Ideate. Prototype. Validate.
A Design Sprint is a rapid 5 day process enabling teams to move from an idea, to a prototype that can be tested with users, all without having to write any code.
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, 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.
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 right 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.
Gather a well rounded perspective from the best brains in your business as well as from ours.
Identify your primary users during the sprint framing, and then observe them during testing.
The roundtable approach facilitates collaboration and ideation measured against the sprint goals.
Validate the idea that fulfils the objectives of the brief, by testing it with real users.
Fast-forward to get your customers reactions, before making any expensive commitments.
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.”
Booking a workshop
We run Design Sprints and UX workshops that solve problems and deliver value.
- Gain clarity and a focus with this bespoke UX workshop led by our co-founders.
- Interactive exercises to understand User needs and Business requirements
- Best attended by business and marketing personnel.
- Rapid exercises led by our Sprint facilitator
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Day 1: Set goals, map user journeys & uncover from subject matter experts.
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Day 2: Research, ideation, sketching, voting.
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Day 3: Storyboarding & decision on flows to wireframe.
- Rapid exercises led by our Sprint facilitator
- Adopting the Google Ventures Design Sprint methodology – we take you from idea through ideation, to a prototype you can test with real users.
- (Full detail described on page above).
