DESIGN JAM:BRAINSTORM INNOVATIVE IDEAS BY FOCUSING ON THE USER

17 June, 2016

Alex Humphreys, JSTOR Labs@abhumphreys

AAUP Annual Conference 2016

JSTOR is a not-for-profit digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources.

Ithaka S+R is a not-for-profit research and consulting service that helps academic, cultural, and publishing communities thrive in the digital environment.

Portico is a not-for-profit preservation service for digital publications, including electronic journals, books, and historical collections.

ITHAKA is a not-for-profit organization that helps the academic community use digital technologies to preserve the

scholarly record and to advance research and teaching in sustainable ways.

JSTOR Labs works with partner publishers, libraries and labs to create tools for researchers, teachers and students that are immediately useful – and a little bit magical.

labs.jstor.org

WHAT’S A DESIGN JAM* AND WHY WOULD I WANT ONE?

• A design jam is a structured brainstorming activity

• You don’t want to decide too quick what you’re doing

• The more ideas you can generate, the more you have to choose from

* Also called a “design studio.”

Our goal:

Create a new, digital product for local historians in your region.

STEP 1: UNDERSTAND THE USER

Exercise: Pain/Gain*

Time: 10-20 minutes

Materials: Post-itsSharpies

Objective: Understand user’s motivations

1. Brainstorm answers:

Gain: - What does success look

like?

Pain: - What obstacles stand in

their way?

2. Capture each answer on a post-it and put on either Pain or Gain side of board.

* http://gamestorming.com/games-for-design/pain-gain-map/

STEP 2: CREATE AS MANY IDEAS AS POSSIBLE

Exercise: 8x8

Time: 8 minutes to draw15 minutes to

share

Materials: PencilsPaper with 8

squares

Objective: Create lots of ideas!

1. Working individually, draw 8 ideas in 8 minutes

2. Share your ideas

3. Rinse, repeat

x 2

GUIDELINES FOR DESIGN JAMMING

1. You must draw!

2. If stuck, go back to the user. - How can you help them better reach their goal or avoid an obstacle?

3. Don’t worry… - about feasibility – there’ll be time for that later. - whether it’s a good idea – just get it down.

4. On the second round, steal other people’s ideas.

STEP 3: AGREE ON IDEAS FOR FURTHER EXPLORATION

Exercise: Dot-voting

Time: 5-10 minutes

Materials: Dot-stickers

Objective: Agree quickly & painlessly

1. Everyone gets 3 dot-stickers

2. Each person puts their stickers next to the ideas that most intrigue them

3. You put more than 1 sticker next to the same idea

THANK YOU

Alex HumphreysDirector, JSTOR LabsITHAKA

http://labs.jstor.org@abhumphreysalex.humphreys@ithaka.org

Further Reading• The Lean Startup, Eric Ries• Business Model

Generation, Osterwalder & Pigneur

• Marty Cagan’s Blog: svpg.com/articles

• Sprint, Knapp, Zeratsky, & Kowitz

• Gamestorming, Gray, Brown & Macanufo

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