Design: Drawing from Experience
Within the first 20-something #HackOfKindness events that Martin Downes and I delivered, having already spent an intensive full day of mini workshops (asset mapping, challenge mapping, ideation, solutions mapping and idea-scrutiny exercises), we were finding that by 3pm the energy levels of our participants would naturally drop. It became such an expected routine that having a ‘sugar’ break at 3pm became standard practice.
That was until I discovered the unexpected power of drawing!
I didn’t consider drawing in our events at first; most of our outcomes are services, projects, campaigns and networks; I personally associated design drawing with physical products and blueprints. I couldn’t be more wrong!
I thought that simply by using flipcharts and post-it notes on each task was enough to energise our participants in our practical workshops… and it was initially; as we exited the Zoom fatigue of the pandemic the amount of people who told me that they were actually excited to finally work in groups with flipchart paper and post-its notes was surprisingly unexpected… but also sad in a way that something so trivial had been missed.
Then I read about how important drawing is in the design process in David Kelley’s book “Creative Confidence”. Sceptical at first as to how it would fit into our project/service design context, we implemented a drawing task just before the 3pm activity at the next event. Although we offered the usual 10 minute break with coffee and cake, no-one battered an eyelid — they just kept working!
The activity has brought such a difference to the events that it is now embedded as standard. Not only is it a great energy lift, but it is also a fantastic way of conveying an idea and fulfils the need to create a prototype; as our hacks take place over a single day and generally result in an outcome that is not a physical product, we’re limited as to what we can deliver as a prototype (we have no time to source or prepare materials as we have no clue as to what ideas will be generated, nor is it possible to find willing volunteers to test services on). Prior to embedding our drawing exercise, we would go straight to pitching after extensive scrutiny and iteration. That was not ideal as both Martin and I are well aware of how important prototyping is in the design process, but at the time we had no way of doing it.
Therefore, we now ask our attendees to storyboard how the project/service/network/campaign will work in a comic book style storyboard as their prototype.
“A picture is worth a thousand words, and the same is true for design. Sketches and visualizations help designers communicate their ideas to clients, team members, and stakeholders.” Don Norman, Designer
As our hackathons are different in the way that they are strictly non-competitive, we also ask each team to take their idea ‘on tour’ (a la world cafe style), to other teams to ascertain feedback. Again, this made the presentation of ideas much easier to convey (and also provides some laughs along the way). Furthermore, the drawing exercise has also provided us with the opportunity to take the feedback exercise to another level; given a suitable venue, we’ll create an art gallery of the images for individual attendees to provide feedback, rather than as a team.
Furthermore, at the end of each hack we ask each team to deliver a 2 minute elevator pitch. That’s it; no mention of how to present, use of prompts, technology etc, just “pitch your prototype idea”. However, since introducing this activity, EVERY group has automatically introduced their hand-drawn image at their pitch and that speaks volumes how useful they find their artwork is to express their idea to the advisory panel and fellow participants.
“Drawing is the designer’s way of thinking on paper. It allows them to explore and refine ideas before committing to a final design solution.” Michael Bierut, Graphic Designer
So to end —I’ve discovered that simply to get participants drawing is an amazing asset to any interactive workshop; it brings excitement, energy and is a fantastic way to express an idea or concept… but what if you can’t draw? Well, neither can I! I just took Kelley’s advice from “Creative Confidence”; if you can draw a line, a square, a circle and a triangle, then you can draw any image… as tested and delivered in the opening image of this blog!
Until next time!
If you’d like to find out more about our #HackOfKindess events, click here.
