Design Workshop Activities

A problem tree is a tool to clarify the hierarchy of problems addressed by the team within a design project; it represents high level problems or related sublevel problems.

Instead of directly asking people what they like or don’t like about a particular brand, product or service, this method gives insight into their perceptions by eliciting feelings based on real-life experiences and interactions through writing a love or breakup letter.

To be used in the ideation and user exploration phase.

A mind map is a diagram used to represent a number of ideas or things. Mind maps are methods for analyzing information and relationships.

The lotus blossom method is a creativity exercise. It is a framework for idea generation, starting from one central theme. Eight conceptual themes grow out from the main theme and each of them are used as central theme to generate 8 more themes. Explore!

Brainwriting is essentially the same as brainstorming. Ideas are generated by asking people to write them down instead of verbally presenting them.

Try on a relentlessly positive, can-do attitude before tackling the big stuff. The proverb goes "If life gives you lemons, make lemonade." Practice the art of positive thinking to unlock creative ideas. Use this as a warm-up before brainstorming or to energize your team meetings.

Empathy in action is a way to help people empathize with, and understand a specific situation that is foreign to them.

To be used when you have collected enough data to understand a problem and need to let people unfamiliar with the problem empathize with it.

Build on your ideas by looking at them from someone else's perspective. What would your favorite actor think of your concept? Would your president or prime minister endorse it? What if you were to switch hats with another organization? How would they change or build on your idea?

An activity to identify the direction in which your work should be moving.

Following a similar structure of the Persona method, give your design personality by creating a design persona. This can be through visual design, copy, and interactions.

To be used when it is time to focus on product experience.

Find new opportunities by testing the limit of what's possible? Sometimes getting unstuck means zooming out and then dreaming big. Here's your opportunity to get fantastical. Don't worry about viability or resources, worry about saving the world.

The object of this game is to examine an issue from another perspective and find significance in the issue.