Experience Prototyping

Thoughts on experience prototyping as a design tactic

What is the research method about?

Experience prototyping is a group of research methods that focuses on the designers going through prototypes firsthand and taking an active role in understanding or simulating the users’ needs to evaluate their design. Most versions ask the designers to roleplay as characters in a scene, using their newfound point of view to experience pain points and gain valuable insight that might have been otherwise missed.

When is it typically used?

One of experience prototyping’s core strengths is in its flexibility. Certain environments, like the inside of a hospital or school, could be hard to design and test for due to either safety, privacy, or cost concerns. Experience prototyping allows the designer to fill those shoes with the added realism and context of the situation.

Who is involved and in what capacity?

Typically, the designers are involved in being active roleplayers in their own prototypes to understand their work from the opposing side. However, experience prototyping can be incredibly valuable to the stakeholders as well. Taking part in the experience can show how viable a design or proposed solution could be very early on in the design process, before needing to work through the finer details.

How is it done?

Experience prototyping involves testing an iteration of a prototype by becoming the participant in the experience, often interacting with other people and physical touch points to better design for the social and spatial factors involved. Low fidelity props, role playing, and set dressing can all help make a more immersive experience. However, even working proof of concepts can provide invaluable guidance on where ideas might not be translating well between the designer and end user.

Why would designers use it? Examples?

The main goal of experience prototyping is to give designers a better sense of empathy for how their products will be used in their working context. This technique is not only limited to the designers, but can also provide other stakeholders with a better grasp of the key interactions involved. Doctors and nurses could use experience prototyping to test whether a new interface or procedure would work well in the physical limitations and stress of an operating room without the consequences of failure. Museum curators could use a similar approach to see what visitors are drawn to, which signs or maps they encounter on their path, and adjust their exhibit to match their feedback.

Speed Dating: Combining Research Methods

Experience Prototyping x Kano Diagrams

These two research methods work extremely well together to evaluate the effectiveness of a design iteration from different angles. While experience prototyping is a very first-person, anecdotal approach, Kano diagrams provide specific features and checkpoints to measure whether a prototype meets the requirements and where the flaws are. In order to be effective, the user might first draft up a Kano diagram of the must-haves (and other quality of life features) before creating some minimal functional demo of their concept. We found that no matter the level of fidelity, the most important part in combining these two concepts was having each feature be tangible enough to evaluate accurately and with context during testing. This way, these two techniques can be used to streamline the prototyping process by ensuring only most necessary features can be implemented as fast as possible.

Experience Prototyping x Empathy Maps

We both found these two methods to mesh effectively in addressing the user’s perceived needs. Empathy maps can help capture the inner thought processes of the user’s experience that may not be as apparent from only quantitative or qualitative data. By creating these maps of what a user might expect, say, and feel during the experience, we can create better, more empathetic models that are verifiable during testing. Experience prototyping is also easier once the designers have more clear visions of what their users might be going through before the testing phase. However, they have to judge their users’ needs and thoughts accurately or risk creating a false sense of security in their design. Projects in where the designer is both the creator and an end user would be great fits for this combination.

Experience Prototyping x Usability Testing

When discussing these two, we concluded that it was almost always a good idea to use one when using the other, as they cover possible holes and biases one might encounter during testing. Common usability testing methods such as “talking aloud” to explain why the person was making the choices they were and creating more quantitative metrics to measure success pair incredibly smoothly with the hands-on, interactive spirit of experience prototyping. Using numerical metrics like completion time or walking distance can give more defined ways of evaluating pain points and how they change across iterations. We thought that this would be especially noticeable in interactions that involved physical space, social interactions, or roleplaying.