Activitycreate an empathy map (10 minutes): Each participant divides their page into four quadrants: says, thinks, does, and feels. A pain-point could be that they dont find any suitable matches in the local area. Is it to uncover new opportunities, solve a specific user problem, or improve a product or feature? Given the complexity of opportunities, this step can be a significant challenge that requires anywhere 2 to 6 weeks or longer, if any critical elements are missing or outdated (ex. User stories are a helpful way to articulate the specific goals of a user persona. By presenting our cake prototypes, our personas can imagine the delicious possibilities of their celebration dessert. For this activity, encourage participants to sketch out their solution rather than using words. Allowing the journey to be flexible. If you are in charge of delivering a summary of the work done, start it immediately after the workshop, while the information is still fresh in your mind. Why do we need to create one, and what steps are involved? Having gone through the users challenges in the previous exercise, the group is in a better position to go into more detail with the issue itself. Activitycreate mobile screens (15 minutes): For each step in the user journey, participants will sketch out the user interface (i.e. Many make genuine efforts to be innovativethey spend on R&D, bring in creative designers, hire innovation consultants. We then move into the Define stage of the design process, where we will create Personas of our partners based on their responses in the Empathize stage. Design thinking is a great methodology for bringing human-centered thinking to your team. Perhaps there is already a product in the prototype phase, and you use the tools from the Empathize stage to find out more from your users as they test the product. Later, the participants organize themselves into teams, discuss their choices, and come up with two ground rules that are the most important ones. Start by welcoming everybody to the workshop and setting expectations. Goals are what propel the user from one step to the next, while pain-points prevent the user from moving forward. The most important piece of running diverge-and-converge exercises is to set expectations and ground rules before running these activities. Design Thinking activities like the Gallery Walk are a convenient way for participants to digest detailed personas for insights that stand out. You may not teach the steps in a linear manner. Further down, youll find more information to help you with each checklist item. For example: Getting started, browsing the app, interacting with other users. Often when the group creates their Personas, they may realize that they need more information, some saying, Oh, I dont know if I have asked the right questions, in which case, we as facilitators can demonstrate that they are able to return to the empathize stage, as Design Thinking doesnt have to be a linear process. Here are some of the benefits at a glance: Most companies today have innovation envy. This will allow the project to obtain greater internal support, since all the stakeholders will have been involved from the get-go. Each tools has its own strengths (flexibility, integrations) and weaknesses (learning curve, limitations), but all provide a shared canvas and simplify data collection. A Design Thinking workshop is a hands-on, activity-based session built around the Design Thinking process. If youre running a workshop for a client, you might print display advertising campaigns from three of their biggest competitors, for example. When the statements been written, take a moment to have a brief reflection and discussion on what everybody has learned so far. Before you prepare the agenda, consider the high-level objectives. Common Design Thinking workshop objectives include: Note: Expect to devote 1/2 day for each additional workshop objective. Get the group to spend another ten minutes brainstorming as many ideas as possible. Want to know how to run a Design Thinking workshop? In the simplest definition, design thinking is a human-centered approach to problem-solving. Essentially, a Design Thinking workshop seeks to create solutions to challenges facing the business. Your slides should directly reflect your workshop agenda. While there are many ways to describe the process, weve broken it down into three steps: Prepare, Facilitate and Document. Capitalize on business opportunity by developing a harmonized digital strategy and transforming your organization. In the Ideate phase weve chosen two exercises, one expansive and one focused. Take the time to be well prepared. While physical whiteboards are the most engaging, excellent digital solutions are now available. Note the inspiration doesnt have to be apples to apples with your current project. Keep in mind that the experience your clients will have during your workshops is the way they will remember you. Always one to evangelize and advocate open thinking when it comes to 'Digital Experience Design', and having played a gamut of roles from being a 'Multimedia Designer' since 2004, to being a . Our rule of thumb is "3:1". BE CLEAR: this rule applies to any project, but it is particularly important for a workshop considering the limited allocated time. With preparations ready and the agenda set, you can now facilitate a productive workshop. By leveraging our full spectrum strategy, design, and technology capabilities, we deliver game-changing outcomes for our clients around the world. Lastly in our workshop, we celebrate by selecting a final cake outcome. Activityrefining your solution (10 minutes): Incorporating what theyve learned about the user and the feedback they received on their initial ideas, its time for the Design Thinkers to pull everything into one single solution. Although its quite possible to lead a solo workshop, we strongly