Design Sprints With Parents and Kids Before You Build a Family-Friendly Festival

Introduction

Designing a family-friendly festival is not just about adding a kid’s zone or a few child-friendly activities. It’s about understanding the needs of parents and children from the ground up – quite literally. One powerful way to achieve this is by conducting design sprints with families before anything is built. A design sprint is a rapid, multi-step design process involving research, prototyping, and testing ideas directly with end-users (designthinkingformuseums.net). In this context, the end-users are families – the parents, caregivers, and kids who will experience the festival. By involving them early, festival teams can uncover hidden pain points and innovative ideas that adults alone might miss.

Instead of treating families as mere after-the-fact feedback providers, treat them as co-designers. Imagine real parents and children walking through a mock festival layout marked with tape on a floor, pushing strollers around cardboard obstacles, and role-playing a day at your event. They can point out where they feel cramped, confused, or excited. These insights are gold for organizers aiming to create a seamless, safe, and enjoyable festival for all ages. From maps and signage to queues and activity flow, families’ input during a 90-minute co-design session can save you from costly mistakes and ensure your festival truly welcomes everyone.

In the following sections, we’ll delve into how to run these family-focused design sprints. We’ll cover preparing the sessions (including offering stipends and childcare), what to prototype and test (stroller routes, seat heights, sightlines, and more), and how to capture and act on every “pain point” discovered. Whether you’re planning a small local fair or a massive international festival, these techniques will help put family needs at the heart of your design process.

Why Co-Design with Families Before Building

Too often, festivals labeled “family-friendly” still fall short on basics – like a site map that’s confusing for kids, or lack of shade in a long face-painting queue. The reason is simple: planners didn’t see the event through a family’s eyes. By co-designing with families before building anything, festival organizers can identify issues that adults sitting around a boardroom might overlook.

Families experience environments differently. Children especially can interact with a space in surprising ways that adult designers might not predict. For example, a simple bench to an adult is just a place to sit, but a child might see it as something to climb, jump off, or crawl under (blooloop.com). A long, straight pathway might subconsciously signal “run!” to a toddler. If a festival environment isn’t designed with these behaviors in mind, kids will still do what comes naturally – and what adults perceive as misbehavior is often actually a design oversight (blooloop.com). Involving children in the design sprint lets you catch these factors early. They’ll show you, through their actions, what in your layout could become a playground, a hazard, or both.

Parents and caregivers likewise have a unique perspective. They are managing strollers, bags, snacks, and tired kids. Something as simple as a gate that’s too narrow or a gravel path can become a major headache. One leisure-industry design expert noted that modern strollers are practically “miniature SUVs,” and a narrow entrance or tightly packed aisle can instantly frustrate a parent (blooloop.com). By inviting parents to test a mock entrance or a vendor booth layout with their actual strollers, you’ll quickly learn if your paths are wide enough and if your festival site is accessible for all types of wheels (strollers, wagons, even wheelchairs).

Co-design also builds buy-in. Families who help design a festival feel more welcome at the event itself. They know their voices were heard, and they often become enthusiastic ambassadors telling other families to attend. In cities from Auckland to Austin, organizers have found that engaging local parents in planning not only improves the festival design but also strengthens community support. And in terms of cultural nuance, who better than local caregivers to point out what families in your region will need? For instance, parents in a tropical country like Singapore might emphasize the need for stroller-friendly shade and cooling stations, while those in a rural Canadian town might focus on safe play areas away from a busy beer garden. These insights ensure your festival caters to the norms and needs of families across different cultures.

Finally, involving families early can prevent costly mistakes. It’s far easier to move a stage or add a diaper-changing station on a blueprint or prototype than on event day. The co-design sprint might reveal, for example, that your proposed kids’ craft tent is too far from the nearest bathrooms or that the only exit from the children’s area leads through a noisy crowd. Armed with that knowledge, you can fix issues in the planning phase, avoiding complaints (or safety incidents) later. In short, family co-design is an insurance policy for a smoother festival.

Setting Up a 90-Minute Co-Design Session

A 90-minute co-design session with families is long enough to gather rich insights but short enough to accommodate children’s attention spans and busy parents’ schedules. Here’s how a festival organizer can set the stage for a productive session:

