Crazy Eights is a rapid ideation exercise where each participant sketches 8 different ideas in 8 minutes — one per panel. Time pressure forces quantity over quality and prevents overthinking. It is a divergence tool, not a refinement tool.
In design sprints or ideation workshops when you need to break out of conventional thinking quickly.
- Give everyone a sheet of paper. Fold in half three times to create 8 panels.
- Set a timer for 8 minutes.
- Participants sketch one idea per panel — rough drawings, labels encouraged
- No talking or showing work during the exercise
- When time is up, each person briefly shares all 8 sketches
- Dot-vote on the most interesting individual elements to carry forward
Sprint challenge: How to show users why a song was recommended? 8 ideas in 8 minutes: 1. Mood tag under track, 2. 'Because you liked X' label, 3. Audio fingerprint visualisation, 4. Artist story card, 5. Friend who also listens badge, 6. Emotion wheel, 7. Context pill (gym/commute/focus), 8. Minimal no-explanation approach. Ideas 7 and 2 get the most dots.
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- Letting participants talk or compare work during the 8 minutes — silence is essential
- Settling for 4-5 ideas instead of pushing to 8
- Treating any sketch as a final design — these are conversation starters
- Sprint — Jake Knapp et al.