Design & Research Workshops

From sticky notes to
sharp decisions.

Exercises for ideation, research synthesis, prioritization, and convergence. Structured formats that help the quietest person in the room get heard.

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Design research workshop in progress
What's included

Featured exercises for design teams

Activities that move groups from divergent thinking to aligned action — without the usual design-by-committee drift.

18F - Archetypes

2 hours

Archetypes are user representations based on research. They synthesize qualitative data into actionable profiles. Unlike assumption-based personas, ar...

18f

18F - Coding Qualitative Data

1.5 hours 1

Coding qualitative data helps teams find patterns in research. This 90-minute exercise moves teams from raw data to structured insights. Participants ...

18f

18F - Cognitive Walkthrough

1 hour

Cognitive Walkthrough is a usability evaluation method. Evaluators step through tasks as a user would. It focuses on the actions users take to accompl...

18f
Workshop Template

"How Might We" Question Workshop

A ready-made workshop template from the Workshopr library. Load it into the Planner and adapt to your context.

"How Might We" Question Workshop

4 days • 9:00 AM start
9:00
Welcome & Introductions
Facilitator introduction and agenda overview
10 min
9:10
Check-in/Check-out
Start and end sessions mindfully with brief personal sharing. Check-ins help people arrive mentally and emotionally; check-outs process learning and close intentionally.
10 min
9:20
Five Whys
An iterative interrogative technique that explores cause-and-effect relationships by repeatedly asking "why" to drill down from symptoms to root causes.
30 min
9:50
Problem Framing
Most teams jump to solutions before they understand the problem. Problem framing slows you down on purpose—making sure you're solving the right problem before you invest in solving it well. A perfectly executed solution to the wrong problem is still a waste. This exercise builds shared understanding of what you're actually trying to fix.
45 min
10:35
Coffee Break
Refreshments
15 min
10:50
Point of View Statement
Define problem from user perspective using structured format. Create actionable problem statement based on real user research that guides solution development.
30 min
11:20
How Might We
Reframe problems as opportunities through optimistic questioning. Transform problem statements and insights into actionable "How might we..." questions that open up solution space while staying grounded in real user needs.
20 min
11:40
Affinity Diagram
Make sense of chaos through pattern recognition. Take a hundred disconnected research findings, observations, or ideas and let structure emerge naturally instead of forcing it into predetermined categories. This works because bottom-up organization reveals relationships you didn't know existed - the data tells you what matters instead of you telling the data what it should mean.
40 min
12:20
Dot Voting
Quick democratic prioritization using voting dots. Each participant receives limited number of votes to distribute across options, forcing trade-offs and revealing group preferences efficiently.
10 min
12:30
Workshop Wrap-up
Key takeaways and next steps
10 min
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Related Resources

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Quick Tips

Facilitating Ideation Without Groupthink

Why "brainstorming" fails and what to do instead. Silent generation, structured sharing, and convergence techniques that work.

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Podcast

The Research-to-Action Gap

Your team did the research. Now what? How synthesis workshops bridge the gap between insight and implementation.

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