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Drawing toast: My new favorite brainstorm icebreaker

Allie Ofisher, Lead UX designer
Turn anyone into a visual communicator in three minutes or less.
A conference table and chairs, with a laptop and supplies spread out.
The Whiteboard room at Pixo. A dream space for all types of collaboration.

Intro to Draw Toast

Ever wondered what it might be like to walk into a Pixo brainstorming meeting? Well, this past week you would have found one of our project teams trying out the Draw Toast activity, from Dave Gray’s Gamestorming.

And let me tell you, it was a huge success!

The concept is simple:

  1. Gather some writing utensils and paper (Or a whiteboard!).
  2. Set a timer for three minutes and ask each person to draw their process of making toast.
  3. Share!
Several drawings and doodles, in different styles, depicting the making of toast
Our project team’s toasty masterpieces.

Consensus: It’s a delight

3 people sit at a table, one of whom holds up a drawing.
Sharing our sketches

Not only is this a fun icebreaker for a group, it’s a great way to show that anyone can convey thoughts visually. From engineers to project managers, this group had no problem explaining their toast process through simple shapes, arrows, and stick figures.

After this activity, the level of confidence and trust in the room definitely increased! For the next hour and a half of the meeting, I wasn’t the only one up at the whiteboard sketching interfaces or drawing storyboards.

👉 For more on the strategy, check out the source.

Posted on January 25, 2019
Last modified on January 21, 2022