A StoryLab combines a design-thinking workshop with Mobile Journalism immersion story production to create enriched storytelling experiences with university students. Here is what it looks like. I have produced story labs with the University of Stockholm, Michigan State University, Danish School of Journalism, and EFJ News school of Journalism, Paris.

1. StoryLabs
With Robb Montgomery

2. Story Master
The week-long StoryLab
workshop is led by Robb
Montgomery who serves as
the ‘sprint master’ for the
Design Thinking day and as
the Mobile Journalism trainer
for the video productions that
students make.

3. Analog and
human-scaled
We discourage any
electronics at the start of the
process.
Even if we are designing high-
tech video prototypes.
The reason is simple. These
humble tools yield incredible
team-based solutions.

4. Robb Montgomery
Our process
I use a human-centered approach
to guide each team to quickly
produce actionable ideas and to
establish measurable goals.

5. Robb Montgomery
The Design Method
Write
Ask
Draw
Rewrite
Answer
Re-Draw
The Design Method is a rapid-
prototyping format that guides
teams to develop a customer-
focused solution.
The method uses elements from
Maestro planning, the Stanford
D-School and GV Design Sprints.
It is especially suited for media
teams.

6. Explore new
opportunities
The Design Method has been
used since 2005 in
newsrooms around the world
and can help you literally
design anything.
The method has been used to
design apps, Web sites, video
story formats, and even large-
scale redesign and branding
projects.

7. User-centered
solutions
The persona that the teams
identify help keep them
focused on meeting the needs
and desires of their media
consumers.

8. One idea
per piece
of paper
The teams use simple tools to
develop smart solutions.

9. Under pressure
Timeboxing is used to drive
each team to complete only
one task at a time, and
following certain rules.
This prevents discussions
from becoming unproductive
or allowing one person from
the team to dominate the
process.

10. One thing
at a time
When designing the features
that define a solution I guide
teams to work on one aspect
at a time to consider all of the
possibilities.
And then to explore how their
decisions will impact related
decisions for other features.

11. A real plan
looks something
like this
A paper roadmap is the
expected result from the
design thinking portion of a
Storylab.
This team has produced the
outline for their experiment,
defined who it is designed for,
how they plan to produce it,
and also how they plan to
measure the impact.

12. No shortcuts
Prototypes and pitches only
move to the computer once
they have been fully
developed on paper as a
team.

13. Prototype
Over the course of a week, I
lead your student teams to
rapidly develop original
solutions that are designed for
users in their market.
This way of working gets
highly creative results that can
be tested and validated.

14. How will
you know
if it works?
Every team’s prototype has a
single KPI that is chosen to
validate or invalidate each
experiment.

15. Pitch with
confidence
This process is pitch-driven.
We find that having a great
story to tell about your new
prototype or strategy is the
best way to get top results.

16. Robb Montgomery
The offer
Maybe you want to explore new story telling
formats for video. Or develop a new strategy for
growing your video platform. Perhaps you want to
explore how best to grow engagement with your
most loyal customers?
Storylab workshops are problem solving engines. I
lead your teams step by step using proven
innovation processes.
I do this in an immersive, hands-on format.
These sessions are a transformative experience
that lead participants to efficiently use design
methods to innovate on deadline.
The takeaways are real:
At the end, your team will have developed a
pitch, a prototype and a roadmap.
Your team will will have what needs to launch, test
and iterate customer-focused solutions.

17. Robb Montgomery"Montgomery's Storylab workshop
gave us immediate and tangible
results, projects and ideas we have
decided to implement into our
products.
Not only did we have impact
through proposals created during
his three-day visit, but we also saw
an impact on the motivation and
loyalty of our employees.
Enabling our team for this kind of
"work play" meant enabling a
competitive edge for our company
and acquiring a new kind of
necessary literacy.
Boris Trupčević
General Manager for Croatia
Styria Media International GbmH