5 steps to create a design day masterpiece
Trade Me design day happens twice a year and is a great way for all of
the design team here to catch up, get on the same page and ideate ways we can move forward together.
This is our suggested process to take a blank canvas and paint the future.
You’ll need the following things:
1 x open space to let the ideas flow.
1 x team of 31 designers from different backgrounds.
4 x Wrestlers to show you the ropes.
6 x volunteers to put together the food for the day.
Ready? Let’s begin!
Step 1: Bring everything together
Like an artist preparing their palette of colours, unite the whole team of designers into one space. The team are the key to bringing life and colour to this masterpiece. Be prepared to mix the team up so they can form new friendships, share knowledge and understand each other better. We suggest organically mixing the old and the new, the out of towners and the locals, the friends and the yet-to-meets.
Step 2: Paint the scene
Imagine the space as your canvas and the furniture as a series of large brush strokes. Paint the scene so the team have a combination of large and small spaces to gather around. Small spaces (i.e. 1–2 couches) encourage deeper one-to-one discussions whereas larger spaces (i.e. 6 or more stools around a table) encourage the bouncing of ideas. Let the team explore at their leisure — you want them to get nice and comfortable. We suggest adding in some delicious dietary-friendly food to satisfy any rumbling stomachs.
Step 3: Bring in the experts to project ideas
Once you’re happy with how things are progressing, bring in the resident experts to help inspire and project some fresh thinking. These experts help guide the direction for your masterpiece like a mentor who’s done it before. We strongly suggest the friendly people from Wrestler (a local content creation company doing great things globally). They shared learnings from a variety of work, showing us what can be and what is yet to be done. Ben (pictured below) also clarified the differences between virtual reality (acting within an immersive virtual space) and augmented reality (projecting virtual objects into a physical space).
Step 4: Provide the team with tools to collaborate
Inspired and full of possibilities, it is time to bring this masterpiece to life. The team’s task is to now paint the canvas with ideas and details together. Start by dividing the space into four sections that each have a unique challenge. Encourage the team to attempt all sections in any order. We suggest drawing animals in Google tilt brush, exploring the real life implementations of augmented reality, getting immersed as a robot in virtual reality and a having a station for recording any future ideas.
To begin a section, pair each designer with someone they don’t typically work with. These new mixes strengthen your team and help them know more about who they could work with in the future. We suggest assisting these pairs with ice breakers; such as what’s the longest you’ve gone without sleep and why? (We found many relate to going sleepless for multiple days while studying!).
Step 5: Let the creativity flow
Your job as a facilitator is done. It’s time for you to join in on the fun, explore the scene and paint in the details with the team. We suggest documenting the results with photo and videos.
Here are our findings from each of the challenges.
- The icebreakers helped connect our pairs and made it easier to discover which animal best embodies how each other behaves. Recreating that animal using Google tilt brush was challenging as for many of us, it was our first time painting in a 3D space. We would love to have spent more time exploring the possibilities it provides.
- Augmented reality has many real-life possibilities, such as placing a virtual item(s) you’re looking to purchase in your own home e.g. a new couch or table. While looking through a phone you can walk around your own space and view the item from any angle, as if it was really there.
- Once immersed in virtual reality you can see the opportunities it creates for gaming, exploring spaces or practicing skills. Devices like the HTC vive (pictured below) transport you into new virtual spaces that respond to the movements of your head, body and hands. This feedback loop between real and virtual means you can practice flying a plane or perform surgery without any of the real life complications.
- At the ideas station, we channelled all these learnings, capturing ways we could improve future experiences e.g. exploring open homes in another city from your current living room.
Stand back and have a look at what you’ve created together
Here at Trade Me, it’s important for us to think about the now with an eye towards the future. This is how we can make life better for Kiwis lives in a billion tiny ways. Technology is evolving and it is key to know how we can leverage it to provide the best experience for our members. It always helps to have fun while doing so too!
Let us know how you go creating your own design day masterpiece — does it look anything like ours?
