Workshop methods and design thinking
You can boost ideas into innovations by organising innovation workshops. Innovation workshops are a form of participatory co-creation, based on design thinking and using co-design methods. Here you can find descriptions of a few workshop methods. We include suggestions on what purpose they can be used for and how the work proceeds.
The timeframe for the presented methods has been optimised for 3 hours, but the time schedule can be adjusted to fit the workshop challenge. The number of participants can vary. Participants can be divided into groups; the optimal group size is 3-6 depending on the situation and the challenge. There should be a sufficient number of facilitators, about 1:3.
A well-organized workshop can be an opportunity for anyone to evolve. Meeting experts from different fields, or working with colleagues in new ways, can be excellent for your thinking! Browse the methods and pick your favorite!
Before beginning to work with the theme of the workshop, it is good to do a warm-up exercise to get the attendants into a non-stressed and open mindset and to familiarize them with each other.
Four tips on how to break the ice! (PDF)
635 Brainstorming with five points voting
Backcasting
Short guides (PDF): Backcasting #1 & Backcasting #2
Detailed descriptions: Backcasting #1. (PDF) & Backcasting #2. (PDF)
Use of the methods
The workshops can have different purposes such as idea generation, testing products or services and road mapping future projects. Different brainstorming techniques are useful for generating ideas. The Six thinking hats and backcasting methods can be adapted for idea generation and product testing. The methods can also be used for analysing results or creating a roadmap. The table below shows what the methods can be used for.
In the workshops, participants work as a team. Workshops are efficient for finding new solutions, co-operating creatively and building trust and networking possibilities. Their strength lies in collecting a wide spectrum of insights from the participants and strengthening their commitment to the solution they have created.
Several workshop methods were tested during the IRM-Tool project in which maritime industry and creative field representatives cooperated.
In case you want to find an artist to co-operate with, contacting a local arts promotion center is a good idea. Taike.fi is a good starting point in Finland. Hashtags used in this project: #irmtool #luovameriteollisuus #maritimecreativity #kreativsjofart #taideosanaorg #asiantuntijanataiteilija #taidekehittää
Design thinking and service design as starting points for innovation
Using a design thinking approach is one of the starting points of innovation projects. Service design is based on design thinking, which means a human-centered approach to overcome different development challenges related to trying to understand the users and all the circumstances affecting the phenomenon. It is also a mindset; thinking outside the box and finding new ways to approach issues by rethinking, questioning the conventional ways, brainstorming and co-designing. It also means involving different stakeholders in the innovation work.
In design thinking, a problem is approached from a design perspective. Having a holistic approach is important in order to understand connections between people, things and systems by looking closely and from a distance, as well as from different angles. The idea of understanding experiences and feelings, as well as finding the real needs, is essential. Fast experimenting in practice (prototyping and “fast failing”) is a fundamental starting point for design thinking
Design thinking is a part of a company’s or organisation’s capability to produce new content, develop the business by anticipating and prototyping, as well as carrying out development work across sectoral and organisational boundaries. Design thinking enables problem-solving activities that take advantage of multi-disciplinary expertise by using creative, visual, functional and concretising methods. Design thinking and design methods enable new solutions and practices from the perspective of all staff members, not just from the educated designers’ point of view. The aim of design thinking is to scale and produce a lot of innovations.
An iterative service design process is depicted by The Design Council in UK as a double diamond, and it usually contains at least following stages: Discover, Define, Develop and Deliver.
Below you can find some links related to the methods, and the instructions are also useful for the workshops: