How To Make So Many Designs That Some of Them Are Not Shit
What are we talking about?
Crazy Eights
It's a popular design technique to come up with several ideas in record time.
Eight ideas in 8 minutes to be exact when working by yourself. And a lot more when involving other people
Here’s how it works
Start with a large piece of paper. Then fold the paper in half three times. You should end up with eight squares.
[ You could technically use an Ipad etc but we still prefer the paper]
Get something to draw with. Can be anything
Set your timer to eight minutes, with 1 minute per square.
Sketch ideas or solutions to the problem you outlined
You can do this exercise by yourself or in a group setting.
When done in a group, each person draws eight sketches on their own.
Afterwards the group decides on their favourite ideas and get looked at further.
Its simple idea is made even better by following these best practices
Let’s look at some of the best practices to get the best out of crazy eights.
A great way to start is with a warm-up exercise. For example, you could draw the person next to you without looking at your paper, or have everyone draw their own interpretation of a word or phrase. This helps get your team in the mindset to sketch and generate ideas.
Make sure your problem is well-defined and understood by everyone.
Don’t judge your ideas. The aim is to generate ideas and they might not be perfect or well-drawn. That’s fine — just sketch them out and move on after 1 minute to the next one.
Don’t judge other people’s ideas. a.k.a Be nice. Remember you receive what you give.
If possible, include a diverse group to represent a variety of work roles, experiences, abilities, genders, and backgrounds. This will help your team have a wide range of ideas to choose from.
Ideate in a comfortable environment. Do this exercise in a location that’s relaxed and encourages creative thinking. It’s always great to get out of your normal work space for creative exercises.
Don’t be afraid of sketching. You don’t have to be an artist and your sketches to don’t have to be perfect. You just need to clearly communicate your ideas. Stick figures are perfectly fine!
Benefits of Crazy Eights
With just five people, you can generate a whopping 40 potential design solutions in only eight minutes. That’s right, folks — it’s like a brainstorming marathon that gets your creative juices flowing in no time.
But what makes Crazy Eights so special? Well, it’s all about thinking outside the box and unleashing your wildest design ideas. The time constraint and lack of judgement give you the freedom to come up with unique and nontraditional solutions that you might not have considered otherwise. Plus, you might just discover some seriously innovative and creative ideas that you wouldn’t have found with more traditional brainstorming methods.
So grab your pens and get ready to let your creativity run wild! The goal of Crazy Eights is to have fun and let your ideas flow without judgement. This makes it the perfect exercise for team building and fostering a culture of creativity and innovation. With Crazy Eights, you’ll be on the fast track to designing the next big thing!
How is it relevant for you?
Let’s look at two industries where you can use Crazy Eights to generate ideas.
Say you are a writer and want to come up with ideas.
Brainstorming article or blog post ideas.
Set a timer for eight minutes and challenge yourself to come up with eight potential articles ideas and bullet points.
You could keep to a theme and look at different viewpoints or angles. Some of these might provide more ideas and spin-off articles.
Don’t judge or edit your ideas, just write them all down.
Then decide.
Are you writing a book?
Use Crazy eights for character development! Write down eight different character traits, quirks, or backstories for a character.
You can also use it to develop a plot for your story- find eight different plot twists, conflicts, or resolutions that could happen in your story. Remember that there is no judgement.
This can help you break through writer’s block and come up with new and exciting directions for your story.
Writer’s block?
Set a timer for eight minutes and write down eight different writing prompts.
This can be a fun exercise to help you get started on a new writing project or to challenge yourself to write something outside of your comfort zone.
Maybe you are a designer or a craftsperson?
Use Crazy Eights to brainstorm designs. Sketch one design and iterate it over the next 7 pages, to come up with 8 different designs within 8 minutes
Set a timer for eight minutes and challenge yourself to come up with eight potential jewellery designs.
Use Crazy Eights to explore different colour palettes that you can use in your designs.
Write down eight different colour combinations that you can incorporate into your designs, such as monochromatic or complementary colour schemes.
Crazy Eights is a versatile and effective brainstorming technique that can be applied to any industry or creative field to generate ideas, fast.
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