Ideate. Prototype. Validate.
Design Sprints are an intensive, collaborative workshop for answering critical business questions through design, prototyping, and testing ideas with customers. Developed by Google Ventures and having been tested with over a hundred startup businesses and new ventures, a sprint brings together strategy, innovation, behavioural science, design thinking and testing with real users.
Working together in a sprint, you can shortcut the endless debate-cycle and compress months of time into just a few days. Instead of waiting to launch your MVP to understand if an idea is any good, you’ll get clear data from a realistic prototype meaning you can fast-forward to getting your customer reactions before making any expensive commitments.
Design Sprints are an intensive, collaborative workshop for answering critical business questions through design, prototyping, and testing ideas with customers. Developed by Google Ventures and having been tested with over a hundred startup businesses and new ventures, a sprint brings together strategy, innovation, behavioural science, design thinking and testing with real users.
Working together in a sprint, you can shortcut the endless debate-cycle and compress months of time into just a few days. Instead of waiting to launch your MVP to understand if an idea is any good, you’ll get clear data from a realistic prototype meaning you can fast-forward to getting your customer reactions before making any expensive commitments.
An overview of a Design Sprint
Firstly we define the scope of the work before moving into identifying user, business and technical goals. We then rapidly ideate solutions to these challenges, and decide which of these to develop into a rapid high-fidelity prototype, which is then tested with real users.
The inclusion of key stakeholders from various parts of the business makes for a more rounded collaboration and helps provide a variety of perspectives in solving problems with the ultimate goal being a creative solution to answer the sprint goals.
The structure of a Design Sprint
Design Sprints are structured to ensure they are interactive and immersive as well as being productive. The structure set out for each day means we can naturally progress as a group from discovery, through ideation, refinement prototyping, and finally arriving at validation.
Before the sprint begins, we ensure the right challenge is framed and the appropriate team is assembled.
Agreeing a long-term goal, mapping the challenges, and setting targets for the week.
Generating potential ideas to explore, via Lightning demos and rapid sketching.
Critique solutions and storyboard a step-by-step plan for your prototype.
Create a realistic prototype, and plan the user testing session.
Collectively test the prototype with real users and record the outcomes.
The outcomes of doing a Design Sprint.
Over the course of the five days the sprint room walls will transform into a rich tapestry of statements and sketches that record the decisions taken, goals, and challenges faced.
The main outcomes of every Design Sprint are an interactive prototype that looks and feels like a real product, as well the user testing insights. Here are a few of the other take-aways from doing a Design Sprint.
together Gather a well rounded perspective from the best brains in your business as well as from ours.
users Identify your primary users during the sprint framing, and then observe them during testing.
collaboration The roundtable approach facilitates collaboration and ideation measured against the sprint goals.
validated Validate the idea that fulfils the objectives of the brief, by testing it with real users.
weeks Fast-forward to get your customers reactions, before making any expensive commitments.
partnership Additional time can be spent producing a sprint retrospective, or helping to take your idea into production.
“We use Design Sprints to quickly validate ideas and assess them for market readiness through testing and iteration.”
Working remotely
Over the past year, much like so many others, we have learnt to adapt to remote working. We had to pivot from carrying out mainly carrying out in-person workshops to carrying out all our workshops remotely. We have found we can achieve the same success from working remotely than if we were all together in a room.
Organised agenda for each session
We take the time to carefully plan out each workshop to make the best use of our clients time and to ensure we are meeting our set goals for the session. Our goal is for clients to feel like their time is values and using constructively
Effective tools
We have tried and tested online tools which allow us to present our workshops as if we were in person, jotting down our thoughts on post it notes. The tools are collaborative so our participants can feel involved and immersed in the session
Attentive team
We have put together a good internal team to ensure we are covering all grounds of a facilitator to lead the session, a watcher to make sure everyones invloved and not having troubles & a note-taker to write down key thoguhts and ideas
Let’s get started
We work alongside our clients both on new products starting with a blank piece of paper, as well as taking on existing applications or completely re-doing an existing product.
Launch new product
You are looking to add an additional product, tool or application to your existing platform ecosystem
Develop existing product
You have an existing product but would like to extend it out with new modules, features and functionality.
Re-do existing product
You have an existing product and need help to improve the UX/UI and re-build to an enterprise level
