Trying the UX Ninja Exercise
I recently read Molly Inglish's article on the Whiteboard Design Challenges done at Tradecraft. I perceived the 20-minute exercise as an effective means of fleshing out a product concept or a design solution quickly.
I chose to test the technique out on Early, the alarm clock app I began to dream up a few months ago. Perhaps this exercise was a chance to resurrect and refresh the idea:
A snapshot of the design exercise done in my sketchbook. Doing all of this work in 20 minutes removes any intimidation. I can now use this work as a base for breaking the remainder of the project into bite-sized action items.
Annotating the sketches was an effective way to track thinking while maintaining brevity in the process.
Surprisingly, the exercise propelled me to sketch out wireframes right off the bat:
These wireframe sketches represent the general flow of the alarm app. It's not perfect, but it's certainly a start.