Thinkery - Open Visual Thinkery

Here is the archive of open visual thinkery in chronological order.

The Usual Suspects

Sometimes, in a live drawing session, someone will mention something that triggers an immediate picture in my head. A picture that demands to be drawn. And so it was, that someone whilst talking about user testing their product, was reflecting that they really only tested with the usual suspects. How can we make sure that…
Diversify your User Testing

It all looks a bit odd from this angle… There’s more than one way to get useful feedback from a user test. As best intentioned testing is often squeezed at the end of a development cycle, we usually just follow the path of least resistance. But if you want rich feedback, then you should approach…
User Cheesearch

Next time you’re facilitating an online session and need to get people thinking with an icebreaker, ask the participants about their favourite cheese. I guarantee you that the majority of people have very defined cheesy opinions. You may not even make it to the rest of your agenda… This Thinkery was captured live during a…
Get users talking

How do you get a user talking about your product in an open and honest way so that you can stand in their shoes and see what they see? It’s trickier than it looks. For starters, we usually look to confirm what we want to believe (confirmation bias). User testers, on their part, usually say…
Disco(very)

Someone’s just thrown on Superstition by Stevie Wonder, and your body tells you it’s time to throw some shapes on the dance floor – to experiment with some grooves. Maybe, just maybe (if you can get over yourself), you should be dancing, yeah… This is the spirit of discovery (for me at least…) This Thinkery…
Breaking down the problem

A few months ago, I had the pleasure of working through new Gallery features to the Fabulous Remixer Machine with my 10-year-old. It was so invaluable: having a child ask you straightforward questions about the problem, and the solution you’re proposing helps you to see things that otherwise you might have missed. We drew out…
MVP vs MLP

Minimum Viable Product (MVP) you’ve probably heard of. But Minimum Lovable Product (MLP)? Put simply, it’s the minimum set of features required for your users to love your product (as opposed to just tolerating it…) This Thinkery was captured live during a series of workshops by We Are Open, for Catalyst.
Do-My-Users-Care-O-Meter

Wouldn’t it be like crazy silly if you built something and then your users didn’t really care about the thing you built? Well take it from me, buster, it happens all the time. So it’s probably best – before you build your new features – to find out if your users will care about it.…
Empty Shelf Syndrome

Empty shelf syndrome is when those things we’ve been looking forward to – have become attached to – are suddenly made uncertain. I need a holiday. It feels like we’re in uncharted territory, and decisions are hard to make. Did I mention I need a holiday? But come on now, Bryan, you’ve got this –…
Content is not just King…

…but King, Queen and everything inbetween. Following on from this post, the motives behind how you play your hand come through in the content itself. Open hand anyone? Here’s a blog post all about it… This Thinkery was captured live during a series of workshops by We Are Open, for Catalyst.
Content

Content to fill an empty page. Is that all I am to you? Just an image for someone to notice? Just a paragraph to draw someone in? The words and pictures have become the product… Having said that – when we talk about what we’re up to in an open way, others can really benefit.…
A slip of the tongue

Sometimes, a slip of the tongue presents itself as an opportunity to join things together that should never be joined together. You’re welcome. This Thinkery was captured live during a series of workshops by We Are Open, for Catalyst.