10x10 Sketch Method

WTF ?

The 10x10 Sketch Method is a technique for making early concept generation sketching more efficient in use of time than a method that stresses finished sketches early in the design process. This technique allows more time to explore ideas and so stresses the quality of thinking and the final solution. The 10x10 Sketch Method involves creating ten or more sketches (per team) to solve the design challenge. It's all about creating a bunch of cool ideas to solve your design challenge.

Why Use this Method ?

1. It allows more exploration of alternative ideas in a shorter time
2. May lead to a final concept which is a better design than traditional approaches.
3. Prevents sketches from becoming too detailed in the mind of the designer and more important than the quality of the final design solution.
4. Focuses on the number of ideas generated and really gets people thinking/imagining.

Challenges

1. This method really takes discipline - think visually.
2. First few ideas will come out easily but will get much harder to hit the goal of 10 thumbnails.
3. Keep time limit intentionally short to force creative thinking and keep it rough!

Resources Needed

• Paper
• Fine Line Pens (Black)
• Sharpie Markers (Black)

How to Use this Method ?

1. Find a starting point for ideation and consider if and how you will bring insights into the method (ie, empathy maps or key findings).
2. Consider a multi-disciplinary team so you can get lots of different perspectives (this might include people who know the background, people with no preconceptions, SME, engineering, people who will deliver the product, users, management, etc.).
3. After you have decided on the group design challenge (e.g., a “How might we …?” question) and warmed up, divide the group into teams of 3–5 people.
4. Ask them to roughly sketch different concepts that address the design challenge. They should draw rough pictures, which may don’t use words to provide explanation. Each team should generate 10 or more sketches in total. Tell them not to discuss the ideas, but to work individually and silently, drawing one sketch at a time on one piece of paper and then laying each one in the center of the table so others can look at it. Emphasize on rough sketches!
5. Give the group about 5 minutes for the exercise . Keep the time very short, so they are forced to produce simple, rough sketches. Give more time for more complex problems, but keep it short enough to challenge the participants and make them feel the urgency.
6. Monitor the time and when the time is up, tell the participants to quickly share their own sketches with their table. The entire table (not the whole room) needs to understand what each of the 10 sketches represents.
7. Ask each team to nominate one of their sketches which seems most intriguing, and place it in the middle of the table. The other sketches should be temporarily put to one side. Don’t lose the others!
8. Repeat the first round with the chosen sketch as the starting point, making 10 variations of this. If the group need help understanding “variations,” you might mention reframing the problem by modifying the scale, the persona, the purpose, the timing, the technology, the material, the direction, the location.
9. Ask the participants to again quickly share their new sketches with their table.
10. They can now also bring back the sketches from the first round which were laid aside. With the results of two rounds — one broad, and one deep — they now have around 20 explicit ideas to take into idea selection.

Tips & Tricks

• Some ideas are difficult to sketch. This method works very well for physical or digital experiences, but less well for abstract concepts.
• Look for trends. Some ideas may occur more than once, could that be an obvious solution ?
• Encourage participants to draw real life objects, not metaphors. For example, if they suggest a challenge, they should draw people actually competing— not a victory trophy or a medal.
• Some participants hate to sketch or draw. Remind them that only the person drawing needs to understand the sketches, that they are just there to spark inspiration.
• You might also start with a sketching warm-up like Favorite Superhero.

Dope Resources

• How to Get Stakeholders to Sketch: A Magic Formula
• From Stick Man to Star Man – a sketching guide for Design Thinking
• Sketching simple and cool looking human faces
• How To Draw a Croissant When You Can’t Really Draw a Croissant
• SAP Scenes: Every great experience starts with a great story