• Recruit a diverse mix of families: Aim for 4–8 families if possible, with children of varying ages (toddlers, young kids, maybe a preteen). The mix could include caregivers like parents, grandparents, or guardians. If your festival draws an international or multicultural crowd, try to reflect that diversity in your participants – different family traditions can yield different needs.
• Offer stipends or incentives: Respect your participants’ time and expertise by compensating them. This could be a cash stipend, gift cards, or free festival tickets/merch. Cover travel costs if needed. When families are paid (and thanked) for their input, they understand that you truly value their role in the design process, which encourages active participation.
• Provide childcare or kid-friendly activities: This is crucial. If you want parents to engage deeply in discussion or design tasks, make sure their kids are safe and entertained when not actively involved. Set up a supervised play corner with toys, or have an activity leader who can do a mini-workshop or games with the children when they need a break. For babies or very young kids, consider having a childcare professional on hand. (Sometimes one parent participates while another watches the little one, but having childcare allows both to contribute.)
• Choose a convenient time and accessible location: Schedule sessions when families are likely free – on a weekend morning or early afternoon, or early evening on a weekday (but not too close to bedtime for kids). The location should be easy to get to, with parking or transit access, and stroller-accessible. If you can, hold it in a large open indoor space (like a community center hall, school gym, or even an empty warehouse) where you have room to tape out layouts on the floor. Ensure the space has restrooms and a comfortable temperature; remember you’re catering to kids too.
• Prepare materials and snacks: Come equipped with large printed maps or site plans, markers, post-it notes, tape (lots of it!), cardboard sheets or boxes, child-safe scissors, and any prototyping materials you might use (more on that in the next section). Provide name tags for everyone – including the kids – to create a friendly atmosphere. And don’t forget refreshments: juice, water, coffee/tea for adults, and some healthy snacks. A hungry child (or parent) won’t be in the mood to brainstorm.

Before the session starts, brief your own team (staff or volunteers helping) on the plan. Assign someone to take notes or photos, someone to facilitate the discussion, and others to assist with the prototyping exercises. Make sure everyone understands that the goal is to learn from the families, not to push your own ideas. Adopting a warm, welcoming tone from the get-go will put participants at ease. When families arrive, greet them, let kids get comfortable (perhaps introduce kids to each other with a quick fun icebreaker), and clarify that everyone’s input is important.

Outline the schedule of the 90-minute sprint at the start. For example:

1. Welcome and Introductions (10 minutes): Explain the project (e.g., “We’re planning the ABC Festival and want your help to make it great for families”). Emphasize that they are co-designers today, and there are no wrong ideas. Introduce the team and have families introduce themselves and the ages of their kids.
2. Current Plan Overview (10 minutes): If you have a draft site map or concept, show it briefly on a poster or handout. (“Here’s the festival site we’re working with and some initial ideas for where things might go.”) Keep this high-level to avoid biasing their input – you want fresh ideas too.
3. Co-Design Activity Rounds (60 minutes): Break this into a few focused exercises (detailed in the next section). For instance:
4. Mapping & Navigation (20 min): Families draw or place markers on a large floor map for where they’d want things like kids’ area, toilets, food, quiet zones, etc. Discuss navigation paths and any concerns.
5. Queueing & Crowd-Flow Simulation (20 min): A role-play where everyone pretends to arrive at the festival entrance or queue for an activity. Use tape on the floor to indicate lines or gates. Observe and ask questions as they go through the motions.
6. Activity Flow & Schedule (20 min): A quick brainstorm on the day’s flow – perhaps using a timeline on a whiteboard. Parents note when their kids usually eat, nap, get tired, etc., and together you consider how festival scheduling could align (e.g., having calmer activities in afternoon when younger kids might nap in strollers, etc.).
   During these rounds, encourage both parents and children to speak up. Kids might draw their “dream” festival or use stickers on the map, while parents can explain logistical needs.
7. Discussion and Wrap-Up (10 minutes): Gather everyone to share key thoughts. Ask questions like, “What’s one thing you liked about the plans we sketched, and one thing that worried you?” Thank the families profusely and let them know how their input will be used. (And of course, distribute any stipends/promised incentives as they leave.)

This structure is flexible – adapt it based on the group’s engagement. If the kids are very young, you might shorten active discussion segments and allow more free-form observation of them interacting with prototypes. The key is to keep things moving (90 minutes will fly by) and keep families engaged through hands-on activities rather than long talks. Remember, action speaks louder than words: you’ll often learn as much from watching how they move through a space or use an object as from what they say.

Focus on Maps, Queueing, and Activity Flow

During the co-design sprint, it’s wise to center the exercises on three crucial aspects of any festival: the site map (layout and navigation), the queues (and overall crowd flow), and the activity flow (scheduling and transitions throughout the event). These are areas where family needs are especially pronounced.

Mapping the Festival Through Family Eyes

Start with the big picture: the festival map. Parents and kids can literally put themselves on the map during your session. Spread out a large printout of the venue or draw an outline of the grounds with key landmarks (stages, entrances, etc.) and let families annotate it. Provide stickers or cut-out icons representing things like food stalls, first aid, rest areas, toilets, kid activities, information booths, etc. Caregivers might relocate facilities on the map – perhaps suggesting the family area be nearer to the exit for easier escape when kids get tired, or pointing out that a playground would be better situated away from a loud stage. Children might add their own ideas (a child might draw a big ice cream stand right in the center or mark an “X” where they want a treasure hunt prize to be hidden). This creative input can reveal both practical improvements and fun enhancements you hadn’t considered.