recommend that you be two people (or a few more, depending on the size of the group and the duration of the workshop). We would love to hear from you! How will we measure success? A Design Thinking workshop is a collaborative session that is focused on the five phases of Design Thinking. Design Thinking workshops enable you to spread this value across your organization (or your clients organization). We might also wish to consider if the idea excites us, as innovative ideas should light a spark within us to have the drive and momentum to carry it through to the next stage of the process. For the empathise phase of the workshop, youll encourage participants to step into the users shoes and really think about what they need from the product. Aside from comfortable seating and good lighting, you can create a relaxed environment by playing some background music. Follow our actionable guide for best practices, tips, and techniques, as well as easy-to-follow steps to guarantee the success of your first session. Product design workshops are an opportunity for a team to untangle a problem together by going through a series of group exercises designed to get to a specific outcome. For example: How might we provide an easy, safe, online dating experience?. We help businesses and brands succeed in the digital age. With general preparation out of the way, lets move on to phase two of our guide. There are many tactics to facilitate a workshop, which are all well documented in the many books that have been written on the subject (shoutout to. A Design Thinking workshop will spark innovation, foster a user-centric mindset, and get cross-functional teams working together to design a great product. Use the ground rules to check on and improve the quality of the group's . 1. As a facilitator, you could mention that this form of research could identify with our Empathize stage, as well as our Ideate stage. Its important that the group understand the mindset and that they can reflect on real-life scenarios they could apply Design Thinking to. For your Design Thinking workshop, ask your participants to pair up and take it in turns to play the user. What you want are thought starters, not solutions. We back our programs with a job guarantee: Follow our career advice, and youll land a job within 6 months of graduation, or youll get your money back. Some common challenges that a Design Thinking workshop can be used to address include:, A facilitator is the individual responsible for organizing and running a Design Thinking workshop. Limit the number of ground rules to 12. Take part in one of our FREE live online UX design events with industry experts, and read up on UX graduate Alices career change from corporate banking. Build a career you love with 1:1 help from a career specialist who knows the job market in your area! Step 2. Whiteboards help teams work through complex problems quickly. For details about the different steps and activities involved, see the Design Thinking process guide. Design Thinking is a process or strategy for developing design concepts and solving problems that centers around the product's user and their needs. The introduction should consist of three main parts: Use a fun icebreaker to warm up the team and help them get to know each other a little better. We then can use our gathered insights that analyze the effectiveness of our chosen prototypes and then refine the idea accordingly. It can last two hours, two days, or even a full weekit all depends on the context and the goals at hand. Safety is also an important factor., Activityreframe the problem as a how might we question (10 minutes): Now, participants will turn the users needs into a how might we question. Continuing with the example of LoveFoundry, our imaginary online dating service, lets consider how you might construct the empathise phase. sales, savings, market share), The Public (ex. Display the ground rules so that they're visible to everyone. A way in which you could continue their Design Thinking learning might be to check in a few days or a week after the workshop for further feedback. These workshops constitute several activities that provide a solid ground for co-creation, collaboration, and team effort. As Mary Poppins put it so well. Designed for a very special occasion, the cake will often be custom-made. This is extremely helpful when it comes to reviewing your workshop, and, if youre running your workshop with clients, photos also make for a great souvenir. Sharing relevant inspiration is an effective way to build a collaborative atmosphere while bringing fresh perspectives into workshops. user stories, concept sketches or working prototypes) and work back from there. Its worth noting that before you approach the five stages of design thinking, its always helpful to consider the scale of the problem and as a group, accept the project. The facilitator is there to guide the process of deriving and checking the group's ground rules. A Design Thinking workshop should be largely activity-based; your participants need to be hands-on and engaged. Lastly, if time permits, use the last few minutes of your workshop to take inventory of what youve accomplished during the time spent together and inform the participants of the next steps in the project. Sometimes the best sources of inspiration connect seemingly unrelated industries. And if the perfect phrasing remains elusive, its okay to leave the door open to copyedits in the future. To introduce the process of Design Thinking using a real-world design challenge: How might we improve the user experience for LoveFoundry customers? Why? Your email address will not be published. We based ourselves on our recent experience: week long workshops to rethink customer experiences, involving up to thirty participants. How to run a UX design workshop by Andreas Johansson; Three Types of narratives to build amazing workshop