Now the creative phase begins. This is concerned with developing alternative, more cost effective, ways of achieving the basic functions and reducing costs of the most important components. Here the rules of brainstorming must be allowed - no criticism, listing down all ideas, writing down as many ideas as possible however apparently ridiculous. Various "tricks" can be used; deliberate short periods of silence, writing ideas on cards anonymously, sequencing suggestions in a "round robin" fashion, making a sketch, role-playing out a typical event, viewing the scene from an imaginary helicopter or explaining the product to an "extra terrestrial". Humour can be an important part of creativity.

A particularly powerful tool is the use of the de Bono "po" word. This is simply a random noun selected from a dictionary to conjure up mental images that are then used to develop new ideas. For instance "cloud" could be used in conjunction with the design of packaging where the basic function was "give protection". The word cloud conjures images of fluffiness (padding?), air (air pockets?), rain (waterproof?), silver lining (metal reinforcement?), shadow (can't see the light, leads to giving the user information), cloud is "hard to pick up" (how is the packaging lifted?), wind (whistling leading to a warning of overload?), moisture (water/humidity resistant? water can take the shape of its container - can the packaging?), obscuring the view (a look inside panel?), and so on. Do not jump to other "po" words; select one and let the group exhaust its possibilities.