Ready Set Design

Ready Set Design is a quick group activity. It uses simple, inexpensive materials and is an effective tool for problem solving, creative thinking and team building. This activity is not just for designers but can be used by any audience as a way to engage in design thinking. No glue, tape or scissors are allowed and excluding these items forces participants to use materials more creatively!

Objective Participants are asked to solve an open-ended problem with time and material constraints. Working in small groups, solutions are developed quickly and yield surprising solutions that may not have been immediately obvious.

Materials

* Paper lunch bags

* Challenge cards (can be a slip of paper or an index card)

* Fastener items (Ex: pipe cleaners, rubber bands, paper clips, string)

* Surface items (Ex: coffee filters, cardboard squares, balloons, paper)

* Structure items (Ex: straws, tongue depressors, wood skewers, tin foil)

Procedure

1. Stuff one lunch bag for each team. (You’ll divide your group into teams of 2-4).

Each bag should contain two or three fastener items, two or three surface items, and two or three structure items.

You can give every team the same set of materials, or you can give every team different materials.

Both will yield interesting results!

2. Write a challenge on each card.

Every team in the room can get the same challenge, or every team can get a different challenge--it’s up to you.

The challenge will drive each team’s conversation. It’s important that the challenge is open-ended to encourage different interpretations and creative thinking.

A poorly worded challenge might read something like, “Design a water bottle.” Effective wording would be, “Design a way to transport water on the go.”

Note: No glue, tape and scissors are allowed.