As they work on the map, ask guiding questions:
– “If you arrived here with a stroller, where would you go first?” This tells you where your entrance signage or greeters should focus, and if the paths from entry to key areas are intuitive.
– “Do any areas on this map look too far for your child to walk comfortably?” This could reveal if your parking or shuttle drop-off is inconveniently distant from the children’s zone, for instance.
– “Where would you expect to find quiet space if your family needs a break?” Families might circle a spot that feels naturally calmer (e.g., a corner under trees) which you can then plan as a quiet zone or nursing area.
– “Can you spot all the toilets? Would you add or move any?” Never underestimate a parent’s eye for restroom placement. They may point out you need more near the family zone, or that a diaper-changing station in the men’s room is needed, not just in women’s.

Through this mapping exercise, patterns will emerge. You might find that multiple families highlight the same pain point – say, a lack of clear route between the kids’ area and the main stage, or concerns about proximity of the beer garden to the play area. These are red flags (or opportunities) to address in your layout. Conversely, you might get reinforcing validation for some ideas – perhaps everyone loves the idea of a central picnic lawn where families can rest.

Queueing and Crowd Flow: A Family Perspective

Queues are almost inevitable at festivals – whether it’s lining up at the entrance gate, food trucks, bathrooms, or popular attractions. But queues and crowds can be extra challenging when you have young children in tow. That’s why it’s essential to design queues deliberately with families in mind, and a co-design session is the perfect place to explore this.

Use a role-play exercise to simulate waiting in line and moving through a crowd. For example, tape out a faux entrance gate and fencing in your workshop space. Hand out some mock tickets or wristbands, and actually have the families go through the process of arriving and “checking in” to the festival. If you plan to use metal detectors or bag checks, simulate that too (even if it’s just saying “Now imagine I’m security, and I’m checking your bag”). Observe where things slow down or become awkward. You might notice a mom juggling a toddler on her hip while trying to unfold a ticket QR code on her phone – which could prompt you to ensure you have staff at the gate to assist, or perhaps a dedicated family lane for quicker entry.

Ask parents how long is too long to wait with their kids for various things. You’ll likely hear very honest answers (e.g., “More than 10 minutes in a food line and my 5-year-old will lose it”). Such feedback can inform your operations – maybe you need to increase food vendors or add a pre-order system for families. Also, discuss strategies they use to cope with waits: some may bring snacks or toys for kids. This can spark ideas like having an entertainer (a clown, a musician) strolling the queue to distract children, or putting up an interactive trivia poster in long queues to keep people engaged.

Beyond formal queues, consider general crowd flow and congestion. Have the families pretend to move from one area to another – say, from the main stage to the kids’ play zone at a scheduled time (like right after a big performance ends, when many people might move at once). If you have enough participants, you can simulate a mini crowd. Watch how parents navigate: Are they able to push the stroller through a cluster of “people” (the other participants) easily? Do they instinctively avoid certain tight corners or slopes (indicating a potential choke point or hazard on your map)? Are kids prone to darting off in open spaces if not guided – suggesting you might need temporary barriers or more volunteers to manage flow in real life?

One outcome from these discussions might be rethinking where and how queues form. For instance, if your co-design session shows that kids get antsy waiting, you might decide to create a “family express lane” for certain activities, or design queue areas next to a play pen where one parent can watch the child while the other stands in line. Also, parents might suggest virtual queueing (taking a number and coming back later) as a feature – and you could implement that via an app or a simple text system, sparing families from standing in line altogether. The goal is to identify every pain point related to waiting or moving in crowds, and find a design or operational solution for it.

Activity Flow and Scheduling with Kids in Mind

The concept of activity flow is about how families experience the sequence of events and activities over the course of the festival day. A festival’s schedule might look jam-packed and exciting on paper, but for a family, it could be overwhelming or ill-timed. Through co-design, you can calibrate your festival’s programming to the rhythm of family life.

In the design session, present a notional timeline of the festival day (for a one-day event) or each day of a multi-day festival. Encourage parents to overlay their typical family routine onto it. For example, many young children have a midday nap or quiet time. Is there a calm or low-key activity in your schedule around that time, or a quiet area for families to retreat to? As one festival organizer put it, “Kids like to get up early and stay up late, which can make the festival day really long. So we tried to structure the day around the rhythm of a typical family day.” (www.irishtimes.com) In practice, this meant starting the festival’s programming earlier in the morning with kid-friendly acts, having lull periods or chill zones in the afternoon, and offering evening entertainment that’s still appropriate but maybe doubles as wind-down time.

