Design Sprints
The Design phase is all about generating solutions for the key problems identified in the Definition stage, creating a prototype, user testing and iterating.
The Design Sprint model is a whole process in itself, allowing you to tackle problems, design creative solutions and test new ideas within the short span of a week. It requires confidence in the process and ultimate focus!
How it works
Day 1: Map
1. Map out the long-term goal, metrics and risks: We envision what a successful project looks like, outline metrics that tell us when we've met our long-term goal, and identify the risks that might prevent us from meeting that goal.
2. Ask the Experts: We go directly to the people most impacted by the project -- real users. The 15-20 minute interviews with our nominated experts will provide us insight into user experiences. These are recorded as "How Might We" questions, allowing us to easily transition into the solution ideation mindset.
3. User Journey Mapping: We create a simplified diagram to show how users will interact with the product and/or service based on what we’ve learnt.
Day 2: Sketch
4. Lightning demos: We gather inspiring solutions from other industries and share them with the team through lightning demos.
5. Sketch: This four-step process includes taking notes, brainstorming ideas, playing Crazy 8’s (sketching 8 ideas in 8 minutes) and then designing solutions.
Day 3: Decide
6. Choose a solution: We use techniques like heat mapping to pinpoint features on the sketches that stand out to us. We’ll see which features are most popular with the sprint team and what elements to take forward to the next stage.
7. Hypothesis: We define what the big idea is behind these solutions that might meet the long-term goal and metrics.
8. Storyboard: We draw out the journeys users will face when interacting with the newly designed solution.
Day 4: Prototyping
9. Build a realistic prototype: We will build a prototype ready to get in front of users and test it.
Day 5: Test
10. Take the solution to users: We decide on a user journey and ask users to test what we’ve made. This flags any UX, comprehension, visual and design issues in the prototype.
At the end of the Design Sprint, you will have used an efficient process to understand your user needs and create human-centred solutions.