Role playing
The team, and sometimes users, act out a situation with simple or cardboard objects to imagine how a product or service would work.
What it’s for
It helps you imagine a service that doesn’t exist yet: acting it out brings up problems a diagram doesn’t show.
Key elements
A concrete situation
Who, where and what happens.
Simple objects
A piece of cardboard can be the future device.
Repeat and change
Act out several versions.
How it’s done
Prepare the scene and the roles.
Act out the situation with the imagined object.
Discuss what worked and what didn't.
Applications in design
When to use it
For services where people, place and timing matter.
Avoid
Turning it into theater without a design question.
Don’t fall for it
Write down what comes up while acting: it is quickly forgotten.
Connections
Authors and works
- 2000
Giulio Iacucci, Kari Kuutti and Mervi Ranta
Used role playing with toys and acted-out scenes to come up with mobile services together with users.
Sources
Original sources
- Iacucci, G., Kuutti, K., & Ranta, M. (2000). On the move with a magic thing: Role playing in concept design of mobile services and devices. In Proceedings of DIS 2000. ACM. View source: Iacucci, G., Kuutti, K., & Ranta, M. (2000)
- Buchenau, M., & Fulton Suri, J. (2000). Experience prototyping. In Proceedings of the 3rd Conference on Designing Interactive Systems (DIS ’00) (pp. 424–433). ACM. View source: Buchenau, M., & Fulton Suri, J. (2000)
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