Design Thinking Workshop
Just as I was getting settled at this gig, our CEO asked me to give a Tech Talk about Design Thinking. Tech Talks at iZotope are hour-long weekly presentations where team members share topics close to their heart with the rest of the company. Let’s just say that the prospect of spending an hour talking in front of the entire company did not fill me with the same sense of anticipation as, say, the prospect of spending the same hour in front of a conveyor belt of sushi. It also did not jive with the “do, don’t tell” approach I wanted to bring to design at iZotope. I rummaged my brain for a way out, and after clearing the cobwebs and dusting off some bibelots in the old memory palace, I remembered a workshop I had participated in at intelligent.ly called the Wallet Project. An exercise developed by the Stanford d.school (that’s d. for design because they are fancy like that), the Wallet Project takes participants through the entire process of designing an ideal wallet in 90 minutes. You can find the details of the exercise on the d.school web site. Since iZotope is an audio company, I modified the exercise to focus on designing musical instruments. I divided my Tech Talk into two segments, one was the 90 minutes hands-on exercise, and the next day participants presented their projects to the company and I gave a short keynote about Design Thinking principles.
The first step was to procure some art supplies by raiding the pantry, supply closet, and Target.
Participants were divided in pairs. I had one designer serve as an assistant and to be available to fill a spot in case of an odd number of people.
Participants interviewed each other to find out the challenges their partner was having performing music, and the type of instrument that would make the process easier.
They used the craft supplies to create a prototype of that instrument and get feedback from their partner. Here are some iZotope products you should look forward to:
The exercise attracted members of different departments, not only designers and product managers. It helped to demonstrate that great ideas are all around us and that it is the job of designers and product managers to unearth them and nurture them into viable products. I was really impressed with all the creativity that flows through the entire iZotope family.
