Design workshops or creative workshops are a highly effective method of energising and unlocking creative thinking at the start of a project and provide the foundation in the design process of a successful, purpose-led product.

Within these workshops, we can focus our efforts, by getting to grips with the real user problem to build empathy for the future customers. At biild, we believe workshops are becoming an increasingly important part of the product development process, here are some of the key benefits as to why.

8 Benefits of design workshops

1. Plan for success 

Many businesses assume everyone on their own team knows what success is, but the process of committing to the definition helps the team, design consultants and other stakeholders involved to stay on target.   

• What does success look like? 
• What factors contribute to a successful project?
• How will we measure it? And how will we define meaningful success criteria?

Design workshops enable you to set the objectives for both the product and the process. We all know about the traditional cost, time and scope criteria but at biild, we’re committed to the finer detail and encourage you to consider:  

• The specific benefits for your organisation
• How end-user satisfaction will be measured
• How product reliability will be assessed
• What manufacturing options are best for your product
• When you want to launch your product to market
• How your product is sustainable or contributes to overall sustainability

2. Foster innovation through collaboration and co-creation 

A design workshop is a great platform to connect the creative design team and engineers with all project stakeholders. It is also a great way for participants to share ideas, innovate, and build on them collaboratively within the best timeframe to ensure success.

3. Reduce risk 

Design workshops give you the opportunity to identify risks early, which means you can mitigate them.  Our design team and your stakeholders can brainstorm all potential risks together.

In this workshop, pre-existing assumptions can be challenged and vital discussions around what will and won’t work can be had. By hashing this out early on, you can reduce the overall risk of a plan.  

4. Actionable output 

The questions and ideas shared during the workshop are documented in a detailed, shareable report. The aim of this report is to understand the consumer, the product and drive the entire product's design and development journey.

The workshop helps to create a deeper understanding of the process and effectively manages design and feedback cycles. These milestones serve as the groundwork for a more robust create and prototype phase.  

5. Save costs 

Design workshops are the critical starting point of a sound product development plan. They enable the initial alignment of both designers and stakeholders and ensure everyone understands the manufacturing costs. In the long run, this saves you time and money.  

6. Getting to market must-haves

Part of the workshop is to establish next steps to keep the momentum going. Now that you have more insight into what is needed and if it’s affordable, you can turn your focus to how you will make it a reality. Specs for prototypes and testing plans can be set within this workshop.  

7. Good design is long-lasting 

We know consumer demands have changed significantly with a shift from purpose-led products being the exception to the expectation. With 74% of consumers wanting long-lasting and easily repairable products, it has never been more important to use good design for long-term success.  

8. Meet your goals

The design workshop maps out the entire product journey, which is key to agreeing on outcomes based on creative thinking and analytical decision-making. Workshops are designed to support creating user experiences that truly resonate with the consumer and deliver high business impact. By defining what success means and setting out a roadmap for achieving this, we can empower you to succeed.

These 8 benefits serve as a taster of what you can expect from one of our workshops. It’s an in-depth process tailored to your business and your vision.

To find out more about how a biild workshop can help you, contact us on hello@biild.co.uk or call us on 01909 499 017 today.