UX Sketching Exercises for Ideation Part 3: Solution sketch
Solution Sketch
Solution sketching is a design sprint method described by Jake Knapp in the Sprint Book, but it can be applied in any kind of ideation workshops. In essence, it is about creating a detailed concept based on your best idea(s).
There can be different previous steps before this activity, here are some possible approaches:
- you can conduct 1 or 2 rounds of UI-focused (UX copy included) Crazy8s, then you can pick certain parts (e.g. a loan calculator) or screens to further explore the ideas in a detailed way
- after sketching out user flows, you can pick a key step (screen or page) and create detailed concepts
- there is a framework in the Sprint Book called 4-Step Sketch, you can use that, too (it is not exclusively for design sprints)
The 4-Step Sketch framework
These are the steps you take:
- Taking notes (recommended time for this activity: 20 min.) — review the things that have been generated during the workshop, collect inspiration
- Ideas (20 min.) — doodle & write down your initial ideas, and it is not only about UIs, you can add little scenes (storyboards), catchy titles, anything
- Crazy8s (8 min. / round) — this step is about coming up with more ideas, generating variations (Jake Knapp suggests that you should choose one of your ideas from the previous step as a starting point, but of course you can tweak this for your own goal and workshop setting). One important aspect is that these Crazy8s are not only about UI patterns or UI solutions, you should include your UX copy ideas, too!
- Solution sketch (30 min.) — Choose the best idea(s) from the previous steps, then create a detailed concept.
Formats and tips
The format of the Solution sketch
The Sprint Book suggests that you should use a 3-panel storyboard format (+ annotations) to show how the persona interacts with the product or service. It also mentions that in some cases it might be useful to use a full page sketch format (usually I use the full page variant, since storyboarding is an individual exercise in my ideation workshops, choose the format that better suits your needs).
Some tips for sketching
Here are some tips for your Solution sketch:
- Detailed but not fancy: remember, if you can draw lines and rectangles, you’ll be able to produce a good solution sketch, it is about the detailed concept
- Establish a meaningful visual hierarchy: use size, shading and one additional color to communicate the most important parts
- Add annotations: it is a good practice to make your sketch self-explanatory
- Use real text: for the important parts you should add real text, content and UX copy is a huge part of your design
What you should consider
- Always think about how you can solve the main challenge you are working on (e.g. who the primary persona is, what the core needs are etc.)
- Think about what the main goal of the screen is, what the main user actions are
- Keep in mind what the previous step of the flow is, how the user can move forward, and what information she needs to make decisions
- Think about what the main messages might be (content, UX copy)
Next steps
Everyone created a soultion sketch individually, now what are the possible next steps?
It’s always a good idea to put the sketches on a wall or upload them to a collaborative online platform (e.g. Miro, Mural or FigJam) so that the whole team can see them.
Then there are different approaches, for instance the Spring Book describes this process: Dot voting (heatmap), Speed critiques, Dot voting again, Supervote (for more details, you should check out the Sprint Book).
I believe that the most important thing is that these sketches should serve as a conversation starter: you can focus on some of the interesting parts, collect the best ideas, create some alternatives for certain bits using some more rounds of Crazy8s and so on.
A sidenote about Dot voting
Dot voting is a tool that can be misused easily. There are 2 main aspects:
What do you vote on?
- first, you should cluster the ideas
- then combine the closely related ones (and remove duplicates)
- every idea should be well-explained (one sketch should not be more popular just because it is presented in a more understandable way, this is why it is a good practice to make the sketches self-explanatory — and in case of self-explanatory sketches, you can keep it anonymous)
- you should manage classification issues before the voting (e.g. it is problematic if there are 4 ideas concerning the Login process and one idea about the Homepage)
Cognitive biases and other human factors
- bandwagon effect, anchoring (the first votes might influence the subsequent ones)
- familiarirty bias (totally novel or innovative ideas might not get that many votes)
- workplace dynamics (“my boss voted for this, so I should too”)
Some of these problems can be solved by enabling blind votes (e.g. use this tool, and some online tools have this feature, too).
The result of dot voting should not be treated as a final decision, it is just a starting point for discussion.
Stephen P. Anderson wrote a fantastic article on this topic, I can’t recommend it enough.
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