Discover and use these common design sprint workshop activities you can utilize to lead innovation at your organization.
The design sprint is one of the fastest growing innovation trends in the last decade. This methodology centers around a fast-paced, collaborative approach to problem solving and historically involves 5 days of activities to prompt ideation. Our specialty is designing shorter design sprint workshops that last a day or less. Today we’re covering the most common design sprint activities that you can utilize in your own organization to facilitate innovation today.
Our Design Sprint Workshop: Turning Challenges into Solutions in a Day
In our design sprint workshops, we focus on applying the principles of design thinking to generate and develop ideas for complex challenges within a single day. Rather than the traditional five-day format, we streamline the process into a fast-paced, focused session that drives immediate results. The goal is to take a challenge or problem that participants are facing and, through a structured series of activities, move from ideation to prototyping within the 1-2 day design sprint workshop.
One of the most exciting aspects of these workshops is the energy and collaboration we see from participants as they define the challenge into ideation questions, brainstorm solutions, and prototype and test their ideas in rapid succession. Each phase is designed to push teams to think creatively, iterate quickly, and arrive at tangible solutions that can be tested and refined. By the end of the day, teams leave with not just ideas, but prototypes that can be taken into the next phase of development.
This condensed format allows teams to maximize efficiency while still benefiting from the creative problem-solving process that design sprints are known for. Below, we’ll dive into some of the core activities we use to make this possible in our one-day workshops. These activities are not only key to a successful sprint but also adaptable to various organizational challenges you might face.
Traditional Design Sprint Activities
Goals and Challenge Mapping
One of the first things you will complete at a design sprint workshop is an analysis of your goals and a mapping activity of your challenge. This will allow you to grasp a deeper understanding of the challenge at hand and start thinking about how you could solve it creatively.
Sketches and Ideation
The next step of the design sprint process is to begin developing ideas and sketching out existing and new solutions to the challenge. By the end of the second day, you’ll have a wide variety of ideas on the table. The best of these will move on to the next design sprint activity – prototyping.
Prototyping and Experimentation
The top solutions will be taken and assembled into storyboards which will then be used to create prototypes of the idea, product, or solution. While these prototypes will be rudimentary in nature, they will allow you to fully experiment with your proposed solution and test the solution in action.
Customer Experience Testing
The final of the design sprint activities is user experience testing. On the last day of the design sprint, you’ll take your prototype and present it to real customers. This will allow you to gain insights into your idea based on their reactions and experience using the prototype.
Want to learn more about the design sprint? Check out our design sprint training guide here or contact us today to learn how we can help you drive innovation at your organization with a design sprint workshop.
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