My colleagues and I recently wrote a load of loose briefs for upcoming development and product launch. I work for a home/kitchenware brand with a small (category-wise) but widening product range, so we have partnered with a chef/food writer/presenter who we use for a range of development and marketing tasks.
We visited her for two days, and initially met some local food producers too.
The brainstorming was simply 6 of us (me being the only designer), 3 flip chart pads and a load of sharpies, discussing the briefs, aided by our colleagues small catering kitchen and it’s ingredients, as well as her general home-furnishings and accessories.
I guess the key ingredients (no pun intended!) were enthusiastic people, a method of recording the work, some scene-setting background work, and easy access to visual prompts and associated products.
And lots of tea, cakes, and wonderful food and wine after hours.
We left with a far clearer understanding of what the goals were, so were able to nail down the briefs and start the design and development work.