TOOLS

Bloombox Canvas

What

The Bloombox Canvas is a tool to organise the foundations of your project, so that you're able to reach your desired outcomes. It helps teams to relate their goals and targeted outcomes to evidence and implementation.

Why

It can be hard to stay on track when you're dealing with different disciplines and having to integrate both science and design into one effective whole. The Canvas provides a North Star, maps an overview of each required building block for your project to identify key relationships and dependencies to help deliver a more effective tech-for-good.

How

Fill in whatever you know and agree on, first. The target audience and outcomes are usually a good starting point, but the Canvas process is created to be flexible. Work through the Bloombox Canvas as a team but make sure to revisit and iterate.

By clarifying your desired outcomes, determining the behaviors you need to target to reach your goals, and charting the best evidence-based designs to get there, you will be able to streamline your development process. The foundations of our project will likely remain stable, but expect your working model to change and adapt as your go through the process of learning and iterating of your product, game or service.

Downloadable canvas

The Canvas can be used on paper.

Download

Miro template

Get Canvas in Miro.

Get Miro Template

How to use the canvas as a jumping off point

Audience

The target audience is often one of the few things that a team has defined at the start of a project. Regardless, defining and understanding your audience is always a good place to start. Below we provide an array of tools to help your team map the target audience.

Interviews

Time to get to know your user. We believe the richest data stems from interviews and focus groups.

Interviews

Time to get to know your user. We believe the richest data stems from interviews and focus groups.

Interviews

Time to get to know your user. We believe the richest data stems from interviews and focus groups.

Surveys

Short on time? User surveys are a quick and easy way to gather information about your users.

Surveys

Short on time? User surveys are a quick and easy way to gather information about your users.

Surveys

Short on time? User surveys are a quick and easy way to gather information about your users.

Empathy map

Once you have a sense of your user, you can create a collaborative visualisation to articulate what you know about what they think, say, do, and feel.

Empathy map

Once you have a sense of your user, you can create a collaborative visualisation to articulate what you know about what they think, say, do, and feel.

Empathy map

Once you have a sense of your user, you can create a collaborative visualisation to articulate what you know about what they think, say, do, and feel.

User Personas

Your target audience is never an entirely homogenous group. Create fictional characters based on your knowledge of the different potential types of your target user.

User Personas

Your target audience is never an entirely homogenous group. Create fictional characters based on your knowledge of the different potential types of your target user.

User Personas

Your target audience is never an entirely homogenous group. Create fictional characters based on your knowledge of the different potential types of your target user.

Proximal outcome

Define the most immediate consequence that you’d like to occur as a direct outcome of users’ experiences with your product, game, or service. This is your expected short-term result or effect.

SMART Criteria

Defining these parameters as they pertain to your goal helps ensure that your objectives are attainable within a certain time frame.

SMART Criteria

Defining these parameters as they pertain to your goal helps ensure that your objectives are attainable within a certain time frame.

SMART Criteria

Defining these parameters as they pertain to your goal helps ensure that your objectives are attainable within a certain time frame.

Concept mapping

Create concept maps to organise your outcomes, and distill them to 2-3 to keep your project streamlined and achievable.

Concept mapping

Create concept maps to organise your outcomes, and distill them to 2-3 to keep your project streamlined and achievable.

Concept mapping

Create concept maps to organise your outcomes, and distill them to 2-3 to keep your project streamlined and achievable.

Outcome matrices

While we're often focused on desirable outcomes, it's also important to consider what might be some undesirable outcomes to intentionally prevent them.

Outcome matrices

While we're often focused on desirable outcomes, it's also important to consider what might be some undesirable outcomes to intentionally prevent them.

Outcome matrices

While we're often focused on desirable outcomes, it's also important to consider what might be some undesirable outcomes to intentionally prevent them.

Distal Outcomes

Short-term results are all fine and dandy, but chances are you want to make a lasting impact. Distal outcomes are all about the long-term improvement you’d like to achieve with your product, game, or service. Long-term outcomes are important to determine so you can design for them appropriately.

