The Blue Spot Method

Unlock the cognitive engine behind strategic foresight and breakthrough creativity with the Blue Spot Method Booklet—a practical guide designed to reframe how innovation is understood, structured, and executed.

Whether you're designing future scenarios, building innovation systems, or exploring complex problems, this booklet gives you the tools to think with more clarity, adaptability, and creative precision.

Who Is This For

This booklet is for designers, strategists, innovators, educators, futurists, researchers, and teams working with complex challenges and future-oriented goals.

Whether you're crafting a product, designing a system, building foresight capabilities, or simply seeking clarity in uncertain environments, the Blue Spot Method gives you a structured way to think more deeply and create more effectively.

You don’t need a background in cognitive science—just curiosity, imagination, and a willingness to rethink how ideas emerge. This method meets you where you are and grows with how you think.

What You'll Discover in the Booklet

Foundational Concepts
A clear introduction to the Blue Spot Method and its grounding in cognitive science—highlighting the role of the locus coeruleus as the brain’s engine for adaptability, attention, and imaginative thinking.

10 Structured Modules + Module 00
Each module provides a focused cognitive function, complete with step-by-step instructions, objectives, and outcomes—designed to guide you from initial idea to innovation object.

Printable & Digital Templates
Clean, modular templates to be used within your favorite collaborative tools—Miro, tldraw, FigJam, and others.

Practical, Flexible Format
Whether you're working solo or with a team, the method adapts to your flow—bringing structure to ideation, decision-making, and creative problem-solving.

10 Cognitive Modules for shaping the future

Offering in-depth insights, cognitive frameworks, and practical strategies for harnessing cognitive flexibility in innovation and strategic foresight.

· The Blue Spot

Innovation starts with cognitive mapping. Establish a cognitive foundation for the innovation process by mapping the mind’s natural responses before structured creation begins.

· Reframing

A shift in perspective changes everything. Expand the conceptual boundaries of an innovation object by exploring what it is, isn’t, could be, and couldn’t be.

· The Four Sights

What you see depends on how you look. Explore an innovation object across time and scale, shifting between past, present, and future.

· Retrospective Projection

The future is felt before it happens. Reconstruct the pathway leading to a desired future outcome, identifying key moments and experiences.

· Cognitive Value Stream

Ideas flow—where do they get stuck? Map the cognitive progression of an innovation object and identify transformation points where cognitive inputs modify meaning, structure, or function.

· Cognitive SWOT

Innovation succeeds where cognition aligns. Recognize cognitive friction points where user perception, decision-making, or problem-solving is influenced or challenged.

· Cognitive Influence Map

Ideas move through network of minds. Identify points of cognitive convergence and divergence that influence adoption, resistance, and the spread of ideas.

· Transformation pathway

Change is a cognitive journey. Map the cognitive transformation process of an innovation object, from initial perception to full integration.

· Depth analysis

Meaning exists in layers. Uncover the cognitive layers that shape how an innovation object is understood and used.

· Cognitive Value Fit

Innovation must fit cognition to thrive. Assess how well an innovation object aligns with user mental models and expectations.

· Mind Palace

Thought becomes space, space shapes thought. Construct a multi-sensory cognitive structure where concepts are placed, linked, and retrieved.

Free Resources

Introductory Modules (Freebie)
Get a taste of the method with sample modules designed to show how the system works in real contexts.

Whitepaper: The Brain’s Innovation Engine: Locus Coeruleus’ Function in Creative Thinking and Foresight
Explore the full neuroscientific foundation behind the method. Learn how the locus coeruleus influences cognitive flexibility, attention, and innovation across disciplines.

How Do I Use the Templates?

1. Download the booklet PDF – Templates are included on pages 64–74.
2. Open your preferred collaborative tool – Miro, Tldraw, FigJam, or any platform that supports image or PDF uploads.
3. Import the templates – Use them as flexible thinking spaces for team workshops, solo reflection, or project sprints.
4. Follow the module instructions – Each template corresponds to a module with specific exercises and cognitive objectives.
5. Start innovating – Map anchors, reframe ideas, build cognitive blueprints, and develop innovation objects directly within your workspace.

Whether physical or digital, the templates are designed to be lightweight, visual, and adaptable—a cognitive workspace you can return to again and again.