role - play

A quick and tangible way to test an idea or experience is to get into character and act it out.

A Role Play is a type of prototype that is not only pretty easy to build, but can also help you get an idea, experience, or product in front of the people you’re designing for quickly. You’d be smart to test out the role play on your design team �rst. You may learn a lot by trying on the roles of the people in your small skit before you even get out of the o�ce.

Role - Play

STATSSuggested Time30-45 Minutes

Level of Di�cultyModerate

Materials NeededCostumes help, but aren't entirely necessary

ParticipantsDesign team, perhaps community members

PROCESS PHASE

INSPRIRATION

STEPS

01

IDEATION

IMPLEMENTATION

The main goal of prototyping is to make an idea just tangible enough to elicit a response, whether from you, your team, a partner, or whomever you’re designing for

Decide which of your ideas you want to Role Play and assign the necessary roles to your team members.02

Take about 30 minutes to determine the necessary roles, who will play them, and what it is that you’re looking to test—is it a type of interaction, whether a person will respond to a type of product, the e�ectiveness of a sales pitch?

03

Costumes and props can be highly e�ective tools in bringing your Role Play to life. Don’t spend ages on them, but consider making your prototype that much more realistic. You’d be surprised how far just a few details can go toward making a Role Play feel real.

04

Even though your idea is now as close to market as it’s ever been, you still need the input of the people you’re designing for.

Gathering Feedback from the people you’re designing for is a never-ending process and it’s critical as you push your idea forward. As you run Live Prototypes, Pilot your idea, and deter-mine how to De�ne Success and Measure and Evaluate your work, you’ll want to have team members dedicated to getting feedback from key partners and the people you’re looking to serve.

As you move into Live Prototyping and Piloting, make sure that you’re collecting feedback. Interviews and Group Interviews are a great way to learn from the people you’re designing for.

Reach out to key partners as well for their input. They’ll often have expertise that the design team may not and can help point the way forward. Convening the right group of stakeholders at once can bring up a lot of feedback in a single session.

Keep Getting Feedback

STATSSuggested Time90 Minutes


Materials NeededPens, Paper, Notebook

ParticipantsDesign team, people you’redesigning for

PROCESS PHASE

INSPRIRATION

IDEATION

IMPLEMENTATION

STEPS

01

02

Capture feedback in your notebook and share back with the design team. You can do this by Sharing Inspiring Stories and Downloading Your Learnings.

03

A Live Prototype is a chance to run your solution for a couple weeks out in the real world.

Though you’ve been getting feedback from the people you’re designing for all along, a Live Prototype is one of the most powerful ways to test your solution in the marketplace. Until now, your prototypes have been rough, and they’ve done only enough to convey the idea you wanted to test. A Live Prototype, however, gives you a chance to stress test your solution in real-world conditions. It can run from a few days to a few weeks, and is a chance to learn how your solution works in practice. Live Prototypes are all about understanding the feasibility and viabili-ty of your idea.

The �rst thing to do is to determine what it is you want to test in your Live Prototype. It could be the way that people �nd out about your solution or how your service will run or how your distribution model works. For example, will you be running a business out of a kiosk for a week to test a channel strategy?

Once you’ve decided on what you’re testing, sort out the logis-tics of your Live Prototype. Do you need a physical space, addi-tional sta�, uniforms, a permit, or anything else?

Live Prototyping

STATSA few days to multiple weeks

Level of Di�cultyHard

Materials NeededSpace, sta�, permits, or whatever it takes to run your solution in real market conditions

ParticipantsDesign team, key partners, additional sta�

PROCESS PHASE

INSPRIRATION

IDEATION

IMPLEMENTATION

STEPS

01

02

If you have the capacity, think about running a few Live Proto-types at once. This will allow you to test a variety of ideas quickly, and see how they work together, which may also be important

03

Never stop iterating. If something went wrong on Day 1, try a new approach on Day 2. Live Prototypes are all about learning quickly, iterating on the �y, and pushing your solution closer and closer to the real thing.

04

As always, capture feedback from the people you’re designing for.05

A quick, low-resolution prototype, a Storyboard can help you visualize your concept from start to �nish.

You don’t need to be a great artist to create a great Storyboard. By visually plotting out elements of your product or service, you can learn a lot about your idea. Not only will this method help you re�ne what your idea is, it can also reveal who will use it, where, and how. Like all prototypes, the idea here is to make something really rough as a way to help you think the idea through. It’s amazing what putting pen to paper can reveal.

With a partner, determine what it is you want to prototype. You don’t have to Storyboard the entire o�ering. Use it to test even one component of your idea, like an interaction, or how a customer �nds your product.

Spend no more than 30-45 minutes drawing how your ideas work. Use a series of comic book-style frames for your drawing. This will help you spotlight key moments and build a short narrative.

Storyboard

STATS60 Minutes

Level of Di�cultyEasy

Materials NeededPen, paper

ParticipantsDesign team

PROCESS PHASE

INSPRIRATION

IDEATION

IMPLEMENTATION

STEPS

01

02

Don’t get hung up on your drawing abilities. It’s more important that it helps you fully think through your concept than create something that looks beautiful.

