'May the best one win': a tournament-based brainstorming agent
Google IdeaForge
The problem
Most current GenAI tools aren't built for true brainstorming; they are built for execution.
Every business owner knows the dread of staring at a blank whiteboard, searching for the next big product idea. When inspiration runs dry, the standard advice is always to "think creatively." Naturally, today's creators turn to GenAI for help—only to hit a digital wall.
Users are trapped in repetitive loops, requiring extensive back-and-forth prompting just to get past surface-level answers.
Endless iteration drains time in open-ended scenarios or when there are minimal constraints.
GenAI is bound by its existing data & limited context, so outputs rarely feel genuinely creative, novel, or deeply tailored.
So we ask…
How might we transform GenAI from a passive, literal assistant into an active, contextual co-creator that genuinely drives creative breakthroughs?
The context
Deloitte Digital was approached by a team from Google Cloud to help bring a developer’s idea to life, sourced from Google Deepmind. They had identified the problem above and hoped to find a more efficient alternative to iterative brainstorming based on the developer’s idea, and to visualize that solution while staying aligned to Google’s branding & design language.
The process
Navigating a fast-paced environment with weekly sprints, I prioritized functional validation over perfection. Whenever a new feature was introduced, my immediate focus was proving its downstream value and seamless integration into the existing user flow.
My solution was supported by:
Daily leadership alignment: Rapidly iterated on wireframes and interaction patterns based on daily syncs with team leads to compress feedback loops.
Client-centric evolution: Moved concepts from ideation to high-fidelity execution at pace, ensuring every design pivot strictly aligned with evolving client requirements.
My ideation phase always starts with looking at references + sketching down quick ideas, noting justifications for design choices.
The solution
Google IdeaForge:
hundreds of ideas, one ultimate winner.
IdeaForge is a brainstorming super-agent that mimics the chaotic brilliance of our human creativity, then adds a competitive edge. By running hundreds of AI models against your prompt, it battles, refines, and filters a massive bracket of concepts through a customized rubric. Think of it as a gamified tournament for your next big idea, delivering the single best output from a pool of hundreds.
Let's dive deeper.
Turn a blank canvas into action
One Primary Goal, up to 5 scoring criteria, and any reference file. That's the entire brief IdeaForge needs to start generating.
Stuck on wording? A one-tap Enhance turns a rough prompt into something generation-ready.
Hundreds of ideas, organized & sorted
Hundreds of ideas get grouped automatically into clusters by theme. No manual sticky notes.
Clusters pulse and grow in real time, so the structure takes shape while ideas are still being generated.
Users can optionally give live feedback on generated ideas during the idea sorting process to further personalize.
Watch the winners emerge mid-round
A live leader visualization shows the top idea's rank, points, and a plain-language summary while the round is still playing out.
Trending arrows track which ideas are climbing or falling, and a top-attributes tag cloud show s the patterns forming across the field.
Edit the goal, criteria, or reference notes and rerun without losing anything already generated.
One winner, clearly earned
The top idea is spotlighted with its rank, score, and pitch, and the runners-up are scored right alongside it. This allows users to clearly see what ideas best match their criteria.
A "more standout ideas" section keeps other strong contenders visible, so nothing worth pursuing gets buried.
See the 'why' behind each idea
Strengths, weaknesses, and a criterion-by-criterion score breakdown turn "this feels right" into a documented rationale.
An idea evolution timeline and searchable tournament history show exactly how and when it rose to the top.
The visual language of IdeaForge
Between playfulness and practicality
When designing IdeaForge, I wanted to keep the quintessential Googley-ness found in many Google products, and thus focused on finding a balance between playfulness and intuitive design choices. From springing off of Google’s signature colors to designing silly agent-robots, my team and I explored various ways to make IdeaForge feel at home in the world of Google.
Early visual concepts included personified agentic characters that users would interact with during their gameified brainstorm.
My iterations of the 'New Brainstorm' screen in which users input their goals, criteria & inspiration. I explored ideas such as mimicking a traditional 'sticky note' brainstorm, a more abstract whiteboarding concept, and linear mind map, before settling on the final design.
Throughout the 4-week sprint iterations, I made sure to comply with the client's design patterns, including learning their Material Design 3 design system (and adapting their color, typography, and grid guidelines for IdeaForge).
Before jumping into mid-fidelity designs, the team and I compiled visual references from existing Google products.
What's next for IdeaForge?
Google Cloud is currently developing an MVP of Deloitte’s designs, which may soon be released and begin early usability testing.
Reflections
This project taught me how to design for large-scale, technical systems.
After consecutive B2B client projects, this project was my dive back into front-end, user-facing products. It taught me that function and feeling are intertwined in UX design and that aesthetic value is part of the user's optimal flow, too.
This project helped me rediscover my love for developing visual languages and design systems. I got the opportunity to explore more art-of-the-possible interfaces and be more creative with interaction choices, but also consider which of these innovative choices are truly necessary to meet business goals.
Let's design the future of your product, together.
I’m open to full-time opportunities, coffee chats, or just yapping about the latest trends. Get in touch or explore my resume.
graceerya@gmail.com
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