Ask the parents in your session questions like:
– “What time of day is easiest for you to attend events with your kids?” Some may prefer morning (kids are fresh), others may say late afternoon (after naps). This can guide when you schedule headline family events.
– “How many activities would you realistically do in a half-day at the festival?” This helps prevent over-scheduling. Families often move slower and may not participate in back-to-back activities. It might turn out that expecting them to hit 5 different attractions before lunch is unrealistic – maybe 2 or 3 is more reasonable.
– “What kind of break or downtime does your family need during an outing?” Parents could suggest needing a picnic lunch break or a playground visit to let kids burn energy between sitting events. Make sure your plan incorporates these breaks – perhaps a picnic area with shade and blanket space, or carnival games that aren’t too mentally taxing as a “break” from watching performances.
– “Are there points where one parent might want to do something separate (like see a band) while the other takes the kids somewhere?” This can highlight the need for a comfortable meeting point or a clear communication plan (maybe an internal festival text system, or simply well-marked landmarks like a big balloon or sign where families can regroup if separated).

Parents may also point out bedtime concerns. If your festival runs into the night, do you offer family camping or an area where strollers can be in a quieter zone? Some festivals designate a family camping area that’s farther from loud stages, recognizing that kids might conk out by 9pm while music goes until midnight. Even if it’s not an overnight festival, an event running past dark could provide a “pajama zone” – a tent with bean bags, bedtime stories, or a calm activity where kids in PJs can relax. These ideas often come directly from parents brainstorming what they’d need to comfortably stay longer at the event.

In essence, mapping activity flow with families ensures your festival schedule is realistic and enjoyable for them. It’s far better to have families saying “Wow, we managed to do so much and the kids had a great time!” than “We had to leave early because the kids were exhausted and cranky.” The co-design session will shine a light on how to pace your event for the family audience and what infrastructure (like rest areas or flexible programming) you need to support that pace.

Prototyping the Experience with Tape and Cardboard

Once ideas and concerns have surfaced on paper, it’s time to bring the physical experience to life – at least in a rough form. In your co-design sprint, use simple props like tape on the floor and cardboard constructs to prototype key aspects of the festival environment. This hands-on testing is where you and the families can literally walk through solutions to problems and discover issues that weren’t obvious on the map.

Here are some prototyping exercises and what you can learn from them:

• Stroller Pathways & Turns: Mark out pathways, corridors, or booth layouts on the floor with tape at true-to-life dimensions. For instance, if you planned for a 3-foot (about 1 meter) wide pathway between vendor booths, tape that width and create a “corner” or turn. Have a parent push a stroller through, perhaps meeting another parent coming the opposite way. Do they struggle to pass each other? If yes, you’ve learned your planned paths are too narrow and could cause stroller traffic jams in real conditions. Maybe 5 feet (1.5 m) is the minimum for comfort. Test U-turns or 90-degree turns – can a standard stroller make the turn without doing a three-point maneuver? If you see tape lines getting repositioned during this exercise, that’s direct evidence of a needed change in your layout.
• Entrance and Exit Mock-Up: Using tape and some cardboard, outline an entrance gate or a narrow passageway. Include a dummy door if your venue uses one, or a ramp if there’s an incline. Have families go through as if arriving. You might tape a pretend threshold to see if it’s easy to push strollers over. Does the doorway allow two strollers side by side? Can a parent hold a child’s hand and still maneuver through quickly? If there’s a step, even a tiny curb, see how someone with a stroller manages. These tests often reveal ADA (accessibility) issues too – if a stroller has trouble, a wheelchair will as well. It’s much better to discover beforehand that you need a wider gate or an extra ramp than on event day.
• Seating and Viewing Angles: Prototype a viewing area such as the space in front of a stage or a demo area. You can arrange rows of chairs (or just mark spots on the ground) and then use cardboard or risers to simulate stage height. Place a cardboard cutout figure about as tall as an adult in the “audience” and then have a child stand or sit behind it. Can the child see over or around the “adult” in front of them? This simple sightline test can inform whether you need to incorporate tiered seating, kids-at-front policies, or raised platforms for little ones. If you have access to actual chairs, test various seat heights: for example, if you plan to provide some high stools for adults in the back, will those completely block the view of people (or kids) sitting on the ground up front? Also check the comfort and height of any seating meant for kids – e.g., are the portable benches too high for a 5-year-old to climb onto by themselves? One can simulate a toddler’s viewpoint by kneeling down; better yet, observe the real kids trying out the seating. Their eye-level is what matters.
• Cardboard Fixtures & Simulated Obstacles: If your festival will have things like information kiosks, merchandise tables, or art installations, you can mock up a few of these with cardboard or foam board. See how the space feels when these are in place. Does a cluster of cardboard “market stalls” create a blind corner where a small child could momentarily get lost from a parent’s line of sight? Are there any protruding bits (simulated by cardboard jutting out) at a child’s eye level that could be dangerous? One common oversight is the height of counters – if your info booth is too high, kids can’t be seen by staff. Using a piece of cardboard on a table to represent a high counter, have a child stand on the other side; if all you see is the top of their head, you might decide to have a lower counter section for “Kids Lost & Found” or just for inclusivity.
• Signage and Wayfinding Tests: Print out or sketch some signs (like “Restrooms this way” or icons for entrances/exits) and tape them up at intended heights. Then do a wayfinding walk: ask a parent and child pair to start at point A (say, the entrance) and find the kids’ zone or the first aid tent using only the signs. Follow them (or watch from a distance) and see if any hesitation occurs. Kids might actually be very honest here – they’ll shout out if they see a balloon or a colorful flag better than a text sign. You might learn that visuals (like balloons, flags, recognizable symbols) placed at kid-eye level work better for guiding families than a traditional sign mounted high. If your young co-designers start wandering off-route, consider what signage or staff guidance you’d need to keep real attendees on track.

