A Sure‑Fire Way to Glean Novel Ideas for Your Maps — Invite a Novice: Try
this little trick the next time you are seeking a novel approach to solving a map
design problem: invite a non‑GISer, perhaps a teenager, or basically just some‑
one who doesn’t have much experience with maps, to help you out. His lack
of preconceived ideas about mapping will allow him to see your problem with
fresh eyes and, without any background mapping skills, all of the novice’s
ideas will be creative. There’s nothing like a little ignorance to bring about
some useful new inventions. Your job is to weed out the unusable ideas and see
if you can get one or two good ones.