Innovation Workshop
The Innovation Workshop is a fast-paced ideation session, which usually lasts several hours, involving a number of our talented, creative design team. We consider the target market, existing products and the problem that’s been identified, generating and exploring innovative or technical solutions, through discussion and rapid sketching, that have potential to be taken forward into development.
Our Process
Research & Preparation
Prior to the innovation workshop, we will take time to research any key design factors that will aid the discussion, whether it’s existing products, materials, technical limitations or target markets. We will also prepare any images, personas, printouts or key information, ready for the team, so that they can hit the ground running in the workshop. This information is key to guiding the conversation and design direction, to ensure that the generated concepts are feasible and aimed at the target market.
The Innovation Workshop
We tailor the length of the workshop and the number of designers present, to your budget and requirements. They are usually about 3hr long, so that there is enough time to really explore the problem and work together as a team to find innovative, creative and feasible solutions. We use the information gathered in the preparation stage as launchpads for the discussion and refer to the key requirements and goals for the project as we sketch and analyse the ideas that are presented by the individual team members to the group. At the beginning of the workshop we are likely to discuss the needs of the target market and the main objectives of the product. Whilst the content and focus will vary from workshop to workshop, we will always agree the scope of the workshop with you before it’s commissioned so you know exactly what to expect. Moving further into the workshop, we will begin to have ideas for overall concepts and broad solutions to the problem. We will sketch and discuss feasibility and other factors and analyse how closely they meet the requirements of the target market. If there are specific mechanisms or technical problems involved in the project, we will look for ways to solve them. In this way, weaker concepts can be quickly eliminated, whilst stronger ideas can be explored in more depth.
Report & Recommendations
Once the workshop itself is concluded, there is usually a lot of information, sketches and thinking that needs to be compiled for reference and review. We take all of the above and produce a pdf document that records the journey that was taken in the innovation workshop, including our analysis of different ideas and the reasoning behind any conclusions we came to. This document forms the foundation for the project and becomes a useful tool to refer back to as the development journey moves forward. We will meet with you to review the concepts, so that you can choose the ones you’d like to explore further, and discuss our recommendations before agreeing the next steps.
Diverse Perspectives
In an innovation workshop, multiple designers come together, providing a wealth of perspectives. This diversity is key to exploring the concept from every conceivable angle, thus unveiling solutions that might remain hidden if just one designer was looking at the problem. The collective knowledge, experience and design approaches, can prove to be invaluable in navigating the complexities of a new product concept, making these workshops a rich source of ideas and solutions.
Accelerated Problem Solving
The structured yet engaging framework of innovation workshops is designed to foster rapid ideation and problem-solving. This accelerates the project’s progression from concept to viable solutions, significantly reducing the time-to-market. The dynamic environment encourages participants to think on their feet, iterate quickly, and refine ideas in real-time. This is crucial in today’s fast-paced market landscape where being first or early to market can provide a significant competitive advantage.
Cost Efficiency
Innovation workshops can also be a more cost-effective way to explore and develop new product concepts. By pooling together a diverse group of individuals in a structured setting, a wide range of ideas and solutions can be generated and assessed in a relatively short period. This approach could potentially save resources in the long term by identifying viable solutions and avoiding pitfalls early in the development process.
FAQs
What is an innovation workshop?
The Innovation Workshop is a fast-paced ideation session, which usually lasts several hours, involving a number of our talented, creative design team. We consider the target market, existing products and the problem that’s been identified, generating and exploring innovative or technical solutions, through discussion and rapid sketching, that have potential to be taken forward into development.
What are the benefits of commissioning an innovation workshop?
If you don’t have a clear concept for your product and want some help to come up with potential solutions, the innovation workshop is the best place to start.
Who should participate in an innovation workshop?
It’s up to you whether you attend the innovation workshop or not. Sometimes it’s better for the team of designers to have as much freedom as possible to think outside the box. Equally, if you have a lot of technical knowledge about the problem you’re looking to solve, it can be really helpful to have you in the workshop. We can discuss the best approach for your project together.
What activities are commonly included in an innovation workshop?
The most successful innovation workshops include as much information as possible about the identified problem and the intended target market. Any direction or information you can supply to the team during the preparation of the workshop would be really helpful.
How do you organise a successful innovation workshop?
The most successful innovation workshops include as much information as possible about the identified problem and the intended target market. Any direction or information you can supply to the team during the preparation of the workshop would be really helpful.
Overview of Innovation Workshop
The innovation workshop is an excellent design development tool that can be utilised when the solution to the problem you’ve identified isn’t clear and you aren’t yet ready for a full Product Concept Development stage. It is a unique opportunity to bring a number of our creative team to the table, with all their combined knowledge and experience, in order to explore potential innovative concepts. It might be that you have identified a problem (or problems) with an existing product that you are already selling but can’t find the solution to resolve it in an effective fashion. Or there’s an everyday task you need a tool for, but haven’t yet defined the concept. Whether there’s a mechanism that needs resolving or you’re looking for innovative ideas in a key market place, the innovation workshop could be the best place to start.
The D2M Design Team has experience innovative product development experience in a broad range of sectors, including sport, therapy, toys, homeware, furniture, mother and baby, wheeled goods and more. This range of experience across the team means that, when they come together, their separate knowledge can be combined and shared, whilst they explore and analyse different solutions. The team bring their unique approaches to the workshop, sketching, modelling, exploring and researching. This leads to numerous ideas and potential design directions, which can then be considered by the whole team.
In order to feed ideas and to ensure that the concepts meet the key requirements of the project, we spend time preparing for the Innovation Workshop, whether it be compiling and disseminating target market/persona information provided by you, or researching existing solutions that can be analysed and compared in the workshop. We put together a number of conversation starters that keep the workshop on track and ensure that the whole team are on the same page right from the start.
Whether you, the client, are present in the workshop or not, varies depending on your requirements. Sometimes, not having pre-conceived ideas in the room gives the team more freedom to explore a wider variety of concepts and think outside the box more fully. However, if there is a unique purpose intended for the product that needs developing and you have a lot of knowledge about the the problem you’re looking to solve and the limitations and key features that need to be included, it can be really helpful to have that knowledge in the room too. Ultimately it’s up to you to decide and we will discuss all the options with you as we build the bespoke scope of work to meet the needs of the project.
Once the workshop is underway, and we have spent time exploring a number of potential routes and solutions, we will hone in on the ones that we feel have the most potential, in light of the target market and key aims of the project. We will assess these further, thinking about mechanisms, materials, manufacturing processes, cost effectiveness and any limitations or complexities we can immediately see in the concepts. Whilst there isn’t time for in-depth analysis, this initial review of the concepts helps us to create a shortlist of potential concepts to take forward.
After the Innovation Workshop is complete, we will compile all the design thinking, and any sketches or images that were used or made, into a document that will show the process, thinking and outcomes. It will also include our recommendations for which concepts should be taken forward and whether there are any important steps that need to be taken next. This might be a Feasibility Assessment, in order to establish the technical feasibility of a concept or a Proof of Principle Prototype in order to test a specific mechanism or key element of the design. If there is a clear concept that everyone agrees on, we can simply move on to the Product Concept Development stage. We will meet with you to review both the concepts and next steps with you in full.
Innovation workshops provide a strategic approach to harnessing creativity and expertise in a collaborative, structured setting. The blending of diverse perspectives accelerates problem-solving, while also being cost-effective, making it a prudent step in the journey of developing new product solutions. These workshops are not just an exercise in creativity, but a sound investment in the efficient and effective progression of your project from a concept to a market-ready product.