Ideation is the creative process of generating, developing, and communicating new ideas, where an idea is understood as a basic element of thought that can be either visual, concrete, or abstract. Ideation is all stages of a thought cycle, from innovation, to development, to actualization. As such, it is an essential part of the design process, both in education and practice.
Wikipedia, Ideation (idea generation), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideation_(idea_generation) (as of Jan. 19, 2012, 20:36 GMT).
