The document outlines the 'Design Box' methodology for effective team ideation and pitching within the bioinformatics team at the University of Utah. It emphasizes the importance of understanding technology, audience, aesthetics, and mechanics in game design, while providing a structured approach to refining ideas through collaborative pitching. The iterative process of feedback and refinement aims to enhance creativity and ensure that final pitches align with the team's objectives and constraints.

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Pitch Perfect and
The Design Box
Roger Altizer & Jose Zagal
University of Utah

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You are here

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Box gets folks into design quick

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Just-us folks working together

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Bioinformatics Pitch Meeting

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Bio-informatics Team

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Bio-informatics with partners

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Easy as pie (still confusing)
• Falling in love is easy
• Pitching from the cuff is easy (ish)
• Ignoring the details is easy
• Pitching derivative ideas is easy
• Ending endless brainstorming is easy
• Avoiding competing ideas is easy
• Finding relief in a pitch is easy

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Life is hard
• Ideation is hard
• Designing with teams is hard
• Buy-in is hard
• Breaking a problem down is hard
• Thinking inductively is hard

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Assuming Assumptions
• Good design solves a problem
• Constraint breeds creativity
• Qualitative/inductive approach to design
• Iteration helps with ideation
• Coding-like process may bring new ideas or
problems up that are missed at first glance
• Brining clients and audience “in” allows for
design research, vetting, and just inclusion

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Punny Beginnings

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Design Box
Aesthetics
Technology
Audience
Question/Problem/Mechanic

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Technology
• What is the tech the project is required?
• What tech is available to the team?
• What tech is the team good at?
• Does the tech have any key advantages?
• What limitations does the tech impose?

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Audience
• Who is the end user?
• Who will be buying the game?
• Who will be distributing the game?
• Are there any other key stakeholders?
• Can we narrow down the audience?
• Is there anything about the audience we need
to pay special attention to?

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Aesthetic
• Is there required content?
• Is there a required style?
• What would you like the audience to feel?
• What limitations do we have on content?
• Is there a particular theme we want to
embrace?
• Is there any taboo content?

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Question/Problem/Mechanic
• What problem does this game need to solve?
• Does this game need to promote a certain
kind of play?
• What question is this game exploring?
• What is it we want to say as a team?
• Is there a particular mechanic we want or
need to explore?
• What does this thing need to really do?

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Step 2: All pitches welcome
• Moderator writes pitches inside of the box
• No pitch may be written in the box unless it
accounts for all four sides.
• Any member of the team present may pitch.
• Any member may riff off another’s idea.
• Repeat until ‘theoretical saturation’ occurs –
the ideas start to sound the same
• Cross talk about the walls but not the pitches
is allowed.

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Be cool with the box

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Step 3: Refine the walls
• What assumptions are being made in the
pitches that aren’t on the walls?
• Refine the walls to account for common
threads in the pitches.
• Refine the walls based upon the cross talk
from the previous step.
• Allow for drastic changes to the walls.

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Be transparent with the box

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Step 4: Rinse and repeat
• Take a photo of the pitches then erase them
and start over.
• Team members may not pitch the same ideas
as previous rounds.
• Team members may modify earlier pitches.
• Again, all pitches must work with all walls.
• Moderator may ask questions to help the
pitch evolve.

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Team should press on the box

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Step 5: The pitch
• Teams may repeat the steps as many times as
needed
• In the end the walls get “heavier” and the box
gets “smaller”
• The smaller the box, the fewer the pitches
that fit
• The last pitches should look like answers the
team came up with or agreed with

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Great big idea, tiny little box

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Your thoughts here
Roger Altizer
roger.altizer@utah.edu
@real_rahjur
Jose Zagal
jose.zagal@utah.edu
@JoseZagal
You’re on a boat!