Frame Your Design
Framing is critical
Properly framing your design challenge is critical to your success.
The Frame Your Design Challenge worksheet will guide you through a series of steps to get the right frame on your challenge and start on the right foot. It serves as a compass, guiding your efforts toward an impactful yet manageable solution. The “Frame Your Design Challenge” worksheet aims to provide a structured approach to crafting a clear and focused challenge statement, ensuring that it strikes the right balance between specificity and flexibility. As you do this you’ll ask yourself: Does my challenge drive toward ultimate impact, take into account context and constraints, and allow for a variety of potential solutions? You’ll dial those in and refine your challenge until it’s one you’re excited to tackle.
Step 1
Start by writing your design challenge down. It should be short and easy to remember. Try composing a single sentence that conveys the problem you want to solve. We often phrase these as How Might We questions to set our teams up to be solution-oriented and to generate a lot of ideas along the way.
Step 2
Now that you have a draft of your design challenge, explore and align on the goal or outcome you hope to achieve. This step is helpful to ensure that you, your team and any other stakeholders have the same vision of success in mind.
Step 3
Next you’ll want to consider the target audience and the broader context in which they operate. Map out the ecosystem surrounding your users, identifying relevant constraints and influences. This step helps determine the scope of your challenge, ensuring it is neither too narrow nor too broad.
Step 4
With more insights gathered, revisit your design question and refine it as needed. Capture any adjustments made and the rationale behind them in your Frame Your Design Challenge worksheet.
Step 5
Framing the right design challenge is key to arriving at a good solution. Testing the clarity of your design challenge is crucial. A quick test involves brainstorming five possible solutions within a few minutes. If achievable, it indicates that your challenge is well-framed and scoped appropriately. Adjustments can be made as necessary to ensure clarity and effectiveness.