03

Once you’re done, act out the Storyboard to your team for feedback.

04

Sit down with your team and map out what Success looks like. Setting key milestones will keep you on course and give you something to work toward.

In the course of the Implementation Phase you’ll think about Sta�ng your Project, creating a Funding Strategy, and making a Roadmap of your project timeline, and this is an opportunity to �gure out what success looks like. You’ll determine important milestones in the life of your solution and come to understand what succeeding looks like. Think about a variety of time hori-zons. What is success in the next two months, in the next year, in �ve years? Imagine success in terms of both your organization and the people you’re designing for. What does success look like in terms of how you’ve a�ected them?

Start by returning to your How Might We question. Use that as a lens to think about what success looks like.

Look at your Roadmap and �nd key delivery dates and mile-stones. Hitting those dates might be a good indicator of early success. How can you plan to make sure you stay on target?

De�ne Success

STATS90 Minutes Level of Di�cultyModerate

Materials NeededPen, Paper

ParticipantsDesign team, key partners, people you’re designing for

PROCESS PHASE

INSPRIRATION

IDEATION

IMPLEMENTATION

STEPS

01

02

Imagine what success would look like from di�erent angles. Maybe breaking even by a certain date makes sense from a business perspective. What about success in terms of your organizational operations? What about the perspective of the people you’re designing for?

03

Are there any external measures of success that you need to consider? Are funders or partners going to hold you accountable to certain standards? Plan for those as you De�ne Success.

04

You can re�ne how you want to De�ne Success as you undertake the Measure and Evaluate method. They’re certainly related and the one will feed the other.

05

Storytelling is an essential tool for creativity. This course can help you get past the powerpoint slides and make your stories and presentations more impactful. Learn to engage your audi-ence—whether it be your colleagues, clients, or a stadium of onlookers—and motivate people toward change by telling stories that sound and feel unmistakably human. Catalyze people toward action and start creating impact through the power of storytelling.

Preliminary StudyBefore creating your company’s or brand’s Storytelling, you must determine a set of information, which can be de�ned by the following order: company/brand (positioning), customers (seg-mentation) and goals.

Developing the Brie�ngThere is no perfect and infallible formula to create a good story, but we know that a good story is measured by the impact it has on people, and not because it ful�ls a list of requirements. All of the goals de�ned in the previous step should be a part of the brie�ng used to create the story.

Story Telling

STATS30-60 Minutes Level of Di�cultyModerate



PROCESS PHASE

INSPRIRATION

IDEATION

IMPLEMENTATION

STEPS

01

02

Starting the introductionThe introduction is a key element in the story’s structure. It is when you pinpoint the character, the location, the environment and the situation in which he stands before “something” hap-pens. Here, the process of creating empathy in your audience or, in this case, in the potential customers begins. At this stage, it is vital to create a strong connection because relating to the char-acter will get your viewer (customer) interested in your story and continue paying attention to what is being communicated.

03

De�ning the problemThe presentation of the problem should follow the introduction because presenting it will ensure that curiosity acts as a linking element between the audience and the story. This problem can be a range of di�erent things, from a person’s daily life to the existence of less probable circumstances.

04

O�ering helpWe have now reached the moment that will help compa-nies/brands to ful�l their goal. It is the moment we introduce the brand/company as the big modifying agent that will help your “persona” to solve the problem, which before seemed impossible to �gure out.

05

A wireframe is a visual representation of content layout in a design. It helps you organize and simplify the elements and content within a space (web or mobile) and is an essential tool in the designing process.

Like the foundation of a building, it has to be fundamentally strong before you decide whether to give it an expensive coat of paint.

Bene�ts of wireframing :Creating a wireframe gives the client, developer and designer an opportunity to take a critical look at the structure of the website and allows them to make revisions easily early in the process.

It gives the client an early, close-up view of the site design (or redesign).

It can inspire the designer, resulting in a more �uid creative process.

Wireframe

STATS30-60 Minutes Level of Di�cultyModerate



PROCESS PHASE

INSPRIRATION

IDEATION

IMPLEMENTATION

STEPS

01

02

It gives the developer a clear picture of the elements that they will need to code.03

It makes the call to action on each page clear.04

It is easy to adapt and can show the layout of many sections of the website.05

Crazy 8’s is a core sprint method. It’s a fast sketching exercise that challenges people to sketch 8 ideas in 8 minutes (not 8 variations of one idea or 8 steps of one idea, but 8 distinct ideas). The goal is to push beyond your �rst idea, which is frequently not the most innovative, and generate a wide variety of solutions to your challenge.

Some team members without a design background might �nd this method intimidating at �rst, so it’s helpful to reassure every-one that these are rough sketches. They don’t need to be perfect or beautiful— they just need to communicate the idea. If neces-sary, you could even hold a quick “how to sketch” tutorial session. It’s also important to remember that the ideas don’t have to be great- the exercise is about quieting the inner critic and giving space to our more creative impulses. Weird, impossible, and impractical ideas often give way to truly inspired ones. It’s called Crazy 8's for a reason-- go nuts!

