The design takes time to create, and sometimes, time must be managed in a way that allows for quick yet effective design. For a long time, though, it was hard to find the right mix of design and effectiveness within such a short time period without having a failed product or a rushed workspace. But in 2012, the world of design would change in an instant, and it’s thanks to one man: Jake Knapp. The Design Sprint System would change everything in design.

What on Earth do I mean by a “Sprint”?

I hear the confusion. What the heck is a Design Sprint? It’s a rather new term, but still pretty simple. To start, a sprint is defined as…

“working together to build something that matters to real people. This is the best use of your time. This is a sprint.” 

This definition was taken from the Sprint Handbook, a book expanding on the sprint format first created by Jake Knapp. In the preface of the book, author Pattie Hastings explains that the goal of the sprint process is to have months of work compressed into five days, finding answers and exploring a potential idea/design. The idea was new and fresh, and a design sprint could be done, then it had the chance to change the graphic design industry.

How Do Design Sprints Accomplish?

As stated before, Jake Knapp created the design sprint system. He actually explains the process in great detail in his book, Sprint. The book starts in the preface by explaining that in a design sprint, everything is separated by days. 

• Day 1: Understand and Define 
• Day 2: Diverge 
• Day 3: Decide 
• Day 4: Prototype 
• Day 5: Test 

So within each day, you focused on a new thing. Didn’t matter how complete or clean it was, your main goal was to prioritize what was most important. Knapp explained that one of the best things that came from the process of design sprints was that despite the short time, having to work together with other designers allowed for significant progress to be made, and it made a project a priority. 

Design sprints aren’t just beneficial for prioritizing new products either. There are also other features that can be done within design sprints as well. Webflow actually provides a couple of examples on some topics that design sprints can cover like…

• Add new features to existing products or services: Improve current features fast, without drawn-out development cycles
• Design or redesign brands: Develop a new identity or refresh your existing one
• Improve UX/UI Design: Rapidly iterate on user experience and interface designs
• Create marketing campaigns: Launch targeted campaigns for quick market changes

What Has Design Sprints Impacted?

I want to give a scenario to prove how effective design sprints are. Let’s say, there’s a new Nike shoe coming out and you want to buy it. If the product is done through a design sprint, you could have that product design done in 1 week, and sold within the next (production costs and manufacturing). And that’s for a new product.

Does a brand need to fix something like a logo redesign or have some better branding? Done within a week. Want to market a media strategy or advertise a product? Done within a week. The fact that Knapp essentially created a system where you make everything (concept, designing, prototyping, testing) all done within a short period while still feeling complete is crazy work. All of this started at Google, but now, it’s everywhere. If designers can make a product or design look that good, there’s no stopping where design sprints will go.