The crazy 8 exercise is part icebreaker, part design sprint, and all fun. It’s a fast-paced drawing challenge that allows artists and non-creatives alike to focus on a single goal: sketching out eight new concepts. They don’t have to be good. They don’t even need to make sense. All they have to do is kickstart the ideation process.

By going for quantity over quality, crazy 8s design thinking lets you drop all expectations and just create. After all, sometimes the best inspiration comes when you least expect it—crazy, right?

The guidelines for the crazy 8 exercise are simple. Participants start with a blank canvas of eight empty squares, and someone starts an eight-minute timer. When the timer goes off, everyone should have eight new drawings in front of them. Whether you take a minute for each drawing or manage to make four in the first minute, as long as you have some new ideas, you’re doing it right.

The goal of this fast sketching exercise is to generate as many new ideas as possible. Realistically, not every idea can be feasible or original, but it's likely that you'll walk away with a few good concepts to build upon.

All you need to pull off a crazy 8 brainstorm of your own is a set of eight blank boxes, a timer, and a group of people.

While you can run a crazy 8s exercise in a physical space, the reality of remote teams makes it more challenging. With FigJam, you can let your imagination run wild with collaborators from all over. Instead of brainstorming with a sticky note or paper, each participant can download the free FigJam template today, and they’ll have their own crazy 8 examples in eight minutes and thirty seconds. Using a virtual crazy 8 template helps save time, ensures that everyone has an equal amount of space to work with, and makes collaborating on diverse ideas easy.

The Crazy 8 design exercise and template can act as a helpful tool for your next brainstorming session, UX meeting, or design sprint. Follow our tips for how to best leverage this exercise with your team:

1. Ensure every participant understands the goal of the exercise and the problem you're trying to solve.
2. Use a timer - the Crazy 8s challenge is intentionally designed to be a fast sketching exercise. Set a timer for 8 minutes to keep things moving.
3. Encourage creative thinking - reassure team members that there are no bad ideas. Create a judgmental-free space that encourages everyone to flex their creative muscles and bring their unique ideas to life.

Vote and collaborate on your favorite concepts - while there are no bad ideas, not every idea can be a winner. Have the team vote on their favorite ones, prioritizing potential solutions based on lift and impact.