Design Sprint — Sketch Phase
Using Crazy 8s, Dot Voting, and Solution Sketching to Communicate, Decide, and Improve Innovative Concepts
Sketching has its origins in the early Renaissance, when it was used to capture flitting ideas and give them a physical existence. Fast forward to the 20th century, when drawing emerged as a crucial component of industrial design. In fact, in the 1950s, the famous designer Raymond Loewy came up with the design for the Coca-Cola bottle in just two hours of sketching.
Today, sketching is a crucial step in the design sprint process. Sketches are used to communicate with other team members, quickly try out new ideas, and gain support from stakeholders. In a design sprint, sketching comes after the Understand, and Define phases, so be sure to read those articles before this one. When you're ready, let's get sketching—real sketching with a pen and paper—and bring your ideas to life!
Crazy Eights
Crazy Eights is a core part of the Design Sprint that challenges participants to quickly sketch eight distinct ideas within eight minutes. The goal of this exercise is to rapidly come up with a large number of ideas without getting bogged down in specifics and to encourage divergent thinking within your team. To get started with the Crazy Eights method:
- Fold a piece of paper into eight parts
- Set a timer for eight minutes
- Each team member draws eight different solutions before the time runs out
Dot Voting
After the 8 minutes have passed, each team member should be given three minutes or less to present the ideas they have generated and answer questions from the group.
After the group has presented their ideas, provide each team member with three dots. To start voting:
- Set the clock for 10 minutes
- Instruct the team to vote for their preferred sketch by placing one or more dots on the sketch
- Team members can vote for their own sketches
After the 10 minutes have passed, spend the next five minutes identifying the three most compelling ideas by selecting the sketches (not the entire paper) with the most votes.
Solution Sketching
Expand the best ideas to create a more detailed sketch, called a solution sketch. Each of the three solution sketches should be more detailed than the Crazy Eight sketches, and should resemble a comic strip with multiple “frames” that describe how the user will navigate and interact with the system.
To create your solution sketches:
- Divide the Sprint Team into 3 groups
- Set the timer for 60 mins
- Have each team member work on the sketch with their team. Ensure the team uses multiple “frames” with pictures and words to reduce confusion.
