These past few weeks, I participated in my first design sprint to find a solution for groups ordering Domino's Pizza and decide on 'what's for dinner' before hanger sets in. A design sprint is a framework for answering critical business questions through design, prototyping, and testing ideas with users.
Day 1: 'How Might We?'
The first day we got into our assigned teams and began group discussions with a 'How Might We?' exercise. We used sticky notes and sharpies to jot down our initial ideas on how we might go about solving our design challenge. The 'How Might We?' exercise was split in three categories: How: assumes opportunities exist. Might: says we don’t have to find something We: is all about doing this together. Our group had many similar questions regarding how we were going to create a design that would be enticing to use, be sustainable over time, and reach a large audience.
Day 2: Research
The next day we came to class prepared with research from related fields of industry and shared them with our group. I presented websites like Uber Eats, PostMates, and GrubHub to be similar to Domino's, in that they all deliver food and use interesting marketing techniques to reach customers like partnering with TV Networks to reach a broader audience. I found this research difficult to compare to Domino's Pizza. Our design challenge was to get a way for groups to quickly decide on a meal, but the apps I found did not necessarily have a function that related directly to this problem.
Day 3: Crazy 8
This day was the most challenging for me. Sketching has never been my strong suit and making thumbnails make me stressed just thinking about them. As a designer I find this something I need to work on. I need to be more comfortable about putting ideas out quickly and putting those ideas on paper. I've been known to try and put ideas into Photoshop or Illustrator right away without a plan, and this habit is something I'm trying to break. Sketching nonstop this sprint day with Crazy 8 helped me put ideas out quickly, but I still tend to overthink things when it comes to creating designs. I may need to try set a timer and do Crazy 8 more often with all my designs.
Day 4: Finalizing
This day we finalized our idea for our Design Sprint. We decided on a short survey within the app to take with your group, and a 'decider' to take your results from the survey and pick a meal or toppings for you. Our idea was born out of the idea that groups have difficulties making decisions together, and this can lead to a long, drawn-out decision-making process. The Domino's Decider chooses for you based on a quick service and is catered towards more indecisive groups.