Warm up visual thinking and demonstrate that effective design communication relies on clarity, not artistic skill.
Use Draw a Toast as a warm-up exercise to unlock visual thinking, reveal diverse mental models, and prepare teams for collaborative design work.
Draw a Toast is a visual thinking warm-up exercise where participants individually sketch the process of making toast, then share and compare their drawings with the group. Workshop facilitators, design thinking practitioners, and team leads use it at the start of collaborative sessions to lower the barrier to visual communication and demonstrate that clear thinking matters more than artistic ability. The exercise works because making toast is universally familiar yet surprisingly complex when you try to map every step, decision, and dependency. Individual drawings reveal strikingly different mental models: some people draw a linear sequence of steps, others create flowcharts with decision points, and some focus on the physical objects while others emphasize actions and timing. Comparing these differences sparks rich discussion about assumptions, systems thinking, and the challenge of representing processes visually. Draw a Toast typically takes ten to fifteen minutes and requires nothing more than paper and pens, making it one of the most accessible and cost-effective facilitation tools available. It is particularly effective before Design Studio sessions, Design Sprints, or journey mapping workshops where participants need to feel comfortable sketching and communicating through drawings rather than words.
Explain to the participants that the 'Draw a Toast' method is a visual brainstorming tool aimed at discovering and understanding the components of a system through drawing, collaboration, and conversation. Mention that it's widely used as a design-thinking exercise and it gives insights into a user's mental model on a specific process.
Provide participants with large sheets of paper or whiteboards, along with drawing utensils like pens, markers, or pencils. Ensure that each participant has enough space for individual drawing, and that there's room for everyone to collaborate in a later step.
Ask each participant to take five to seven minutes to draw the process of making toast detailed enough so that someone who has never seen toast before could understand it. Encourage participants to consider all aspects of making toast, including the appliance, the bread, and any actions required.
Once the individual drawings are complete, ask participants to pair up or form small groups to share their drawings. Encourage them to compare and discuss their drawings, pointing out similarities and differences. Use this discussion to help participants understand various perspectives and question their assumptions about the process.
Now ask the participants to work together as a group to create a new, combined drawing of the toast-making process. Encourage them to incorporate the best elements from their individual drawings and ensure everyone participates in this collaborative process. This step is crucial for fostering group discussions and creative problem solving.
Once the group has finished their collaborative drawing, have a larger discussion about what they learned from the exercise. Ask participants to reflect on their experience, address any challenges in understanding the process, and discuss the implications for the design or research project at hand.
Encourage participants to build on the insights and discussions from the collaborative drawing and previous steps. If necessary, have them refine the drawing further or repeat the process with new groups or perspectives. This iterative approach is essential for developing a deep understanding of the user's mental model and can be used to inform future UX research and design decisions.
After running Draw a Toast, participants will feel more comfortable with sketching and visual communication, having seen that stick figures and simple diagrams communicate ideas effectively. The group will have observed firsthand how different people conceptualize the same process in fundamentally different ways, building appreciation for diverse perspectives. The facilitator will have established a collaborative, low-judgment atmosphere that carries into the main workshop activities. Participants will also have a practical understanding of basic systems thinking concepts like steps, dependencies, decisions, and feedback loops, all learned through an approachable everyday example. The exercise creates shared language and energy that improves the quality of subsequent design work.
Note that designs usually contain very similar features - our mental models work in very similar ways, which is a valuable insight.
Encourage creativity by all participants. Avoid comments on the quality of the drawing and praise clear communication of ideas.
You do not necessarily have to draw toast. Choose a theme more related to your work, but it should always be a simple everyday activity.
Use this exercise at the start of workshops to demonstrate that everyone can contribute visually regardless of drawing skill.
Debrief the variety in approaches - it reveals how differently people conceptualize the same task and builds empathy.
Ask 'what did you include or exclude?' to surface assumptions and decision-making patterns within the group.
Connect toast-making complexity to your actual design challenge to build relevance and transition into the main work.
Time the individual drawing phase strictly (3-5 minutes) to prevent overthinking and encourage spontaneous expression.
The value of Draw a Toast comes from discussing the differences between drawings, not from the drawing itself. Always leave at least five minutes for sharing and reflection or the exercise loses its teaching purpose.
Any negative comment about artistic skill defeats the exercise's core message that ideas matter more than aesthetics. Establish a no-judgment rule before drawing begins and model positive responses yourself.
Giving participants more than five minutes leads to overthinking and polishing rather than spontaneous expression. The time pressure is a feature, not a limitation, because it reveals instinctive mental models.
If the exercise feels disconnected from the workshop's purpose, participants may dismiss it as a game. Bridge the debrief by explicitly connecting the lessons about mental models and visual communication to the design challenge ahead.
Outline of the session plan with objectives, timeline, and materials needed.
Clear step-by-step guide for participants to follow during the exercise.
Individual drawings showing each participant's process understanding.
Categorized or clustered diagrams highlighting patterns and differences.
Synthesis of learnings about mental models, assumptions, and communication.
Suggestions for applying exercise insights to the main project or workshop.
Comprehensive report covering process, findings, and implications for the project.