Process: A Design Sprint

2/4/2020

Our first real challenge to tackle in Design 100 at the University of Auckland was something I'd never heard of - a design sprint. Taking students right the way from initial conception, through to a finished prototype, in little more than an hour.

Now, cramming the entire design process into one hour is bound to come with compromise, but I nonetheless found the task really helpful, because it forced us to keep our minds moving and ideas flowing.

We started off with the a few minutes to design our ideal wallet. The operative there being our. And that went about as you'd expect; mostly standard designs. But it got the mind moving.

Then the situation was turned on it's head, when we were told that we would instead be designing a wallet for the classmate sitting opposite us - now that's more exciting!

We moved through the complete design process, alternating turns with our 'client' partners. Prokhorova, A. (2019, May 27) In the interview stage I discovered that my partner, Terall, already had a wallet that he liked the basic design and function of, but felt the aesthetics *ahem...* left something to be desired.

Throughout this process we were encouraged to refine our interview findings, until we could define a specific goal, or need to be met. From there we were ready to begin putting pencil to paper and sketch up initial ideas.

The next stage was getting stakeholder feedback. Presenting a range of options to our partner and hearing what they did and didn't like.

I had an interesting challenge here, because together we had determined that Terall found that his current wallet was already meeting all his functional requirements, and he didn't want to change that aspect. So in my instance, this involved talking through my ideas for updated shape and dimensions, aesthetic choices, and importantly, ideas I had about materials choice, to address concerns with durability.

We settled on black leather, with a sleek, reversed, waterproof-style zip, a slightly boxier shape, and roughout leather around the perimeter.

Roughout leather has the rough "suede side" turned out and serves both to improve the durability of this high wear area, and to create a distinct visual border for a slightly punchy look.

The final prototype was made with basic craft supplies, but it communicated the important ideas to my partner. It even featured a sliding zip. By the end, we both walked away wishing we actually had the newly designed wallets in our pockets!

#Design100 #DesignUoA

Citations and Sources:

Prokhorova, A. (2019, May 27). What is the design process? - and why every designer should know about it. Retrieved April 2, 2020, from https://uxdesign.cc/what-is-the-design-process-and-why-every-designer-should-know-about-it-baab017eed82