How to Get Stakeholders to Sketch: A Magic Formula

nngroup.com/articles/how-to-get-stakeholders-to-sketch

World Leaders in Research-Based User

Experience

Collaborative Sketching Is a Powerful UX Tool

UX professionals know that getting stakeholders and team members outside of UX
involved in collaborative sketching activities such as design charettes or design-studio
workshops can be highly beneficial. Participation in UX-led sketching sessions can result
in:

Increased buy-in for design decisions

Diversity of ideas, due to participants’ various perspectives and roles
Shared ownership of next-step design outputs
Increased speed and efficiency in the design process
UX exposure for people outside the UX field

In short, bringing people from a diversity of backgrounds together to explore ideas via
sketching provides a range of outcomes that enhance UX professionals’ ability to be
effective in their role.

Yes, but … Stakeholders Hate to Sketch

If you’ve ever attempted to spontaneously engage nondesigners in a quick sketching
activity, you’ve probably heard this in response: “I’m not a designer! I can’t draw!”

Despite the known benefits, it can be difficult to get unprepared stakeholders

comfortable with sketching during cocreation sessions. The idea of publicly producing
creative artifacts in front of peers can be initially unsettling to some people — especially
to those without a design background.

You can ease stakeholders’ discomfort with sketching by incorporating a few simple
techniques into the process. These components will reduce participant anxiety and
support the common UX claim that “Anyone can draw!”

The Magic Formula

Here is the formula, composed of four variables:

Fat Markers + Tiny Spaces + Time Limits + Ugly Examples = A

Sketcher at Ease

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 The formula for making group sketching more productive effective with stakeholders is composed of 4
variables: Fat markers, tiny spaces, time limits, and ugly examples.

Each of these four variables assigns structure to sketching, removes the perceived
formality of the process, and enables collaboration among the team members. Together,
these variables help stakeholders feel at ease in a group sketching session and make
sketching as an idea-generation activity less intimidating for those without a UX or design
background.

The formula is based on three underlying principles:

1. Prescribing participants’ tools (thick-tip markers and small spaces to sketch within)
hinders the ability to get overly detailed or refined.
2. Setting a time limit restricts participants’ inclination to overthink or censor their
ideas too much.
3. Providing low-fidelity artifacts (such as rough, hastily drawn sketches) as examples
removes the perception that sketches need to be “pretty” to be worthy ideas or
that participants need to be in a creative role to draw.

First, Provide the Right Setup

The right instructions go a long way in easing potential participant anxieties that may
arise at the onset of collaborative sketching activities.

Dedicate time at the beginning of your session to clearly introduce the sketching activity
to your participants and explain why sketching is an effective method for idea generation
and crossdisciplinary collaboration. Taking the time to provide this setup will increase
understanding, and therefore, buy-in for the sketching activity.

When introducing your collaborative sketching activity to the group, make sure to stress
the following fundamentals:

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 It’s a sketch, not a design: Simply calling the activity sketching rather than
designing sets the stage for the (more principled) instructions. The less intimidating
vocabulary lowers the barrier to participating.
The purpose is idea generation and sharing: The group will use sketching as a
format to explore ideas (and not to design a final, detailed interface or solution).
Sketching is simply a way to communicate and discuss different design directions.
Detail isn’t necessary: The goal of the activity is not to create intricate, detailed
interfaces or drawings; rather, the goal is to capture just enough to communicate
participants’ high-level ideas so that there is a visual aid during discussion and
critique.
Aesthetics don’t matter: This isn’t an art project! Participants shouldn’t worry
about how pretty their sketches are. In fact, the Time Limits variable of the magic
formula ensures that there isn’t enough time to perfect and polish the sketches
produced.
Quantity outweighs quality: Sketching, in this case, is a means to output a broad
range of ideas for discussion and exploration, not dive deeply into one or two well-
thought-out ideas. Censoring ideas is discouraged by each of the variables in the
formula.

Now we’ll discuss each variable and its role in making sketching activities less
intimidating to people outside of UX in more detail. Each variable in the formula is subtle,
tangible reinforcement of the main ideas outlined above.

Variable 1: Fat Markers

When creating a toolbox for collaborative sketching activities, choose thick-tip markers,
such as standard Sharpie (or any other brand) marker. The thick marker tip limits the
level of detail for the output sketches. In contrast, a fine-tip marker or pen inherently
encourages detail and refinement. Participants simply cannot get overly granular in the
detail of their drawing when the tip of the marker is not exact enough to allow creating
precise UI elements.

We don’t want you to use the following example with your participants. (Because it’s not
an art project!) But compare the etchings of Albrecht Dürer with Cézanne’s paintings
made with the palette knife: super-detailed cross-hatchings vs. blunt patches of color.
The tools employed by each artist strongly influenced their pictures.

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 The influence of the artists' tools is self-evident when comparing Albrecht Dürer's H " ead of an Old
Man, 1521" (left) with Paul Cézanne’s "Self-portrait, 1895" (right).

The role of rough sketches is twofold. Along with reducing anxiety around the need for
detail and precision, unrefined sketches produced with blunt tools enable more effective
discussion. While a high-fidelity, detailed sketch suggests a final idea, a rough sketch
invites open conversation around how to continue to improve the idea.

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 Fine-tip markers, such as the Micron (left), encourage and enable a level of detail that is not useful when
sketching for collaborative idea generation. Provide thicker-tip markers, such as a standard Sharpie marker
(right), to discourage too much detail.

Bottom line: Provide your participants with thick-tip markers to prime participants to
sketching ideas, not finalized, detailed interfaces.

