Combine

Ask: what two things — purposes, materials, functions, or ideas — could be merged to create something new?

Why it works

Many breakthrough innovations are combinations of existing elements that were previously separate. The Combine prompt systematically searches for merger opportunities across functions, domains, or time periods. This exploits the fact that remote associations — connecting ideas from distant domains — are a characteristic of highly creative thinking, while unconstrained brainstorming tends to stay within familiar territory.

How to do it

1. List the functions or purposes your thing serves.
2. Ask: "What other things serve similar functions in different domains? What if they were one thing?"
3. Also ask: "What could this be combined with to serve a new additional function?"
4. Look across categories — combining a physical product with a service, a process with a metaphor.

Evidence

Research on analogical reasoning and conceptual combination finds that cross-domain idea combination produces more novel and valued ideas than within-domain variation. SCAMPER’s Combine prompt structurally encourages this. (observational)

Not all combinations are productive; the Combine lens generates quantity of combinations, and separate evaluation is needed to identify the valuable ones.

Sources

• Ward (1994), Structured Imagination — typicality of examples and creative generation, Cognitive Psychology

Common mistake

Combining only within the same category ("what if we merged two existing features?") rather than across distant ones — the most interesting combinations usually come from pairing things that don’t obviously belong together.