Inktrap, a respected British digital design studio that focuses on user interfaces as well as user experience, has come up with a curious way for web design and development professionals to stay sharp and innovative. The Wonderful Weekly Workshop started off as an internal creative exercise at Inktrap's offices in London, but it has expanded into its very own online platform.
Essentially, the Wonderful Weekly Workshop combines a couple of random prompts into an idea for a challenge project. Visitors to the website can choose from the following categories:
Once you select a category, you will be able to click a button in order to generate two design ideas. You will be presented with two prompts; what to do with them is entirely up to you, but the idea is to consider them a challenge to execute upon. Let's review some examples of these prompts:
An icon of a favorite food item in 8-bit graphics.
An outline of the letter "Z" using only magenta shades.
A version of the Tetris video game geared towards helping teachers come up with lesson plans.
A new layout for LinkedIn profiles that highlight masculinity.
You can spend a lot of time having fun and coming up with wild prompts, but that is not the goal. The best way to approach the Wonderful Weekly Workshop is to accept the first prompt no matter how zany it might seem. You have a week to complete the project; since it does not belong to a paying client, you have total freedom in deciding how far you want to go with the prompt. The Inktrap team suggests that you keep things simple with mock-ups, colorful sketches, or simple images that highlight the design. There is also the option of sharing designs on Twitter, but it is not necessary. Give yourself no more than seven days to come up with something, even if it is just in narrative form.
This Wonderful Weekly Workshop project is similar to challenges that some visual artists develop for their own benefit; one example would be not going to bed until a new and different sketch has been completed. For more information click here https://wwworkshop.inktrap.co.uk/.