The beauty of prototyping with families is that you often witness “Aha!” moments. An adult designer might have assumed a certain layout was fine, only to watch a child struggle or a parent frown during the simulation. For example, you might observe a child getting distracted by something and nearly bumping into a taped “pole” – indicating you’ll need to child-proof any sharp edges or literally pad some structures on site. Or a family might naturally gravitate to a space you hadn’t planned to use and start treating it as a shortcut – which could inspire you to turn that space into a legitimate path or activity area.

Keep the prototypes low-fidelity and flexible. The point is not to build a perfect mini-festival, but to learn and iterate quickly. Bring extra tape and cardboard so you can adjust on the fly. If a stroller can’t make a tight turn, peel up the tape and widen the curve — then test again immediately. If kids are drawn to a cardboard “stage” you laid out, maybe add a second row of tape farther back and ask, “Is this better? Worse?” This way, families feel they are truly designing the solution with you in real time, not just reporting problems.

Be sure to capture these tests with photos or video (with the participants’ permission) because seeing a parent physically demonstrate a pain point can be a powerful reminder later when you’re back at the drawing table or explaining changes to stakeholders. And when something works well – say, the new wider pathway test – celebrate that with the group (“Look, two strollers can pass comfortably now! That width will be our new minimum.”). Prototyping turns abstract ideas into tangible solutions you can confidently carry into the festival build phase.

Remove Barriers to Participation: Stipends and Childcare

We touched on this in the session setup, but it’s worth emphasizing why paying families for their time and offering childcare is so important. These aren’t just courtesies; they significantly influence the success of your design sprint and the quality of feedback you’ll get.

Imagine asking parents to come to a 90-minute evening workshop after a long day, or on a busy Saturday, without offering anything in return. You might get a couple of altruistic attendees once, but you’ll miss out on many who simply can’t afford the time or hassle. By providing a stipend, you acknowledge that participating in the design sprint is work – they are effectively consultants lending you their expertise about family needs. Even a modest amount (adjusted to local standards and your budget) sends the message: “Your input is valuable to us.” This tends to make participants more invested in the process, and more candid with their insights. They feel like professionals on the team, not just volunteers being used for free ideas.

Childcare is equally non-negotiable if you want a diverse group of parents in the room. In many communities worldwide – whether in Mexico City or Melbourne – lack of childcare is a major barrier that keeps caregivers (especially mothers) from joining public meetings or feedback sessions. By offering on-site childcare, you immediately widen the pool of who can attend. You’ll attract parents of younger children, single parents, families who don’t have babysitters, etc. Moreover, when parents know their kids are nearby and safe (maybe even enjoying themselves with age-appropriate activities), they can focus fully on the discussion or prototype at hand. Contrast that with a scenario where a parent is constantly bouncing a fussy toddler on their lap while trying to answer questions – you’re not going to get the same depth of participation.

There are a few practical tips to make childcare effective during the sprint:
– Hire professional caregivers or vetted babysitters, if budget allows, especially if infants or multiple toddlers are involved. Make sure they have some toys, games, or crafts to keep kids occupied.
– If space permits, have the childcare area adjacent to or within sight of the workshop area. Some very young kids are calmer if they can periodically see mommy or daddy. A nearby play area also means parents can easily step out for a minute if needed.
– For older kids (say 7–12) who might actually want to be part of the design activities, consider splitting the workshop at times into “kids’ brainstorming” and “parents’ discussion” in separate spaces, then bring everyone together to share. During the parents-only discussion, a staff member can engage the kids in drawing their “perfect festival” or building something with LEGO or cardboard. Often, their creations and ideas (while fun) contain kernels of genius you can use.
– Provide kid-friendly snacks and drinks in the childcare zone, and maybe a quiet corner for any child who might get overstimulated or need a nap. Essentially, you’re mirroring the ethos of the festival (family-friendly) in your design sprint environment.