Examples of distal, or long-term, outcomes could include flourishing, sense of purpose, depression, anxiety, and so on.

Concept mapping

Here, too, concept mapping can be a great tool to get your 'distal ducks' in a row. Create concept maps to organise your outcomes, and distill them to 2-3 to keep your project streamlined and achievable.

Concept mapping

Stakeholder analysis

Broaden your horizon by considering how—perhaps unexpected—people will be impacted by (or can impact) your project.

Stakeholder analysis

Broaden your horizon by considering how—perhaps unexpected—people will be impacted by (or can impact) your project.

Stakeholder analysis

Broaden your horizon by considering how—perhaps unexpected—people will be impacted by (or can impact) your project.

Target

What behaviour are you targeting with the experience you are building? What would you like people to do while using your product, game, or service? The resources below can help you think about which user behaviours need to be targeted to achieve your chosen outcomes.

Targets can also be thought of as the change in behaviour that you are measuring as a result of using your product, game, or service

Theory of change

In order to know which behaviours to address, you'll need to understand how certain behavioural, psychological, or social changes come about. Scientific literature will enable you to get acquainted with relevant theories of change (and help you form your own).

Theory of change

Psychological mechanisms

Think of the behaviourial, social or emotional processes that may play a role in your target behaviour. This is where scientific literature is your friend, so this is the time to get to know it well.

Scoping literature review

Dive into the scientific literature to build your evidence-base and find out more about your target behaviour and which processes influence it. Associative thinking and not narrowing down too early in the search process will help you.

Scoping literature review

Cognitive Atlas

A great resource full of concepts and theories from cognitive science that may prove relevant to your project.

Cognitive Atlas

A great resource full of concepts and theories from cognitive science that may prove relevant to your project.

Cognitive Atlas

A great resource full of concepts and theories from cognitive science that may prove relevant to your project.

Evidence-based techniques

When you get to this point in the Canvas, you will likely know which behaviours you need to target, and which emotional, psychological or social processes play a part in those. Time to find out which evidence-based techniques exist that can impact your chosen processes appropriately.

If you don't know where to start, diving into the scientific literature is once again the way to go. Below you will find some examples of techniques that have a solid evidence-base to back them up.

Exposure therapy

Type of therapy in which you're gradually exposed to the things, situations and activities you fear.

Exposure therapy

Type of therapy in which you're gradually exposed to the things, situations and activities you fear.

Exposure therapy

Type of therapy in which you're gradually exposed to the things, situations and activities you fear.

Cognitive reappraisal

A widely utilized emotion regulation strategy that involves altering the personal meaning of an emotional event to change one's attitude and emotional response.

Cognitive reappraisal

A widely utilized emotion regulation strategy that involves altering the personal meaning of an emotional event to change one's attitude and emotional response.

Cognitive reappraisal

A widely utilized emotion regulation strategy that involves altering the personal meaning of an emotional event to change one's attitude and emotional response.

Expressive writing

A deeply personal writing exercise aimed at stimulating reflection and self-awareness.

Expressive writing

A deeply personal writing exercise aimed at stimulating reflection and self-awareness.

Expressive writing

A deeply personal writing exercise aimed at stimulating reflection and self-awareness.

Body mapping

Arts-based experience to help people visualise processes, feelings, and experiences in their body.

Body mapping

Arts-based experience to help people visualise processes, feelings, and experiences in their body.

Body mapping

Arts-based experience to help people visualise processes, feelings, and experiences in their body.

Design mechanics

One of the things that will make your product, game, or service successful is the iterative and design-focused process you will go through to turn your evidence-based techniques into an egaging component of your project. Time to match up each technique with its appropriate design pattern.

Mediated communication

Change the way in which your users interact with each other.

Alterations to field of vision

Adapt what your user gets to see when they are using your product or game.

Biofeedback

Use your user's physiological signals (like heart rate) as input for designed elements.

Quests

A great way to motivate your users to engage in certain behaviours.

Case studies

MindLight

A spooky game world through which children learn to manage and overcome anxiety symptoms by harnessing the power of their brain waves.