Crazy 8’s is a fast sketching exercise that challenges people to sketch 8 ideas in 8 minutes (not 8 variations of one idea or 8 steps of one idea, but 8 distinct ideas).
The goal is to push beyond your first idea, which is frequently not the most innovative, and generate a wide variety of solutions to your challenge.
This method is most useful with multiple participants, typically a team of designers, but given proper context and guidance, other team members could participate as well.
In the diverge phase, for concept generation.
- Before the session starts, it's important to reassure everyone that these are rough sketches. They don’t need to be perfect or beautiful— they just need to communicate the idea. It’s also important to emphasize that the ideas don’t have to be great- the exercise is about quieting the inner critic and giving space to our more creative impulses. Weird, impossible, and impractical ideas often give way to truly inspired ones.
- Everyone grabs a pen and a piece paper.
- Fold the paper into eight sections.
- Set the timer for eight minutes.
- Start the timer and start sketching.
- Stop sketching when time is up.
- Everyone discuss their ideas with the group.
References:
https://designsprintkit.withgoogle.com/methods/sketch/crazy-8s/
https://library.gv.com/the-product-design-sprint-diverge-day-2-c7a5df8e7cd0