// chelsea leahy design
// chelsea leahy design
Influenced by Google, I participated in the first ever EBSCO Design Sprint. We had one large goal: create a mid fidelity prototype that can be tested among a group of users and experts. The catch? Do it all (research, sketch, design, execute, build test, find users, note solutions, etc) in 3 days. Our four person team consisted of a Sprint Master, a Content Specialist, a Junior Designer and myself, a Senior Web Designer.
The solution we were determined to solve: how do we roll in existing large product websites into EBSCO.com?
For post-sprint work, please watch my Design Sprint Video.
We began the sprint by interviewing key stakeholders and experts to gain insight into their specific needs and requirements for the project. While the Sprint Master facilitated all interview questions, other team members took notes using the “How Might We” method. These notes were categorized using affinity mapping and voting was applied to guide our future sketching and prototyping.
After determining the key requirements, we used a combination of sketching, storyboarding, voting and discussion to understand our users. Sketch methods included Crazy 8s where each Sprint Team Member individually had 8 minutes to produce 8 ideas. After presenting, then voting on the total 32 Crazy 8 sketches, each team member produced a higher fidelity Solution Sketch. After additional rounds of testing, the team selected parts of different sketches to include in the final prototype.
I led the finalized XD prototyping, as various tasks were delegated to team members. Visual fidelity was added to key areas in the user’s journey and content to was added to make the prototype feel as real as possible. We tested the prototype with 5 users, took notes and discussed the findings.
The team achieved its goals of the sprint with the bonus of improving our entire design process, saving ourselves prototype execution time in all future projects.
We presented stakeholders with our findings and additionally, shared our Design Sprinting method with all of Marketing and to Product teams as well.