marc.tools

A Product R&D Toolkit

Welcome. I'm Marc and this is a Toolkit to create things.

The research phase was big! But it meant that we have ensured to the best of our ability that we are designing a product that has a significant enough need to continue down this path.

In the Design phase we cover the process of visually designing an interactive solution that can hopefully fulfil the need of the end user.

This solution can come in many shapes, it may be a literal version 0.1 or 1.0, or a simply a Minimum Viable/Value Product - something that can not only further test the demand for a solution, but test if the envisaged solution is the right direction.

Tool Sections
  

The ideation phase is where we begin to have more fun (particularly after the sometimes relentless feeling of the research phase!) this is where we get to stretch our creative muscles, this is where we begin to craft our solution.

Inspired by our Research, and encompassing a few techniques, the aim for the Ideation phase is to come out with a rough design of how to solve the problem - the design is then finessed as we proceed further along our path ultimately bringing it towards implementation.

Ideation Tools

Tool Description Template
Lightning Demos A good warm up exercise for showcasing how other organisations have solved similar problems.   PDF     Miro
Grid A joint exercise of imaging something from a description, and then visualising it through sketching - both designed to encourage creativity.   PDF     Miro
Alternate Uses A method of looking at things from a different perspective, emphasising that existing solutions can solve different problems, and that not all problems have to be solved the same way.   PDF     Miro
Crazy 8s Where the ideation phase starts to come in to it's own - Crazy 8s begins the solution searching phase.   PDF     Miro
Tool Description Template
Sketching Overview What is Sketching? Why do we do it? What is it used for? This overview should help clarify the purpose and potential.   PDF     Miro
Visual Alphabet By breaking down images in to basic symbols, the visual alphabet continues the quick process of Sketching, whilst introducing commonality across a team.   PDF     Miro
UI Icons A collection of common UI Icons that can be used in the sketching process to show functionality.   PDF     Miro
Sketch Log Capture those ideas and designs by logging them - they may come in handy for inspiration in the future.   PDF     Miro
AI Sketching If the purpose of sketching is rapidly developing ideas, then AI is an additional tool that can further speed up the process.   PDF     Miro
Tool Description Template
Concept An overview to help understand Storyboarding and why it is useful and relevant when designing a new product or feature.   PDF     Miro
Outcome Statement An Outcome Statement goes hand in hand with Storyboarding by detailing the situation, problem, potential solution and desired outcome.   PDF     Miro
The Storyboard Let's structure the Storyboard and detail the process using the narrative arc.   PDF     Miro
AI Storyboarding Following the same process as creating a normal Storyboard, an AI storyboard potentially supercharges the process.   PDF     Miro
Tool Description Template
The Facilitator Who is the Facilitator, what is their role and how to facilitate a Design Studio.
Participants Covers the participants and their roles that are usually included in the workshop.   PDF     Miro
The Session Details what is expected from the session and in what order.   PDF     Miro
Research Synthesis This is where we go over what has been discovered so far, and how it will guide us with our design direction.
Ideation The creative process begins, and this is how we guide it.
Feature Prioritisation Towards the end of the session, and after much discussion, the group can list and then prioritise features.
Outro The wrap up of the session, including revisiting the goals, archiving what has been produced from the session, and deciding on next steps.