Design Studio
Participants brainstorm several individual ideas in order to generate a wide set of concepts. (This is the divergent part of the process.) Attendees should include other practices outside of design to gather disparate ideas from various experiences and models of thought.
Outcome
At the end of a design studio the team should be able to walk away with ideas/concepts that a designer is able to begin wireframing/prototyping for feedback from stakeholders, team members, and users.
Method
Part 1: Diverge
- Instruct each attendee to get an 8.5 x 11 sheet of blank paper and a pencil, pen, or sharpie
- Each participant should fold their sheet into 4 equal sections
- Place 8-10 minutes on a timer and allow the group to sketch silently and on their own. One idea per quadrant or a flow of designs across each quadrant.
- Drawings do not have to be detailed or perfect. They should be rough and only use basic concepts or ideas
Part 2: Present and critique
- Each person should upload their sheets to Miro and label them with their name
- Participants should take time to briefly look over all posted ideas
- Allow 3-5 minutes per attendee to have them explain their core ideas to others
Part 3: Converge
- The facilitator should provide 3-5 votes depending on the amount of participants and ideas
- Instruct participants to place a vote on a particular idea they found interesting
- An attendee can use all their votes on one idea they feel strongly about or spread them out among different ideas
- This is not a vote of which feature or idea to move forward with. Rather it is a sentiment analysis which the designer can use to understand which ideas resonate with the team