Workshop Exercises: Ideate

Design Charrette

Collaboratively sketch designs to explore ideas across disciplines

Alternative plays: Crazy Eights, Round Robin

Follow-up plays: How Might We, Mash-up, Round Robin

Timing: Discovery

Run time
30-45 minutes

Group size
4-40+

Why: foster collaboration and holistic thinking by exploring ideas across multiple disciplines through sketching

When: During the early stages of a project when diverse perspectives can inform the creative process

Instructions for running this play

Frame the problem. Agree on the challenge or question you want to explore as a group. How Might We…* is a great way to frame the question.
Distribute paper and pens to all participants.
Allot a Timebox of 5 minutes for each participant to silently sketch his or her ideas. Encourage sketching multiple ideas.
Let each participant Playback their sketched ideas and their reasoning to the group, Timeboxed for 2 minutes.
Let the group ask questions to each sketcher in a Timebox of one minute.
Collect all the sketches.
If you are working with multiple groups, consider passing ideas from one group to the other, Round Robin style.

Master and adapt the play to fit your context and needs.

Let each round focus on a different aspect of the problem, promoting diverse perspectives

Run better workshops with Learning Loop card decks.

Every card deck includes workshop patterns, so your team can put the methods to work in your next session.

Running behavioral design workshops? The Persuasive Patterns Workshop Playbook (PDF) shows you how to design and run them.

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