You can find free resources for the 80 methods included in our book below. Resources include printable templates, materials for running design exercises and slides for using the methods in a class or workshop setting.

To learn more about each of the methods and for a step-by-step guide for how to use the methods, you will need a copy of the book. If you already know how to use the methods and are just here for a free template, that’s totally OK too!

Pages DTMBR Method Resources
18–19 5 Whys
Uncovering root causes behind a problem statement
20–21 A/B Testing
A is better than B … or is it?
22–23 Affinity Diagramming
Translating research data into user needs
24–25 Autobiographical Diaries
A starting point to think about the lives of others
26–27 Backcasting
Working backwards to implement a preferred future
28–29 Body Mapping
Find out how your users feel by drawing the body inside out
30–31 Bodystorming
Thinking with your body
32–33 Brainwriting 6-3-5
Building on each other’s ideas
34–35 Business Model Canvas
Visually designing the value a company offers
36–37 Business Model Experimentation
Iteratively exploring ideas for business model designs
38–39 Card Sorting
Seeing information from your user’s perspective
40–41 Cartographic Mapping
Generating rich depictions of settings and practices in a problem domain
42–43 Channel Mapping
Reaching your customers from all angles
44–45 Co-Design Workshops
Designing with your participants
46–47 Competitor Analysis
Knowing how you compare to those around you
48–49 Context Mapping
Harnessing creativity to reveal hidden needs
50–51 Contextual Observation
Observing how people act in the wild
52–53 Cultural Probes
Getting to know your users through playful and provocative tasks
Decision Matrices
Because making design decisions isn’t easy
58–59 Design Critique
Valuing the perspective of others
60–61 Design Team Cards
Building a strong design team by recognising and valuing attributes
62–63 Design Timescapes
Making the precedents and consequences of our designs visible
56–57 Design by Metaphor
The power of seeing something as something else
64–65 Direct Experience Storyboards
Acting out user experiences when involving users is not possible
66–67 Empathic Modelling
Putting yourself in someone else’s shoes
68–69 Empathy Mapping
Making visible the invisible to better understand your user and their experiences
70–71 Experience Prototyping
Turning ideas into something that can be experienced
72–73 Experience Sampling
Sampling people’s states, emotions and thoughts in real-time
74–75 Extreme Characters
Using the unique needs of extraordinary people as design inspiration
76–77 Focus Groups
Gaining insights by observing and listening to group discussions
78–79 Forced Assocation
Unlikely matches lead to new ideas
80–81 Future Workshops
Collectively envisioning future solutions
82–83 Group Passing
Collaboratively coming up with new ideas
84–85 Hero Stories
Envisioning ideas through speculative storytelling
86–87 Heuristic Evaluation
Testing your solution with domain experts
88–89 Impact Ripple Canvas
If we don’t plan the world we want, we have to live with the one we get
90–91 Interaction Relabelling
Shifting focus from functionality to interaction possibilities
92–93 Interviews
Only by asking good questions, will you get good answers
94–95 KJ Brainstorming
Collaboratively connecting and prioritising ideas
96–97 Laddering
Finding out what really matters
98–99 Local Orbits
Cultivating the art of observing a place
100–101 Low-Fidelity Prototyping
Creating tangible representations of ideas
102–103 Mapping Space
Capturing bodily movement through space and time
104–105 Material Exploration
Engaging with physical materials to find new ways of doing things
106–107 Mind Mapping
Who, What, When, Where, Why, How: Making a snapshot of connections and relationships
108–109 Mock-Ups
Creating visual models of envisioned products
110–111 Mood Boards
Collecting visual inspiration
112-113 Morphological Charts
Breaking a big, messy problem into bite-sized pieces
114-115 Non-Human Personas
Giving a voice to living things and ecosystems
116–117 Online Ethnography
Gathering insights from online communities
Perceptual Maps
Capturing the current market landscape
120–121 Persona-Based Walkthroughs
Seeing designs through the eyes of users
122-123 Personas
Modelling users through storytelling
124–125 Pop-Ups
Encouraging people to interact with temporary installations in public spaces
126–127 Questionnaires
Gathering large amounts of user data
128–129 Reframing
Taking a look from a different perspective
130–131 Research Visualisation
Giving your research pride of place on the wall
132–133 Role-Playing
Exploring the perspectives of users
148–149 STEP Cards
Turning a web of external factors into actionable insights
134–135 Scenario-Based Thinking
Why settle for one future when you can explore four?
136–137 Scenarios
Exploring designs through storytelling
138–139 Science Fiction Prototyping
Using the future to improve the now
140–141 Service Blueprints
Documenting the visible and the invisible
142-143 Sketching
Communicating and thinking through pen and paper
144–145 Sketchnoting
Documenting processes through sketching
146–147 Speculating Preferred Futures
Using dystopian and utopian narratives to explore a problem area
150–151 Storyboarding
Using the power of comics to explain concepts
152–153 Strategy Choice Cascade
Improving a strategy with five key questions
154–155 Systems Mapping
Visually identifying the components of complex systems
156–157 Thematic Analysis
Finding patterns that make sense of what people say or write
158–159 Think-Aloud Protocol
Learning from listening to your users’ thoughts
160–161 Usability Testing
Identifying design flaws by testing early and often
162–163 User Journey Mapping
Understanding complex user experiences
164–165 User Profiles
Describing your users’ key attributes
166–167 Value Proposition Canvas
Addressing customer pains and gains
168–169 Values Cartouche
Visualising values to inform design decisions
170–171 Video Prototyping
Communicating design concepts through video narratives
172–173 Wireflows
Visualising the relationships between wireframes
174–175 Wireframing
Drafting a structural and functional skeleton
176–177 Worst Possible Idea
Unlocking creative thinking by encouraging terrible ideas