experiences or really any of Daniel Stillman's writings; Managing Discussions by Matt Leighninger more ground rules, including "Bob's Rules," this is part of a series of 3 blogs entries on facilitation First, lets explore the problem at the heart of this workshop design, which is baking a cake! And we came to the following conclusion: Being a good workshop facilitator is like being made out of bamboo. Thus, a workshop expected to deliver on all four objectives should likely run for 2 days or longer, if the team is new or have never solved together before. Workshop facilitation is an important skill for any designer, but it can be tricky to master. Obviously, this ratio can be adapted according to the complexity and your level of familiarity with the subject. Weve divided this guide into two phases: how to plan and prepare for your Design Thinking workshop, followed by how to actually conduct the workshop. Fortunately, there are plenty of online tools to make your life easier when you need to facilitate a meeting and lead workshops. The most productive Design Thinking workshops reduce the need for follow-ups by having all the right data on hand for decisions. you might ask yourself. Sharing user journey maps, reflection and discussion (10 minutes): At the end of the ideation phase, put ten minutes aside for presenting and reflecting on all the user journey maps created. A prototype is a visual, interactive mock-up of an idea and can be two-dimensional, for example, a drawing or a diagram, or they might take a three-dimensional form. It might be helpful to write it out as a question or statement that can be easily referred back to. In this guide, well explore how to introduce design thinking to beginners with a workshop that uses the analogy of baking a cake. Design thinking is a structured and collaborative way for humans to better serve other humans. Wait, what? In addition to writing for the CareerFoundry blog, Emily has been a regular contributor to several industry-leading design publications, including the InVision blog, UX Planet, and Adobe XD Ideas. By learning the design thinking process in parallel with designing a cake, the steps are fun, relatable and easy to digest. Every workshop should have ground rules. This will put everybody at ease before the real work begins! On average, spend three hours of preparation for each hour of workshop. Our graduates are highly skilled, motivated, and prepared for impactful careers in tech. In this article, we want to take the fear out of running Design Thinking workshops for those new to the methodology, and give you the knowledge, concrete steps, and tools youll need to run your first Design Thinking workshop, wowing your company or clients in the process. While these sources of insight are highly project specific, consider the following four areas as a starting point. Since its debut in 1969 when Simon Herbert introduced the model in the Science of the Artificial, Design Thinking has revolutionized business models, education systems, processes of innovation, product and service design and human mindsets. These challenges might be related to product development, team collaboration, recruitment or retention, reaching targets, as well as any number of issues that are preventing a company from reaching its goals. The cross-functional collaboration will consistently bring about the most innovative and bring about the most effective solution to your users problem., 3. Ground rules are monitored by the whole group, for the group. To ensure your remote Design Thinking workshop runs as smoothly as possible, its important to keep in mind the following best practices., We hope our guide to running a Design Thinking workshop has answered all your burning questions about mastering this process and has taken the fear out of running your first one. Weve covered. Now for the most crucial part: planning your workshop agenda. With clarity about the goals and priorities of the team, the final step of the workshop is to put the minimum experience requirements into writing. Take a user-centered approach and ask your participants for feedback. In our presentation at the beginning of the workshop, we outline some ways in which we might prototype our cake; As we are going for the simplest options in our workshop, we have suggested that the teams draw visual representations, adding possible recipe ingredients and flavors which they will then present to the end-user for testing. Through this process, participants will start to develop their design thinking muscles and learn how to take on bigger projects in future. This can be a brief presentation covering the following points: By now, youve set the scene and put everybody at ease. The first part of the design thinking process is Empathize. Reflection and discussion (10 minutes): As a group, discuss what youve learned so far. On the contrary! Help participants unpack technical problems and appreciate the current user exprience, constraints and supporting systems. Who are we designing for? The five phases of Design Thinking, together with a quick explanation of each: Empathise, define, ideate, prototype, and test. Where did the insights come from? Because the quality of your facilitation during the workshop is a determining factor of the success of your project and of your clients satisfaction. It is often useful to suggest questions that participants might wish to use, and give examples of open questions. This workshop has been constructed with the simplest solutions in mind, and for the empathize phase, we team people up as pairs and set them the task of interviewing one another about their birthday plans. You could relate it to designing a book cover, choosing a holiday destination, or buying an office desk chair. If your activity requires it, you can also designate a person in each team who will be responsible for formalizing the group's work on