The Toolkit / Development / The Canvas
Development · Tool 06 of 16
The Canvas
Design the moment, not the screen.
Design what each chunk looks and feels like to the hero, moment by moment, before anyone builds it.
The board
Ten sections on one page
Print it, fill it in, and score each section from 1 to 5. Your score is out of 50.
How to use it
The ten sections of the Canvas
What to do in each section, and what a 1, a 3 and a 5 look like. Score yourself honestly; the low scores tell you where to work next.
- 1
The chunk
Which chunk, and the moments it covers.
Pick a chunk from the Sketchbook and list the moments of the journey it covers.
- 1Started
- A screen, not a chunk.
- 3Good
- A chunk from the Sketchbook.
- 5Excellent
- A chunk from the Sketchbook, with every moment it covers named.
- 2
Where the hero is
The situation they're in.
Describe where the hero is and what's going on when this happens.
- 1Started
- A guess.
- 3Good
- A clear situation.
- 5Excellent
- A vivid, specific situation taken from the hero's own words.
- 3
What they see and do
Step by step, from their side.
Walk through what they see and do, step by step, from their side.
- 1Started
- A feature list.
- 3Good
- The main steps, from their side.
- 5Excellent
- Every step from their side, simple enough that nobody needs to be told what to do.
- 4
What they feel
At each moment.
Write what they feel as they go through it.
- 1Started
- A generic feeling.
- 3Good
- A feeling for each moment.
- 5Excellent
- A specific feeling for each moment, rising to the peak.
- 5
The value they get
What they keep, learn or feel.
Write what they get from it, in their terms.
- 1Started
- Value for us, not them.
- 3Good
- A clear value for them.
- 5Excellent
- Real value at every moment, in their words, that the Simulator's people confirmed.
- 6
Their words
The language it uses.
Write the words it uses, taken from how they talk.
- 1Started
- Our jargon.
- 3Good
- Mostly their words.
- 5Excellent
- Every word on it in their language, with where it came from.
- 7
The carrier
Screen, paper, voice, a person, an object…
Choose what carries it, last: a screen, paper, a voice, a person, an object.
- 1Started
- Chosen first, out of habit.
- 3Good
- A carrier that fits.
- 5Excellent
- The carrier that best fits where the hero is, chosen after the moment was designed.
- 8
The look
A sketch or mockup.
Sketch it, or attach a mockup.
- 1Started
- Words only.
- 3Good
- A rough sketch.
- 5Excellent
- A sketch or mockup clear enough for someone else to build from.
- 9
Tested with
Personas and real people, and what they said.
Show it to the Simulator's synthetic personas and to real people, and write what they said.
- 1Started
- Only the team.
- 3Good
- Personas or real people.
- 5Excellent
- Both personas and real people, with what they said and what you changed.
- 10
The peak
The detail that must survive.
Name the detail that makes it special, and protect it.
- 1Started
- Not named.
- 3Good
- Named.
- 5Excellent
- Named, explained, and still there after every change.
How it works
- Made inStep 06 · DesignsDesign what each chunk looks and feels like to the hero, before anyone builds it.
- What it's forDesign what each chunk looks and feels like to the hero, moment by moment, before anyone builds it.
- It feedsThe FoundryBuild it one chunk at a time.
