Ideation Workshop.
~ Generating ideas and solutions through collaborative team work.
OVERVIEW
Project background and scope
My team and I were tasked with redesigning one of the company’s blogs. Rather than addressing the entire project, I’ll focus on the Ideation phase of the Design Thinking process.
In this section, I’ll walk through how I designed and facilitated a collaborative workshop with the UX and Content teams. I took the initiative to propose the workshop, and it was entrusted to me due to my strong communication and interpersonal skills, which played a key role in ensuring the session was both successful and productive.
Key Responsibilities & Goals:
-
The goal of this workshop was to generate ideas and solutions for redesigning one of our blogs, with a key focus on increasing lead generation through a strategically placed CTA for downloading a guide.
-
I designed a collaborative workshop with the UX and the Content Team and I moderated and guided the session.
-
I gathered the outcome of the activities and presented the results to the UX and Content team.
Client:
ICS Learn
Tools:
Miro, Confluence, pen and paper
Role:
UX Designer and Workshop Facilitator
Timeline:
2 hours
DESIGNING THE WORKSHOP
Choosing participants
Since this workshop was designed to brainstorm ideas to redesign our blogs, the session focused on collaborating with the content team.
Why: The content team manages the blog. They write, organise, and publish the posts. Given their deep involvement and expertise, we wanted to gather their insights and ideas, as they are at the heart of the blog’s success. It was an excellent opportunity to involve the entire team, not just the manager, and ensure that everyone's voice was heard.
Agenda
After researching various design and ideation activities, I structured an agenda to guide the delivery of the ideation workshop.
-
Introduction and Goals review
-
Ideation Activities
-
Blog Research presentation
-
Mood Board
-
Affinity Diagram
-
Crazy-8
-
-
Discussion and Outcome
Setting up a date
Once I had a clear plan for the workshop schedule and activities, it was time to set a date.
Although we have the technology to run workshops online, I was keen to meet in person at the office if possible. I find that face-to-face sessions make it easier to read expressions, share physical documents, and collaborate on sketches. However, one of our team members was working overseas, so I decided to set up the session using Miro to ensure full participation.
One of the activities involved creating a mood board, which required some preparation from the team. I gave them one week to look into two blogs they liked, allowing each participant to present their findings during the workshop.
THE WORKSHOP
Blog Research
For the first exercise, I asked the team to research and share blogs they liked. This served as a great icebreaker and helped us ease into the topic.
Each participant took turns presenting their chosen blogs, explaining what they liked about them and highlighting elements we could potentially adapt or emulate for our own blog redesign.
Mood Board
We took some screenshots of various blogs and key sections, then put them together into a mood board. We roughly organised the images into sections that aligned with our own blog structure, grouping them based on where they could potentially be implemented.
Affinity Diagram
After reviewing the mood board, we moved on to an affinity diagram exercise.
According to the Nielsen Norman Group, ‘Affinity diagramming is a flexible mapping activity that can be used across various stages of the UX process, from initial research to final design refinement. It’s used by individuals or groups to quickly organise observations or ideas from research, concepts that surface in design-ideation sessions or ideas about UX strategy and vision.’
Using insights from our existing blog and the team’s mood board suggestions, we brainstormed a series of ideas on post-its notes and grouped them into relevant categories, helping us identify patterns and opportunities for improvement.
Crazy-8
The final exercise was a Crazy-8s session, where I asked the team to brainstorm ways to enhance the blog post page using a rapid sketching technique. We chose to sketch a mobile version, as these devices generate the highest traffic among our users. To ease any pressure, I reassured them that while the traditional exercise involves creating eight sketches in eight minutes, it was perfectly fine if they felt satisfied with fewer ideas.
Since most participants were not used to sketching, I used the homepage of one of our companies as an example. I quickly sketched it to demonstrate how I draw elements like images or blocks of text, providing them with a clear guide.
After the exercise, we shared and compared ideas. Although a couple of colleagues initially felt nervous, the session turned out to be both fun and highly productive. It sparked some fantastic ideas—particularly around integrating a ‘Download Now’ CTA within the blog post page.
OUTCOME
Results
-
This workshop played a key role in shaping the design of a new CTA on blog post pages, aimed at improving user engagement and increasing course guide downloads.
-
This workshop turned out to be an excellent brainstorming session, leaving the team feeling motivated and engaged in the design process. It provided a great opportunity to listen to my colleagues' insights and gather their ideas.
-
The feedback of the team was positive, with many expressing that "we should do this more often."