Alternative plays: Forced Fit, Painkillers and Vitamins
Follow-up plays: Persuasive Patterns Impact Mapping
See also: Forced Fit, Painkillers and Vitamins, Persuasive Patterns Impact Mapping
Prep time
5 minutes
Run time
60-90 minutes
Group size
3-8
Why: Postponing ideation with persuasive patterns fosters a wider, unbiased spectrum of ideas, unguided by card limitations
When: Use when you are seeking fresh, unanchored perspectives on a design problem
This workshop exercise is part of the Workshop Patterns printed card deck.
A collection of workshop exercises that will help you ditch dull meetings and facilitate with confidence. It will help you master the design process and have more productive time with your team. The card deck will be ready for purchase in the end of 2025 and is now undergoing rigorous testing.
Reserve your deck!By introducing the persuasive patterns later in the process, this approach minimizes the immediate influence and bias preselecting persuasive patterns might have on the participants’ thought processes, leading to a more diverse range of initial ideas.
This exercise is tailored to maximize the creative potential of participants by initially emphasizing their own ideas and then strategically using persuasive patterns cards to refine and enhance these concepts.
When the cards are introduced after the initial ideation phase, participants engage with them more critically, considering how these concepts can enhance or modify their existing ideas rather than dictating the direction of their thinking from the outset. By revisiting and refining initial ideas with persuasive patterns, participants practice the essential skill of adapting and evolving ideas based on new information and insights. While the exercise starts with freeform ideation, the subsequent introduction of the cards underscores the value these tools can bring in refining and strengthening design concepts.
Instructions for running this play
Before the exercise. Prepare a clearly defined design challenge or problem statement for the group to work on. Ensure it’s specific enough to guide their thinking, yet open-ended to allow for creativity.
- Introduce the exercise
Begin by introducing the challenge of “forcing a fit”. Clarify that the purpose is to encourage innovative thinking by using cards that might not seem directly relevant to the problem. - Divide into groups
Split the participants into small groups (3-4 members per group works well) to foster collaboration and diverse idea generation. - Present the design challenge
Clearly present the design challenge or problem statement to the groups. - Distribute Persuasive Patterns cards randomly
Hand out a random selection of 5 persuasive pattern cards to each group. These should be cards that, at first glance, do not seem to fit directly with the design challenge. Allow a few minutes for the groups to react and discuss their initial thoughts on the cards they received. - Ideation
Allot a Timebox of 10-20 minutes to brainstorm ideas for the design challenge using only the cards they were given. Emphasize that they should strive to incorporate at least 3 of the cards handed out into their solution, no matter how unconventional. Let them write the title of each solution on sticky notes - one idea per note. Encourage participants to discuss and debate how the principles on the cards can be adapted or interpreted to fit the design challenge. - Present ideas
Have each group Playback their ideas to the rest of the participants. Encourage them to explain how they used the cards to shape their solutions. After each presentation, Timebox 5 minutes of feedback and discussion for each group. This can include questions from other groups and insights from the facilitator. - **Discuss adaptability
**Facilitate a full-group discussion about how the generated ideas, despite being unconventional, could be adapted or normalized to fit more practical contexts.
Consider discussing how this exercise can be applied to their future work, emphasizing the importance of creative flexibility and adaptability in design.
This workshop exercise is part of the Workshop Patterns printed card deck.
A collection of workshop exercises that will help you ditch dull meetings and facilitate with confidence. It will help you master the design process and have more productive time with your team. The card deck will be ready for purchase in the end of 2025 and is now undergoing rigorous testing.
Reserve your deck!