By lowering these barriers, you not only get more families to attend your sessions, but you also get a truer cross-section of your audience. The feedback won’t be skewed only to those with easy childcare or abundant free time – you’ll hear from the busy working parent, the caregiver with multiple kids, the very demographics who will also likely show up at your festival (if it’s welcoming). The result is richer information and a design that accounts for a wider range of real-life scenarios.

Documenting Pain Points and Turning Them into User Stories

During and after the co-design session, documentation is your best friend. Every “pain point” – any moment a parent frowned, a child stumbled, or someone said “I don’t like this” or “This is hard” – should be captured. Treat these not as criticisms of your idea, but as actionable design to-dos. A useful way to organize them is by translating them into user stories.

In product and software development, a user story is a simple, one-sentence description of a requirement from the perspective of an end-user. Festival organizers can borrow this agile technique to make sure family needs stay front-and-center in the planning process. The format usually goes: “As a [type of user], I want [some goal]so that [benefit].” This format forces you to identify who has the need, what they need, and why.

Let’s take some examples that might emerge from your design sprint:
– During the stroller path test, parents kept clipping the corners of a narrow turn and one remarked it would be tough if another stroller was coming. Pain point -> Crowded or narrow pathways. User story: “As a parent pushing a stroller (user), I want festival pathways that are wide and have gentle turns (goal) so that I can move around without getting stuck or bumping into others (benefit).” Now this is a clear directive. Your team can set a requirement: all major pathways must be at least X meters wide and avoid sharp angles, based on stroller turning radii.
– A child in the session said they couldn’t see the performer when an adult stood in front of them during the sightline test. Pain point -> Poor visibility for kids. User story: “As a child attendee, I want a good view of the stage even if I’m shorter than adults, so that I can enjoy the show as much as everyone else.” This might lead to design solutions like a dedicated kids-only upfront viewing area, slight elevation for the kids’ zone, or encouraging parents to put kids on their shoulders only in certain areas, etc. The key is you’ve pinpointed the issue: kids’ sightlines.
– Several parents looked anxious in the role-play when the “crowd” got thick, expressing concern about losing their kids. Pain point -> Fear of child getting lost in crowds. User story: “As a caregiver, I want clear visual landmarks and an easy way to reconnect if my child wanders off, so that I feel safe in a crowd.” The solution might be high-visibility balloons marking meeting points, an ID wristband system for kids, or extra staff patrol in family sections. The story ensures you address that safety concern.
– A mother testing the mock restroom commented on lack of a place to set her bag or assist a small kid. Pain point -> Inconvenient restroom setup for parents. User story: “As a parent with a young child, I need restrooms with toddler seats and a shelf for my bag, so that I can take care of my child’s needs more easily.” When you refurbish your portable toilets or restroom trailers, you’ll remember to include a fold-down seat or hook and a changing table at appropriate height.

Write down all these user stories arising from the session. You might end up with dozens, which is great. Next, you’ll want to triage and prioritize them – that’s where “must-fix” comes in. Mark the stories that address critical safety issues or would significantly enhance the family experience as non-negotiable changes (i.e., must-fix before the festival goes live). For example, a sightline issue might be very important but perhaps a bit trickier to solve; a pathway width issue might be easier to fix by adjusting a layout now. You decide which ones absolutely have to be resolved and which are “nice-to-haves” (of course, aim to fix as many as possible, but real-world constraints might mean some minor wishes can’t be met immediately).

Translate these stories into your planning documents and share them with your broader festival team: site planners, engineers, volunteers, marketing – everyone should be aware. They might see something like, “User Story 5: As a child in a stroller, I want a good view of any parades so I don’t just see knees and backs.” The parade organizing team could then decide to position the parade route with an open viewing area in front or schedule a special kids’ parade viewing section. The idea is that these user stories influence concrete design decisions and operational plans. They should really become part of your festival’s requirements.

Additionally, keep the documentation of the session itself: photos of the taped layouts with scribbles, notes from discussions, any audio recordings of quotes. These can be referenced later to recall context. Sometimes, showing a skeptical vendor or a team member a photo of a parent physically struggling in a prototype queue can persuade them why a change (like reducing clutter around their stall) is necessary. It’s hard to argue with real users’ experiences.

Finally, consider this: your co-design session output isn’t just for fixing problems – it’s also a treasure trove of ideas for delighting your audience. Maybe a parent casually mentioned, “It’d be great if there was a breastfeeding tent with rocking chairs.” That might go beyond solving a pain point and become an “ wow factor” you implement to truly set your festival apart as family-centric. Those ideas can be documented as user stories too (“As a nursing mother, I want a comfortable, private area to feed my baby, so that I can attend the festival all day”). Not every festival provides that – doing so could be a selling point in your marketing and a genuine enhancement for attendees.

