1.
DESIGN JAM:
BRAINSTORM
INNOVATIVE IDEAS BY
FOCUSING ON THE USER
17 June, 2016
Alex Humphreys, JSTOR Labs
@abhumphreys
AAUP Annual Conference 2016

2.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit
digital library of academic
journals, books, and primary
sources.
Ithaka S+R is a not-for-profit
research and consulting service
that helps academic, cultural,
and publishing communities
thrive in the digital
environment.
Portico is a not-for-profit
preservation service for digital
publications, including
electronic journals, books, and
historical collections.
ITHAKA is a not-for-profit organization that helps the academic
community use digital technologies to preserve the scholarly record
and to advance research and teaching in sustainable ways.

3.
JSTOR Labs works with partner publishers, libraries and
labs to create tools for researchers, teachers and students
that are immediately useful – and a little bit magical.
labs.jstor.org

4.
WHAT’S A
DESIGN JAM*
AND WHY
WOULD I
WANT ONE?
• A design jam is a structured
brainstorming activity
• You don’t want to decide
too quick what you’re doing
• The more ideas you can
generate, the more you
have to choose from
* Also called a “design studio.”

5.
Our goal:
Create a new, digital product for local
historians in your region.

6.
STEP 1:
UNDERSTAND
THE USER
Exercise: Pain/Gain*
Time: 10-20 minutes
Materials: Post-its
Sharpies
Objective: Understand user’s
motivations
1. Brainstorm answers:
Gain:
- What does success look like?
Pain:
- What obstacles stand in their
way?
2. Capture each answer on a post-it
and put on either Pain or Gain
side of board.
* http://gamestorming.com/games-for-design/pain-gain-map/

7.
STEP 2:
CREATE AS
MANY IDEAS
AS POSSIBLE
Exercise: 8x8
Time: 8 minutes to draw
15 minutes to share
Materials: Pencils
Paper with 8 squares
Objective: Create lots of ideas!
1. Working individually, draw 8
ideas in 8 minutes
2. Share your ideas
3. Rinse, repeat
x 2

8.
GUIDELINES
FOR DESIGN
JAMMING
1. You must draw!
2. If stuck, go back to the user.
- How can you help them
better reach their goal or
avoid an obstacle?
3. Don’t worry…
- about feasibility – there’ll
be time for that later.
- whether it’s a good idea –
just get it down.
4. On the second round, steal
other people’s ideas.

9.
STEP 3:
AGREE ON
IDEAS FOR
FURTHER
EXPLORATION
Exercise: Dot-voting
Time: 5-10 minutes
Materials: Dot-stickers
Objective: Agree quickly &
painlessly
1. Everyone gets 3 dot-stickers
2. Each person puts their stickers
next to the ideas that most
intrigue them
3. You put more than 1 sticker next
to the same idea

10.
THANK YOU
Alex Humphreys
Director, JSTOR Labs
ITHAKA
http://labs.jstor.org
@abhumphreys
alex.humphreys@ithaka.org
Further Reading
• The Lean Startup, Eric Ries
• Business Model Generation,
Osterwalder & Pigneur
• Marty Cagan’s Blog:
svpg.com/articles
• Sprint, Knapp, Zeratsky, &
Kowitz
• Gamestorming, Gray, Brown &
Macanufo

11.
APPENDIX
TEMPLATES