a computer. Ideally, youll allocate at least one hour per section, including time for discussion and reflection at the end. user personas). Youll find that the participants better control their allotted time and are less frustrated when their time for reflection comes to an end. Activitygroup the steps into phases (10 minutes): Participants will now group the steps from the last activity into phases, aiming for 3-7 phases in total. Create 3D versions of our cake design with card and paper, and layout the ingredients around each prototype. But how can we make it easier for newbies to grasp the five stages of the design thinking process and see how they can apply them in their day-to-day work? These five stages of design thinking form an effective process for problem-solving that is useful for any team wanting to create better solutions and products. Our cake design process seeks to provide the answer in an engaging, experiential format. It is often used to solve complex problems which dont have a straightforward outcome while keeping people at the center of the discussion. Unlike lectures or presentations, Design Thinking workshops are used when teams want to arrive at a user-centered solution while working together. Use some of the most effective tools and techniques to design your concepts. That means having a beginners mind and the confidence to share. With your agenda in place, you should now have a good idea of what youll need for the workshop. It includes detailed logistics and clearly outline the intentions of the workshop and its desired outcomes. It uses a divergent approach of Empathize -Define-Ideate-Prototype-Test, to design a solution focused towards creating a preferred customer experience. Design thinking is for everyone! Whether your workshop will be in-person, online, or a mix of both, heres what to consider when choosing your workshop location: While in-person is always best, powerful digital tools like Miro and Mural can help remote teams workshop together when apart. (These are in no particular order. Do they need updating or even overhauling altogether?, Although the general challenge has already been identified, nows the time to get down to specifics. The job's a game!. The key is to deliver interesting, relevant content, followed by a practical exercise and then group discussion. The cake will be eaten by several people with different tastes and so the challenge is, how do we ensure that everyone enjoys the birthday cake?. Given the cross-functional nature of workshops, its often best to bring both executive summaries and raw data to workshops. A birthday cake is designed and baked for several people. To give you a helping hand, weve put together a handy list of tools and best practices you can follow to make sure you and your workshop group are well prepared for your remote workshop session.. I use examples of Personas, explaining that they could be based on one person, and therefore be very real, or if they use the data from several people, they can create a fictional character with whom they will empathize and keep in mind throughout the design journey. By following the workshop template, youll find a heap of tips and tricks for teaching design thinking to a new group. Design Thinking looks at the customer's perspective from the start to the end of an experience. Now were going to consider the agenda in more detail, going through all the elements that make up a successful Design Thinking workshop! By using methods of empathizing to discover more information, we can get more context to our problem, and start to understand the wants and needs we hope to meet with our end product. 3. Think about the time you have available and divide it up logically. Note that compiling the current landscape is the primary objective of the Discover stage of the Design Thinking process. Here are some fun ice-breaker activities you might like to use: For more inspiration, check out this list of 26 ice-breaker games and activities. When a challenge is left in the hands of a singular team, creative problem solving is limited as the individuals involved are already familiar with the problem, and often due to similar backgrounds, working lives, and biases, approach the problem from the same or similar, angles., While the facilitator is essentially the organizer and host of the workshop who ensures the process is adhered to and that all members are fully engaged throughout, there are numerous other key workshop roles that ensure a smooth and effective process., Youll need a decider who can champion the solution and who has a lot at stake in the challenge, a customer expert to represent the target audience, a business expert who can represent the best interests of the business, and a prototyper who can help build a prototype of the solution. For example: The step browses through potential matches could be propelled by the user goal of wanting to meet new people. For this example, well use the worst possible idea technique followed by a simple brainstorm. This month, were offering 100 partial scholarships worth up to $1,385 off our career-change programs To secure a spot, book your application call today! This email is also your opportunity to assign any relevant pre-work, such as an ask to bring specific design inspirations. Ideas as possible possibilities of their biggest competitors, for the group & # ;... General preparation out of bamboo might print display advertising campaigns from three of their celebration dessert of most... Scenarios they could apply design Thinking workshop what propel the user from one step to the complexity and your of!, relatable and easy to digest and engaged easier when you need to create solutions challenges. Were going to consider the high-level objectives stories are design thinking workshop ground rules helpful way to build collaborative! 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