Crazy 8’s

STATS8 Minutes


Materials NeededCostumes help, but aren't entirely necessary


PROCESS PHASE

INSPRIRATION

STEPS

01

IDEATION

IMPLEMENTATION

Take your paper and fold it into 8 sections.

Set the timer for 8 minutes.02

Each team member sketches one idea in each rectangle.03

When the timer goes o�, put your pens down.04

This handy worksheet can help you think through some key aspects of a social enterprise, service, or business.

As you think through your idea and start to test it, you’ll also need to remain cognizant of your business model. A good way to keep it front and center in your mind is by using a Business Model Canvas. This simple sheet asks you key questions like what’s your revenue stream, what are key partnerships you’ll need to forge, and what resources are vital to your operation. You might even use a Business Model Canvas several times in the process as elements are bound to change as you re�ne your idea and move toward implementing it.

Business Model Canvas

STATS90 Minutes


Materials NeededPens, a Business Model Canvas worksheet


PROCESS PHASE

INSPRIRATION

STEPS

01

IDEATION

IMPLEMENTATION

Download and print out a Business Model Canvas for each of your team members. Here’s a good one.

Sit down with your team and start to �ll out the sections of the Business Model Canvas. When you �ll it out the �rst time, expect for there to be holes. It’s okay not to know exactly how every-thing will work.

02

You may need to pause �lling out the sheet to get more informa-tion. That’s �ne.03

When you’re done, post the Business Model Canvas in your workspace. Like everything else in the human-centered design process, you’ll re�ne it. Consider doing a new one as your project progresses.

04

Any promise, which a company makes, of the value to be deliv-ered to its customers, is known as a value proposition. It is essen-tially the reason given to a prospect for purchasing or consum-ing the company’s product/service. Creating, re�ning, and then testing these value propositions is, therefore, called value propo-sition design.

Value Proposition

STATS90 Minutes


Materials NeededPens, a Business Model Canvas worksheet


PROCESS PHASE

INSPRIRATION

STEPS

01

IDEATION

IMPLEMENTATION

Conduct a thorough market research When attempting to improve your value proposition design skills, your top priority should be conducting a thorough research in order to identify customer pains and needs. Only then will you be able to �gure out the job(s) that you wish to get done for your customers through your product/service. The ideal value proposition design, i.e. an o�ering that minimizes custom-er pains and maximizes their gains, will automatically result if you try to understand your customers and empathize with them.

Ensure a good �t. In order to improve your value proposition design skills, you must ensure these three types of �t: prob-lem-solution, product-market, and business model �t. In simple words, you must have evidence that your potential customers really do care about the jobs that you intend to get done for them, the pains you wish to minimize, and the gains that you plan to maximize. Also, you need to make sure that your product/service actually provides the value that you intend to deliver and it’s not just a stated bene�t. However, most of all you should be sure that the value proposition you have designed is a good �t for your business model i.e. it is a pro�table and scalable idea.

02

Make prototyping a habit. It is always better to ensure that once it is launched, your customers will be convinced of your product/service’s superiority over other substitutes. Therefore, you must test your assumptions and hypothesis through proto-typing. Developing rough and inexpensive model or sometimes

03

The critique phase in Design Studio is a formal but �exible framework used to highlight strong ideas worthy of further expansion while discarding weaker ideas in a safe, friendly environment. The aim of critique is to provide actionable and positive counter-arguments to those being made in the sketch-es. A more advanced framework for design critique than only answering the question “Does this solution solve the problem?” is Who, What, and Why explained below.

In this 3 minute critique timebox, the group will critique your sketch based on (a few) of the following questions. During this time, you can brie�y answer their questions and feedback (defend your sketch) but make sure there is ample time for everyone that want to critique.

3 Minutes Critique

STATS6 Minutes




PROCESS PHASE

INSPRIRATION

STEPS

01

IDEATION

IMPLEMENTATION

Who: Does the sketch solve a problem for the intended audi-ence? Does the solution speak to the customer or does it speak to the designer’s ego?

What: What is the argument being made by the solution and is it e�ective in achieving its goal? In other words, is it a compelling argument?

02

Why: When sketching potential solutions, each participant will choose di�erent angles of attack based on his own stance (or prejudices). Understanding that stance—the focus of attention or, in essence, the Why something is important to solve—is as important as the What.

03

Service blueprints are diagrams that visualize organizational processes in order to optimize how a business delivers a user experience. They are the primary tool used in service design.

Similar to journey mapping, service blueprinting should be the result of a collaborative process informed by well-de�ned goals and built on research. Successful service blueprints drive align-ment and organizational action.

Service blueprint

STATS90 Minutes




PROCESS PHASE

INSPRIRATION

STEPS

01

IDEATION

IMPLEMENTATION

Find support: Build a core crossdisciplinary team and establish stakeholder support.

De�ne the goal: De�ne the scope and align on the goal of the blueprinting initiative.02

Gather research: Gather research from customers, employees, and stakeholders using a variety of methods.03

Map the blueprint: Use this research to �ll in a low-�delity blue-print.04

Re�ne and distribute: Add additional content and re�ne towards a high-�delity blueprint that can be distributed amongst clients and stakeholders.

05

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