Start from the uncommon. Reach the concept only a small fraction of creators would arrive at.
Novelty and rarity. Grounded in Boden (novel, surprising, valuable) and Guilford (originality as statistical rarity).
Call this file two ways. Use the ideation section when a concept feels safe, default, or seen-before. Use the review section when scoring the Originality dimension of a draft.
Start from the uncommon. Reach the concept only a small fraction of creators would arrive at.
A creative product must be new and surprising as well as valuable. Originality is scored by rarity: the fewer people who would land on an idea, the higher it rates. Combinational creativity, fusing familiar ideas into an unfamiliar result, is the most reliable route to it.
Run these moves to generate or sharpen the concept.
Name the three most obvious approaches to this topic. Cross all three out. Whatever you reach next is the starting line.
Pick one idea from the topic and one from an unrelated domain. Force them into a single concept. Iterate the pairing until one result feels both new and apt.
Take the standard framing and flip it: the reverse claim, the opposite emotion, the unexpected protagonist, the angle nobody defends.
Imagine the concept in a feed of a hundred posts on the same topic. If it disappears, it is not original yet. Restart.
Replace the generic noun with a precise, unusual one. The unexpected detail often carries the originality the broad idea lacks.
One concept that is rare, plus a one-line statement of what is uniquely yours about it and which obvious approaches you refused.
Score this dimension on a finished draft.
| Score | Looks like |
|---|---|
| 0 | A default approach. Stock layout or recycled caption shape. |
| 1 | A faint twist on a familiar format. Blends in. |
| 2 | A clearly uncommon concept that would catch a scrolling eye. |
| 3 | A rare angle most creators would never reach. A reason in itself to stop. |
Score 1 or below. Route to the concept owner (idea) or design owner (visual style). Instruction: name the three obvious approaches and replace with a rarer fourth, or fuse two familiar ideas into one unfamiliar result.
Rare concept, legible form. Push the idea toward the strange while keeping the execution easy to read. Originality that breaks comprehension trades against Interpretability.