Skip to content
Goodpatch GmbH
  • Work
  • Services
  • People
  • Goodnews
  • Contact

How-to: Remote Design Workshops

Intro

As a design company, workshops make up a substantial chunk of our work. Whether it's a designathon, vision or inspiring leadership workshop, workshops are a fantastic way to build alignment, prompt feedback, advance ideas, and learn new skills. This is true not only when we work with external clients and partners, but also for our internal projects and challenges.  

Now that we're all working from home, however, what are ordinarily in-person experiences, now have to be facilitated online. But don't let the distance get you down - While it can be a challenge to transfer the energy that comes from group work and physical interaction to the digital realm, it's possible! 

Want to rock your next remote workshop? Give these tips a try:

remote workshops

Remote Workshop Set Up 

Joint Commitment
Workshop rules need to be more formal and strict than in the analogue space. Some basics: No interrupting each other, mute your microphone, and raise your hand instead of just starting to talk.

Strict Agenda
Keep participants in the loop about how much time is left for each task and keep up the speed. Using a timer within your digital workshop space can be very useful.

Two Monitors
Keeping up the group spirit is easiest when you can always see your teammates as though you’re in the same room. One monitor should be dedicated to the faces while the other one is your workspace.

Keep your online workshops running smooth 

Warming up
together can make a huge difference when you're not in the same physical setting. Some nice formats: a little drawing challenge, introducing yourself by showing one item on your table, or sharing a photo of your work station.

Pro-tip: One of our favorite warm-ups is to ask participants to draw a Dilligord. Don’t know what a Dilligord is? Perfect! That’s the whole point. It’s so fun to see what everyone comes up with. 

  • Remote workshop tips
  • Remote workshop tips
  • Remote workshop tips

Mix Analogue And Digital
Nothing can replace sketching with pen and paper. We like to build in time for everyone to draw. When it’s time to share, have each participant take a photo of their work and upload it to your workspace.

1-on-1 Talks
To avoid getting into long discussions between individual participants, it helps to split the group into pairs before sharing in a circle. That way, people have already honed what they want to say and are better able to listen to others.

Make Time to Move
Looking at a screen for hours is exhausting. Plan for pauses every 60-90 minutes and give participants a moment to breathe, meditate, stretch, and regroup. You might even need to take more regular breaks.

Remote design workshops

End your remote workshop with bang

End With A Visual Result

Just like your analogue workshops, the end result of a remote workshop should be something visual. This could be a prototype, idea napkins, or something as simple as a shared Google Doc.

Our Favorite Tools

  • For communication: Zoom, Jitsi, Slack, Tandem, Discord
  • For synthesis and prototyping: Whimsical, Miro, Figma
  • For documentation: G-Suite, Notion, Dovetail, Scrapbox

And that’s it! If you would like to learn more about our workshops or have any remote workshop tips and tricks you’d like to share, please email Doro, our Berlin Studio Lead.

AUTHOR
TOPIC
Goodpatch
TIPS&TRICKS
Don't miss a thing

Sign up for our newsletter

Further reading
  • Prototyping-tools-for-non-designers-goodpatch-whimsical-prott-marco-torrente

    Digital Prototyping for Non-Designers

    Prototyping is a powerful way to test your ideas. It allows your...
    Read Article
Don't miss a thing

Sign up for our newsletter

With offices around
the world, you can reach
us anytime.

Berlin

Munich

Tokyo

  • EN
  • DE
  • Connect with us
    Linkedin
    Instagram
    Twitter
    Dribbble

    Call: +49 (0)160 1666 552‬

    berlin@goodpatch.com

    日本語はこちらから

    Visit our Japanese website

    View our press section

    Career

    Goodpatch_logo_d_white-1

    © 2021 Goodpatch GmbH – All rights reserved.

    Imprint & Privacy Policy.

    © 2021 Goodpatch GmbH • Powered by GeneratePress