Variable 2: Tiny Spaces

This variable works in tandem with our first variable, Fat Markers, to further restrict
participants’ ability to get too detailed. In much the same way that a thick marker tip culls
refinement, so does restricting the space available for participants to draw within.

There are several ways to create limited drawing space. One simple way is to provide
standard index cards or sticky notes instead of letter-size paper and instruct participants
to draw one idea per index card or sticky notes. One of my favorite approaches,
however, is the 8-up sheet used in the Crazy 8s sketching activity, because it requires no
special materials. Just have participants fold a standard letter-sized sheet of paper into 8
cells, and then instruct them to sketch one idea per cell. Shrinking down the available
space shrinks down the anxiety of the sketcher, because it puts emphasis on idea
generation, not refined solutions.

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 Folding a standard letter-size sheet of paper into 8 cells restricts the available space that participants
have to sketch within.

Bottom line: Limit the physical drawing space (by using index cards, sticky notes, or 8-up
sheets) in order to discourage too much detail and refinement of sketched ideas.

Variable 3: Time Limits

This variable is arguably the most important. Time is a constraint that prevents people
from overthinking or censoring ideas. In fact, research by Leigh Thompson shows that,
given a challenge, people will expand to fill whatever time is provided to them with no
gains in either quality or quantity of ideas produced.

Time limits coupled with quantity goals (where the number of ideas produced is valued
over their quality) move participants past the initial fear that others may ridicule their
ideas and past the censoring that emerges when participants worry that their ideas need
to meet self-imposed quality criteria.

The time limit should be clearly communicated at the initiation of the sketching activity.
Use a timer with a visible countdown that indicates time remaining in order to keep
participants on track and help them self-pace. A timer that makes a beep or other noise
when the time limit is over will get people’s attention and prompt them to stop
sketching. As the facilitator, you can also say “one minute left” to encourage workshop
participants to quickly commit their final ideas to paper.

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 A timer that clearly indicates time remaining reinforces the idea of quantity over quality.

Bottom line: Give your participants a tight, clearly communicated time box to produce
ideas, and use time limits to reinforce quantity goals over quality goals.

Variable 4: Ugly Examples

When we first introduce sketching activities to participants, we often put up examples of
finished sketches or artifacts to communicate the end goal of the activity. This tactic
helps sketchers visualize what they should produce.

However, be mindful of the examples you provide. Beautiful, neatly composed examples
send the unintentional, silent message that sketching is an activity for “creative” roles
only. They can be interpreted as “Make your sketches look good, or we’ll judge you!”
Instead, provide unpolished, hastily sketched visuals. It can also be helpful to show a
breakdown of the basic shapes used to convey UI elements (e.g., rectangles for images
or containers, lines, arrows and circles) so that nondesigners fully understand that
expectations are for very low-fidelity representations.

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Refrain from using overly-detailed sketches (left) as examples during collaborative sketching activities. These
sketches can be intimidating to participants without a design background and may create feelings of
inadequacy or perceived judgement. Instead, provide rough, hastily drawn sketches composed of basic
shapes (right), to reinforce the notion that anyone can sketch, regardless of background or design ability.

Bottom line: Show visual examples to communicate the end goal of sketching activities;
however, the examples shown should be low-fidelity (even messy) and composed of
basic shapes.

Caution: Don’t Limit Sketching to Interface Challenges

We typically think of sketching as a medium to generate ideas around product or
interface features; however, sketching is also useful for exploring and communicating
ideas for other UI-unrelated challenges, such as improving business processes, customer
experience or employee satisfaction.

To adapt sketching to these nebulous concepts, generate a well-understood,

straightforward problem statement or prompt question to guide the session. For
example, if your project involves improving overall employee experience within an
organization, your prompt for the sketching activity might be: “What does it look like
when our employees are fully supported and satisfied?” Participants might sketch
drawings of an employee with their family at a park to convey work/life balance, a clock
stopped at 5pm to convey productivity through leaving on time at the end of the day, or
employees on a team-building excursion to convey collaboration and healthy employee
relationships.

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Allow for disparity in drawing styles and subject matter. Some people might draw
diagrams, others may draw singular objects, full scenes, or something else entirely.
During critique, the facilitator should avoid commentary on whether drawings are “good”
or “creative.” Let people’s natural ways of visualizing come through, and invite variety.
You may be surprised at the creativity residing outside of your UX or design team.

Variance in sketching styles from an internal NN/g workshop where we used sketching to communicate our
team’s understanding of the relationships among various design concepts.

Conclusion
Collaborative sketching is a powerful tool for generating and communicating ideas,
whether UI-related or not. When facilitating a group sketching activity, use the following
guidelines to ensure that your participants are comfortable and openminded:

Set up the sketching session by reminding participants that the goal of the activity
is to utilize sketching for idea generation, not to produce detailed, refined or
aesthetically pleasing final solutions.
Provide a well-understood problem statement or question as a prompt to guide
the activity and focus the outputs.
Use constraints from the formula (such as fat markers, small drawing spaces, and
time limits) to restrict participants’ ability to be overly detailed and steer them
towards low-fidelity outputs.
Provide rough, hastily sketched examples to reinforce the irrelevance of polished
drawings.
As the facilitator of the sketching activity, keep an open mind and encourage a
variety of sketching styles and ways of expressing ideas on paper.
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 A sketching toolbox composed of thick markers, tiny spaces, a timer, and rough examples helps
stakeholders feel at ease with collaborative sketching activities.

References
Thompson, L. 2013. Creative Conspiracy. Harvard Business Review Press.

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