In summary, treat the notes from the families as sacred design guidelines. Each pain point-turned-user story is a lesson learned before it costs you reputation or revenue. This approach ensures the festival is built around real user needs and that nothing critical falls through the cracks.

Families as Designers, Not Focus-Group Subjects

Perhaps the most important outcome of running design sprints with parents and kids is a shift in mindset: families become your design partners, not just study subjects. In a traditional focus group, you might gather opinions on plans you’ve already made. But by involving families as co-creators, you’re acknowledging that the best ideas for a family-friendly festival can come from the families themselves.

This approach requires humility and openness from the festival planning team. You have to be willing to say, “We don’t have all the answers – let’s figure it out together.” When families see that their suggestions genuinely influence the festival’s design, they feel a sense of ownership. It’s no longer your festival that they’re critiquing; it becomes their festival too, one they helped build. This can foster a positive buzz even before the event begins. Imagine parents telling their friends, “We actually helped design part of this festival – you’ve got to come see it.”

Treating families as designers means giving them the creative reins during those 90 minutes. Encourage imaginative thinking especially from the kids. Children have fewer filters and might propose wild ideas (a roller coaster between stages, or free ice cream for kids at every corner!). While not every fantasy can be realized, within those ideas might lie a seed you can grow. A child’s wish for a roller coaster might highlight that the festival lacks physical fun for kids – maybe you can’t do a coaster, but you can add a bouncy castle or a zip-line for children if space allows. Free ice cream for kids might not be feasible, but it flags the desire for affordable treats – perhaps you arrange a special kids’ discount at food vendors or give out free fruit pops at the hottest time of day.

Also, engage the parents in solution brainstorming, not just problem identification. If a mom points out the stroller parking issue at a crowded exhibit, invite her to imagine solutions: “What would make this easier? More space, a stroller check-in service, designated parking?” You’ll find that users often have clever workarounds from their own life experiences. For example, a parent might describe how a museum they visited had a brilliant colored bracelet system for kids, or how a theme park queue had a playground next to it and it made waiting painless. These concrete examples can be adopted or adapted for your festival. The conversation shifts from complaints to collaboration.

It’s worth noting that involving families in design is also a form of community empowerment. In places like New Zealand and Canada, event organizers have increasingly used participatory design sessions to include indigenous communities, differently-abled visitors, and yes, families, to ensure events are inclusive. The participants aren’t just consumers; they’re stakeholders shaping the outcome. This inclusive ethos often resonates strongly with the public and can become part of your festival’s brand identity (“the festival that families helped design”).

By contrast, a focus-group mindset might only scratch the surface. Families in a typical focus group might be asked, “Do you like this idea or not?” or “What would you rate this aspect?” That can yield opinions, but not necessarily creative solutions. In a co-design sprint, you’re asking, “How might we make this better for you?” and then working with them to solve it. You’re tapping into empathy on both sides: the festival team empathizes with the families, and the families start to empathize with the constraints and goals of the festival team. It’s not uncommon to hear parents say, “Wow, I never realized how much planning goes into this” – they gain appreciation for your job, just as you do for theirs (parenting at an event).

Keep the relationship going even after the sprint. Send a thank-you email or message to participants with a summary of what you learned and what you plan to change as a result. This closes the feedback loop and reinforces that their input was valuable. You could even invite them for a “preview tour” of the site once it’s built (“Here’s that wider pathway you suggested, now in place!”). Such gestures cement the idea that they were designers in the process. And when the festival happens, consider highlighting some family-friendly features that came directly from your co-design sessions – it’s a great story for marketing and media, showing that you listen to your community.

In short, by treating families as design collaborators rather than just surveyed individuals, you unleash a wealth of insight and creativity that will make your festival better. You also build goodwill and a festival culture that genuinely values its attendees. This approach can be applied to any scale of event, anywhere in the world, because at its core it’s about respect and teamwork with your audience.

Adapting Co-Design for Different Scales and Contexts

Whether you’re producing a small community festival for a few hundred people or a mega-festival that draws thousands from around the world, the principles of co-design with families remain highly valuable – but you may need to adapt the execution.

For small-scale events (say a local harvest fair or a neighborhood cultural festival), you might know many attendees personally or can easily reach out to local parent networks. In this case, co-design might be very informal – a single 90-minute session at the town hall with a handful of families could suffice to get feedback on your basic layout and ideas. You might even conduct the session on-site (e.g., at the park or street where the event will be) so families can walk the actual space with you, imagining where things will be. The advantage of small events is agility: if a parent raises a great point like “We need more shade by the sandbox area,” you can implement it quickly (perhaps a rented canopy or relocating a tent). Smaller festivals also often have tighter budgets, but co-design doesn’t have to be expensive – a few gift cards and some free refreshments might cover your costs, and you might rely on volunteer childcare (like a trusted teenager or a partner organization) if necessary.

