Index cards, various colors

Index cards are great for capturing single ideas. It's easy to prioritize a list of ideas by arranging a stack of index cards. They slide around a table easily. They tear up easily if you've made a mistake. They can be stacked and rubber-banded to carry away at the end of a worksession.

Having different colors on hand helps to classify types of information you might capture by color. Avoid white cards since an arrangement of white cards fixed to white paper is hard to see - sort of polar bears in a snowball fight issue.

Size seems to matter with index cards. A standard size is 3" x 5" in the US, 78 mm x 127 mm for countries sensibly using the metric system. However, larger cards work well for modeling in large groups. They allow for larger print which works well in situations where participants can't always get physically close to the cards to read them. In situations where we're building large models; lots of single ideas assembled into a large model, I've used smaller cards – the size of a standard business card. In these situations you have to move up closer to read the card and model, but it's easy to take in the shape of a large model potentially containing hundreds of individual ideas.

Post-it notes, various colors

Post-it notes can serve much of the same purpose as index cards: great for recording and modeling single ideas. But, since post-its have the bit of glue on the back, you can go "vertical" and model on walls or other irregular surface. But that sticky stuff makes it tougher to slide them around on a table top as you will probably need to when building a model. And, post-its can't be easily stacked and rubber-banded to carry away from a meeting.

Post-it notes are available in many sizes, shapes, and colors. You'll be able to find a post-it note to serve many a modeling purpose.

Poster paper

That information gathered up on index cards or post-it notes can be easily fixed to poster paper and annotated. Poster paper fixed to the wall is valuable for capturing all kinds of lists.

The poster paper with the sticky post-it glue on the back seems like a good idea, but I find it troublesome. It's more difficult to lay out on a table then transfer to the wall, or roll it up and carry it out with me. That sticky stuff keeps gluing itself to my index cards, post-its, or other sheets of poster paper.

Cello tape

After capturing and arranging information on index cards or post-it notes you'll want to fix them down to poster paper so you'll need tape for that. You'll find lots of other uses for a roll of clear tape.

Rubber bands

Keep a handful around to hold a deck of index cards together. Snapping a rubber band at others in your collaborative worksession, while an excellent diversion, is generally frowned upon. You could put an eye out.

Paperclips

Rubber bands tend to crumple short stacks of index cards. Paperclips or those larger bulldog clips come in handy to keep index cards or stray sheets of note paper together.

Glue sticks

Glue sticks are a good alternative to clear tape. Glue sticks will come in handy building paper prototypes of software.

Roll of painters tape

Painter's tape won't harm the wall when you use it to hang, and re-hang poster paper.

Card stock

You'll need large size card stock to form the foundation for paper prototypes. You can cut the stuff up into a variety of shapes and sizes to make user interface parts. Large size lined index cards are useful as UI prototype card-stock. The lines make excellent guidelines for lists of information or give you a strait edge to cut along so your prototypes don't look too rough.

Transparency film

You'll use transparency file for paper prototyping and usability testing. The transparency film makes a great layer over the top of a paper user interface to allow users to mock entering data into a user interface by writing in felt tip directly on the transparency film. You'll find lots of other uses for it if you have it around.

Double-sided removable tape

While building paper prototypes, you'll find it valuable to fix parts of the UI together with double-sided removable tape. This makes them easy to change or relocate. You'll find you can move a card model from a table top to the wall, and keep it adjustable by backing the cards with double-sided removable tape.

Felt tip markers, fat and thin, various colors

When writing information on index cards or post-it notes use the largest sized, fattest marker you can. This will force you to be a bit more concise, and allow collaborators to easily read what you've written. Fine point markers come in handy for sharper lines in paper user interface prototypes. I use permanent markers, because they usually come with sharper tips… but be careful that someone doesn't rush up and start writing on a whiteboard with them. (If that happens, I'll deny ever having given the recommendation.)

Highlighter pens

These will come in handy to mark important ideas on an index card in a model, or shade in areas in a user interface prototype.

Pencils

OK, I said felt tip markers work well for paper prototypes - but start by using a pencil with an eraser then go back over lines with a felt tip. It'll save you a lot of time.

Whiteout

Invariably you'll need to change a part of a paper prototype that's been written in ink. Whiteout will come in handy.

Straight edge

If you're like most humans, you'll need one of these to draw straight lines in a paper user interface prototype. There're also nifty templates you can get that have a straight edge and lots of shapes you can trace.

Scissors or x-acto knife

When creating paper prototypes, you'll need to cut card stock and index cards into little buttons, drop down lists, and pop-up dialogs.

Digital camera

A good high resolution digital camera is valuable to capture the paper results of collaborative modeling or prototyping sessions. Even well constructed models begin to fall apart over time. Take a photo and preserve it electronically so that it's easy to recover the results of a worksession or share it with others. You'll find a variety of software on the market that helps to clean up digital pictures of whiteboard information.

Kitchen timer

A timer that's easy to set, read, and beeps loudly is very useful in collaborative worksessions. My wife keeps two or three large-display digital timers in the kitchen, just waiting to be conscripted for a loftier purpose at any minute as I have left a few behind. For activities that need to be time-boxed (stopped after a fixed amount of time), decide on the time-box, then set and start the timer. Let the timer signal everyone to stop. Sometimes it's useful when a discussion seems like it may run long to stop and say "let's allow 5 more minutes to talk about this, then go on." Again, the timer is the enforcer. You'll be surprised at how quickly people can summarize their thoughts when they can see a ticking clock. Hey, it works for game shows.

Candy

Yes, candy. I always keep with me individually wrapped pieces of candy that don't go stale too quickly. Dropping handfuls on the table gives workshop participants something to do during slow times. But more importantly, they come in extremely handy to use as quick tokens to mark ideas in a tabletop model or for use in voting and prioritizing exercises. Throwing candy is not tolerated, you could put an eye out.

A bag to keep all this stuff in

Looking up at this list, it seems like a lot of supplies. But, I find that I can fit almost all I need in a large ziplock bag and single recloseable file folder. These stow away in my desk or laptop carry case for when I need them. When preparing for a long (several days) collaborative worksession where there may be a large number of participants, you'll need more - more index cards, post its, pens….. everything. I have a bag I dedicate to this stuff. I know of facilitators that dedicate an entire rolling suitcase to these sorts of supplies.

Architects drawing tube or artists portfolio

If you're traveling, or if you're working under common corporate environment where you have to pack up your results and vacate the conference room, an architect's drawing tube comes in handy for holding rolled-up poster paper models. I generally travel with one of these. I'll load in lots of sheets of blank poster paper prior to a trip and usually come back with a tube full of models.

Recently however I've found that rolled up models left too long in the tube become difficult to unroll. Folding them works well. Then placing those placing those folded paper in an artists portfolio will keep them together. A friend of mind tapes all his cards down using single-sided removable tape to prevent the cards or stickies from moving around in transit.