Guide to Getting Started

Starting a New Project

You need some snazzy ideas for something. It could be anything, actually: A new logo, a classroom project, advertising campaign, banner ads, business idea, website design - anything!

The first thing you need to do is write down (or organize it in your head) a concise way to tell someone what you need. This nice description will inform users what you are looking for, what any special instructions are and how you want them to proceed.

Ok, the next step is creating the project. There are few places where you can do this around the site - the closest is always on the left side of the screen.

When you get to the "add project" screen - just enter the basic information about your project.

Most of the options are self explanatory - but here are a few things to note on the "Add Project" screen:

The Reward - You want to reward the user(s) on a winning idea, right? Of course you do. When you start a project, you are putting up Ideapoints as the reward for the winner(s). These points come from you - either you earned them previously through collaboration, won them from another project, or flat out purchased them. We allow you to purchase Ideapoints, for use as a project reward, using your credit card. The purchased points go directly to the project as the reward.

Public vs. Private - Most projects will want to be Public. This allows the most users to see and participate in the brainstorming and idea generation. However, there are times in which you want to run a Private Project and restrict visibility and participation to only your Group. You can make a Group by going to My Stuff and choosing to "create a new group". From there, you can choose users to add to your new group. When you make a project "private" for your group, only users in that group can see the project. All other users cannot see it - even in the project lists.

Once your project is up and running, start telling people about it. Get friends and family to come help out by collaborating and brainstorming together to generate ideas, designs or whatever you are asking for!

Adding a New Idea to a project

Ok, so you found a project that is asking for ideas and you happen to have a pretty good one. The hard part is over.

The next step is to communicate that idea in some manner and upload that communication to Share Your Brain. Depending on the idea, it could be as simple as a few sentences of text - or you could create full-fledged documents, 3D models, videos, images and files!

There are some great free tools out there to help you communicate your idea. We have links to some of our favorites below.

Some of the many formats that Share Your Brain supports:


• Images - All the usual suspects: PNG, GIF, JPG. We can support any image type, actually, but these will show up as thumbnails of the actual picture. Other formats will be represented as normal files.
• Adobe PDF Documents - PDF documents are an easy way to share documents these days. PDF files work across PC, Mac and Unix and there are tons of programs that read and write them. Google Docs does a fine job - and it's free.
• Google Docs - Free online applications to write documents, make spreadsheets and create presentations. Create PDF, DOC, XLS, PPT files.
• Google SketchUp - Free application to create 3D models quickly and easily. Create 3D Models.
• GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) - Free application to create and edit photos and images. Create JPG, PNG, GIF and other images.
• Windows Movie Maker - Free video editing application for Windows computers. Edit and create video and movies.
• Apple iMovie - Free video editing application for Apple computers. Edit and create video and movies.
• YouTube - Free video hosting service. Once you make your videos, you can serve them from YouTube.
• Any other file - We can take any uploaded file type. That doesn't mean we will do anything special with it (like show a small version of it or recognize the contents) but it will be available as an asset on any project or idea for any other users.

Once you have created or assembled any files, documentation or images that explains your idea - it is a simple process to add a new idea:

1. Add Idea from Project page
2. Enter short description of your idea and other summary information
3. Remember to choose a good "summary" image that will represent your idea around the site
4. After you have added your new idea, you can attach additional files (look for the yellow owner's box) - this is where you add documents, images, files, etc.
5. Other users can contribute comments, images, files, videos, etc. as well in order to help improve the idea.
6. Listen to the users! Modify your idea if you like. Keep in mind you can update your idea at any time, as many times as you want. We encourage you to evolve your idea over time!

Tell your friends and family to help out and have them vote for the best idea. I'm sure the best idea is yours (of course), but you never know! The idea with the most votes at the end of the project is the winner and all the users who participated in the winning idea will split the project's Ideapoint award based on contribution.

Some important points to remember:

1. Any user who collaborates with you on this idea (by contributing comments, images, files, etc.) will share some of the award points if this idea is the winner. The more they collaborate - the more they share. However, as the Idea Owner, your share is usually much larger.
2. As users contribute comments, pictures and additional direction, you should make adjustments by updating and re-publishing your idea.
3. You can update and re-publish as many times as you want!
4. Help filter out spam and non-relevant contributions to your idea by using the rating system next to each entry. Only contributions with 50% or more approval will count towards award sharing.
5. Collaborations and contributions on this idea are hidden from all other users except members of the project. Only when the idea is updated and a new revision is published will any approved files and images be made visible to the general community.
6. You can attach images, documents, videos, links, etc. to your idea the same way another user would - Keep your idea evolving.
7. Be sure to enter enough information that people will understand your idea enough to vote for it.

Contributing to someone else's Idea

While clicking around, you see a promising idea from another user. However something could be added to it - something that you have in mind. Part of the fun is to add on to other people's ideas to make them even better!

When you see an idea that you want to contribute to in some manner, just scroll down the bottom of that ideas's detail screen and choose what type of contribution you want to add.

Choose from these types of contributions:

1. Text-based contributions - such as "That needs a little more color" or "Align the logo to the left instead of the right and it will balance much better"
2. Images or photos - upload corrections to the original image, remix, or colorize
3. Video links - upload video links from YouTube and Google Video
4. Documents or other files - you can add just about any file type you choose.

Your contributions are subject to approval - meaning that if the other users think your contribution is not relevant or useful, they can flag it as such. When the Idea Owner chooses to publish a new revision, all the approved contributions are included into the idea. So any images, photos, videos, documents or other files you have contributed will be available as part of the idea's asset list. You will now also get to share in part of the reward for the project if this idea is the highest voted idea for the project at closing.

Remember, even if the idea doesn't win, you still get some Ideapoints just for helping out and being a good community member. :-)

Voting on the best Idea for a project

Part of the fun is seeing how the community of users value the generated ideas. You are encouraged to vote on as many ideas as you wish - for as many projects as you wish. However, if you vote for all the ideas in a project it is the same as not voting at all since they are still equal!

You can find the big green vote button on the Idea Details screen:

And also on the Project Details screen as well:

As ideas change over time and users contribute new directions and contributions for ideas, they may get better or worse according to you. Therefore, you can easily "unvote" for an idea as easy as you voted for it.

Redeeming your Ideapoints for prizes and cash

Over time, you will earn many Ideapoints for all your contributions, collaboration and voting. As a Premium Member, you also earn extra points each time - as well as earn points for user referrals and other general use activities. You can "trade in" or redeem your available Ideapoints anytime for various prizes.

Premium Members can redeem their Ideapoints for cash deposits through PayPal. This is a great way to earn a little extra money from using your brain and helping other users generate cool new ideas.

We change our prizes periodically, so keep your eyes peeled for specials, holiday promotions and new types of prizes altogether.