For large-scale festivals, especially those aiming for international or broad regional attendance, you may need to iterate the co-design process multiple times and consider wider outreach. One challenge is getting input from a representative sample of families – your attendees might be traveling from various cities or countries. In these cases, consider running design sprints in multiple locations or using digital tools in addition to in-person sessions. For example, if you’re organizing a family-friendly music festival that tours Australia, you could run a co-design meetup in Sydney and another in Melbourne to capture different city perspectives. Alternatively, you can supplement a live session with a virtual “design workshop” using online whiteboard tools or surveys where parents remotely sketch or comment on plans. It’s not as rich as in-person prototyping, but it can still surface big pain points (like “families in Brisbane say there must be sun shelters and water stations every X meters due to heat” vs. “families in Wellington are more concerned about wind and rain gear storage”).

Larger festivals also have more complex venues – maybe a sprawling fairground or an urban multi-block layout. Here, you might break your co-design focus into chunks. Perhaps one session just on “the family camping and nighttime experience” (with families who camp at events), another on “daytime festival grounds navigation.” You could invite specific subsets of users for each – e.g., families with toddlers for the daytime session, and families with older kids who are likely to camp for the camping session. This targeted co-design ensures you get detailed input on each aspect. Additionally, big events have more stakeholders (security, sponsors, vendors), so after co-design, you might have to coordinate proposed changes with many departments. Having that clear documentation of user stories and even quotes from real parents will help you make the case to stakeholders why, say, the sponsor’s tent can’t be next to the quiet baby area (“Here are real comments from parents in our study; a happy family zone ultimately benefits the festival’s reputation, which benefits us all…”).

Cultural context is another dimension. Family norms differ worldwide, so if you’re organizing festivals in different countries, co-design with local families is crucial. For example, at a family festival in India, you might find that extended family groups attend together – meaning your design should accommodate larger family groups staying together (bigger tables in food areas, activities that grandparents and kids enjoy together). In Japan, you might learn that stroller usage is less in crowded festivals (people often use baby carriers due to train travel), shifting focus perhaps to nursing rooms and toddler play pens rather than extensive stroller parking. In some European countries, parents may expect the festival to provide certain amenities by default (like baby food warming stations or even on-site daycare) – insights you’d only get by asking them directly.

By adapting your co-design approach to the scale and context, you ensure it’s effective and inclusive. But no matter the size or location of the festival, the core approach stands: involve the end-user early, frequently, and meaningfully. Even a world-famous festival can learn new tricks by listening to a child’s viewpoint, and even a tiny fair can dramatically improve a family’s day by implementing parent-driven ideas.

Key Takeaways

• Involve families from the start: Bring parents and children into the design process early. Their real-world perspectives will highlight issues and opportunities that planners alone might miss, ensuring a more family-friendly festival from the ground up.
• Co-design, don’t just survey: Run interactive design sprint sessions (around 90 minutes) with families as active participants. Treat them like design partners with creative input, instead of passive focus-group subjects. This collaboration builds buy-in and leads to more innovative solutions.
• Prototype the experience in real life: Use tape on floors to map paths and queues, and cardboard mock-ups to simulate physical elements (entrances, stages, toilets, etc.). Testing things like stroller navigation, seat heights, and sightlines in a hands-on way with families will quickly expose any design flaws while there’s still time to fix them.
• Make it easy for families to participate: Provide stipends or rewards for attending co-design sessions and always offer childcare or kid-friendly accommodations during the workshops. When families are comfortable and appreciated, you’ll get more honest, diverse, and valuable feedback.
• Focus on maps, flow, and daily rhythm: Pay special attention to site layout, crowd movement (especially queues), and scheduling from a family perspective. Optimize routes for strollers, minimize wait times (or make them fun), and align your event schedule with the typical routine of kids (meals, naps, play, quiet time) to keep everyone happy throughout the day.
• Turn pain points into action items: Document every issue raised – no matter how small – and convert them into concrete user stories or requirements. Prioritize these “must-fix” items in your planning. This way, fixes (wider pathways, more shade, better signage, etc.) are baked into the festival design, not left as hindsight lessons.
• Adapt and repeat: Use co-design for any festival size or type. Scale your sessions up or down, and tailor them to cultural contexts (different countries or communities). Family co-design is a versatile tool – from local fairs to international events, the practice of listening to and iterating with your end-users will consistently lead to a safer, smoother, and more enjoyable festival experience for all.