How to fake a Billboard Design Thinking workshop into a 3D location to create more meaningful context

Design Thinking workshops is all about putting your self in the shoes of the end-user and trying to understand what keeps them wake at night. But Design Thinking Workshops is also about consultants and solutions experts listening to subject mater experts and employees telling how they work on a daily base.

For consultants it is often hard to understand the complete context, especially if they are working with specialists and on the other hand you are asking specialists to explain something that is obvious to them but hard to understand for consultants.

What if you could add a picture to your workshop and imagine you are their.

In step one you create your 3D environment. I use SketchUp they have a large digital warehouse where you can download, machines, people, furniture, entire cities etc. For this example I am preparing a workshop to improve a shop floor process for a manufacturer. I think it is easy to imagine how the picture will help explain various scenarios during the workshop. Participants can ask where something is happening why it is happening etc.

Then of course you need a Billboard Poster for your workshop.

I don't want to into all the details of this billboard but I like drawing them and I'll just add the visual as inspiration for your next Billboard poster.

Third you need a online collaboration tool where you can load a background and your Billboard canvas.

Ensure you select a software tool where you can load high resolution images and you will be able to see the details on the poster when you zoom in. And now the idea for your ideas session is instead of putting those problems or ideas on a poster put it where the action takes place. In this example the planner is still doing much paper work. So you will ask where does the planer sit and put it at his location.

Here is another example. There might be some safety issues with the forklift driver. Again don't put it on the canvas put it on the fork lift.

Zooming in and starting your Billboard Workshop

Creating this picture of the environment will help in the beginning and at various stages of your workshop but you will need to dig deeper if you want meaningful results. So after the initial exercise you can zoom in and focus on all the other exercises you prepared for your workshop.

As mentioned above ensure you have a software tool where you can load high resolution images and you canvas is almost infinite otherwise this wont work. Here is a close up of the stakeholder map.

If you never heard about Billboard Design Thinking and you want to download some templates and read more about the concept please join the group: https://www.dhirubhai.net/groups/8780360/

Happy Design Thinking

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