for brainstorming and I'll address those later but for now lets talk about how to get started. People ignore some of the basics. Research what your going to brainstorm. Do a quick google search, word and image search. First really identify what it is and what your trying to accomplish before you start. What is your end goal? A new concept? A new product? A new art piece? Whatever!
Also do not edit yourself. In early brainstorming there are NO bad ideas. As my boss says, "These are babies, allow them to grow. You never know what they could grow into."
Now that you have a goal then do a "brain dump!" With a blank piece of paper write down everything you can as quick as you can about your subject. What this does is get all the obvious things out so you can really get a fresh look at your project. This works whether you're trying to create a new slogan or a new image to paint. You may hit something, some "gold" in your brain dump which another reason to write it all down so that it doesn't get lost.
Now you can examen your list to try to make new connections to lead you to new creative concepts. Look at your list to see if there are stand outs. After you identify some of those stand outs ask why do they stand out?
Just the act of doing a brain dump, of describing and quantifying will lead you to new directions and creative concepts. This doesn't need to take a long time but will go a long way to expanding your creativity.
Now you can really begin your Brainstorming. I'll post later with brainstorming techniques to help your expand your creativity.