Chapter 3: Participatory Design Method
3.2 Participatory Design Model
3.2.3 Participatory Design Session with Users
A group of participants come together to perform generative exercises. They use toolkits/tools to collectively create artifacts that aid them in expressing their thoughts, feeling and ideas. Currently documented tools and techniques of Participatory Design can be explained through the framework developed by (Brandt, Binder, & Sanders, 2012).There are mainly three activities in the framework (Figure 3.4) and each has tools and techniques. Tools and techniques mainly differ in ‘form’.
Figure 3.4: Participatory design session with users
The framework of participatory activity comprises of making things, enacting and telling stories (Figure 3.5).
Framework is flexible and users’ session can enter from any of the points, the activities tend to fire the next and can go in a loop.
Diary To continuously engage with subject, diary focuses on participants to do, write or draw every day.
should inspire and provoke participants.
The package should be designed in such a manner that participants gradually become aware about their experiences.
Should have sufficient blank space that encourages them to write their ideas or comments.
Activities should be short and simple and must not take more than 5 to 10 minutes per day.
Post Cards Contains small exercise, participants receive post cards, answers them and sends back. Element of surprise draws participant’s attention.
Figure 3.5: Framework of participatory activity
3.2.3.1 Making
Generative toolkits are used to follow a more deliberate and steered process of facilitation, participation, reflection, delving for deeper layers in the past, making understanding. (E. B.-N. Sanders & Stappers, 2014, p. 8)
Figure 3.6: Making tangible things
"Modelling is considered as an important tool for the designer to describe, visualize, and sculpture her thoughts when designing by herself or when designing or communicating with others "- (J Buur & Andreasen, 1989)
“….a prototype is a limited representation of a design that allows users to interact with it and to explore its suitability….” (Sharp, Preece, & Rogers, 2011) Beyer and Holtzblatt (Beyer & Holtzblatt, 1998) stress the importance of using various prototyping techniques in user centered system design. Different types of Tools and Techniques are used for ‘making’. Table 3.3 presents different types of toolkits and significance of each of these techniques respectively.
Table 3.3: Different types of toolkits (Visser et al., 2005), (E. B. –N. Sanders, 2013) 2D Collages Using Visual and Verbal triggers on the
background with timelines, circles etc. Collaging: Suited for eliciting memories and emotional responses
2D Mapping Using Visual and Verbal components
on patterned backgrounds Mapping: Suited for eliciting intuitive relations of patterns of processes.
3D Mock-ups Using foam, clay, Legos. Velcro models
(Colvin, 2007, p. 3) Modelling: Enables Participants to embody their ideas or give form to their unmet needs
Low Tech Prototypes Improvised prototypes made with very limited resources
Provotypes Design artefacts from future 3D space models (small scale) Such as doll house toolkit
In earlier phase of research, concrete and abstract toolkits with two variants of each were developed for conducting the experiments (Nishant Sharma, 2011). The results of the experiments demonstrated the influence of types of toolkits in the participatory research.
3.2.3.2 Enacting
User participants use above mentioned tools to act, enact or play to express their envisaged experience.
Figure 3.7: Acting, Enacting and Playing
Some of the tools/techniques found in the literature are listed in Table 3.4
Table 3.4: Tools and tecnhiques for enacting. (E. B. –N. Sanders, 2013) Game boards and game pieces and rules for playing
Props and black boxes 3-D space models (full scale)
Scenario-making in the space models or through sand play
Participatory envisioning and enactment by setting users in future situations Improvisation
Acting out, skits and play acting
Role playing with actors, pretenders, puppets, dolls etc.
3.2.3.3 Telling
Figure 3.8: Talking, Telling and Explaining
Some of the tools/techniques that are found in the literature are listed in Table 3.5.
Table 3.5: Tools and techniques for telling. (E. B. –N. Sanders, 2013)
Stories and storyboarding through writing, drawing, blogs, wikis, photos, video etc.
Diaries and daily logs through writing, drawing, blogs, photos, video etc.
Self-observation through photos, video, blogs, writing, drawing etc.
Documentaries and movie-making Experience timelines or maps
Paper spaces to collect, organize, categorize, reframe, chart and/or make decisions about ideas or concepts through group brainstorming and collective mind mapping.
Cards to organize, categorize and prioritize ideas. The cards may contain video snippets, incidents, signs, traces, moments, photos, domains, technologies, templates and what if provocations.
Voting dots to prioritize ideas.
3.2.3.4 General Principles to devise tools and techniques
Some general principles found in literature for deciding methods and tools for telling, making and enacting (Visser et al., 2005) are listed in Table 3.6.
Table 3.6: Methods and Tools for telling, making and enacting (adapted from (Visser et al., 2005) Methods and Tools for
Telling, Making and Enacting
vary according to time and stage of new product design development process from early to later stage
• Initial stages with deal with dreams, visions and experiences.
• In the later stage, narratives, scenarios and artefacts resemble the objects, services and environment.
Methods and Tools for Telling, Making and Enacting
vary according to the level of planning involved
• Impromptu approach can quickly be implemented. Carefully planned toolkit may take time to implement but they still need to be ambiguous enough to be termed generative.
• Impromptu toolkit may have risk of being open-ended for novice
participants but carefully planned can motivate participants.
• Poses difficulty in predicting length of session. Length of session can be planned.
• Open ended responses are difficult to analyze. Analysis is efficient and effective.
Methods and Tools for Telling, Making and Enacting
Vary in terms of
materiality • Depending on objectives of participatory research, tools can be 2D or 3D but they should have sufficiently enough components for multiple and unique combinations.
Methods and Tools for Telling, Making and Enacting
Vary in how people are
put together for their use • There are two ways of involving in the activities: participation and
collaboration.
• A participant might work on something of their own, such as narrating a story or creating a collage to express their thought or feelings.
Methods and Tools for Telling, Making and Enacting
Vary in scale • The scale of tools and components vary in scale depending on whether they are used for individual or group applications
Methods and Tools for Telling, Making and Enacting
Vary in terms of purpose • There are two categories of generative tools and techniques:
cognitive and emotional.
• Cognitive tools prompt and facilitate people to explore and express how they understand things or events.
• Emotional tools prompt and facilitate people to access their memories and experiences, communicate their feelings and aspirations for the future.
3.2.3.5 Conducting Session
RECORDING THE SESSION
Once participants open up by expressing their experience, feelings, thoughts and ideas, they would want to continue sharing them with others. This informal session delivers lot of useful information. Therefore, it is very important to record the session in complete detail. Video and audio recording is typically used, along with notes made by the researcher.
FACILITATE THE SESSION
The facilitator must lead the session with full attention and the ability to observe, concentrate and intervene if required. He or she may guide participants in a step-by- step manner. The important thing to remember is, the facilitator must assume participants to be experts on the subject and participants must feel themselves as experts. Since there is nothing wrong in any utterance, action, facilitators must tell participants that every opinion, experience would be respected.