In this tutorial we will go through the UX Design tools used on Day 2 of the Sprint Process:

Lightning Demos

The objective here is to look at state-of-the-art solutions to the problem you’re trying to solve, including your own company’s. 3 minutes per demo. Capture good ideas with a quick drawing. One of the key ideas here is to Remix and Improve since some of the best innovations are built on existing ideas.

The Four-Step Sketch

Anyone can sketch, and everyone in the room will in this Four-Step Sketching exercise:

• Notes: Silently walk around the room and gather notes for 20 minutes
• Ideas: Privately jot down some rough ideas and circle the most promising ones. 20 minutes.
• Crazy 8’s: This is the most fun part of the process. Fold a sheet of paper into 8’s Take one minute per square to sketch a variation of one of your best ideas. Spend one minute per sketch.
• Solution Sketch: Create a 3 panel storyboard by sketching in three sticky notes on a sheet of paper. 30-90 minutes. Key idea here is to work alone together: Group brainstorms don’t work — instead, each person takes their own time to develop solutions on their own. Make sure it’s:
• Self-explanatory
• Anonymous.
• Ugly is okay, but words matter
• Give it a catchy title

Recruiting Customers for Interviews

Here are a few tips on this:

• One person should be in charge of recruiting
• Recruit on Craigslist by posting a generic ad that appeals to a wide audience, offers compensation (say a $100 gift card), and links to the screener survey.
• Write a screener survey: Key here is to ask questions that help you identify the target customers, while not revealing what you’re looking for. So if you’re looking for working professsionals in their 20s, ask them about their age and what they do, not if they’re a working professional in their 20s :)
• Recruit customers through your network: If you need experts or existing customers.
• Make sure to follow up with emails and phone calls over the week to make sure 5 interviewees show up on Day 5.

In the next tutorial we’ll look at tools used on Day 3 like deciding which solutions to prototype and making a storyboard.