Voices after the Storm

Hello Bodystomers',

Thank You! for your participation tonight, we really appreciate it.
We hope the event was useful, informative and fun for you.

Please share with the Team, and the group your observations, reactions, predictions of your experience tonight.

Please also follow the Project's blog.

We all want to continue to hear about your use of Bodystorming, theatre+design, and what ever else your doing/thinking... (Pictures will be posted soon!)

Thanks again.

The Team
Byron Stewart
Dennis Schleicher
Miaoqi Zhu

Storm away.............

Pre-Event Exercise for Participants

Thank you again for signing up for this experience.
We are very excited you have decided to participate!

The following is an exercise that can help you get the most out of this Project.
It isn't mandatory, but will help you.

Please go buy 4 things.

• As you go about purchasing these things think about/observe/record;
• What the object(s) mean to you;
• Who you are buying it for;
• Where you're buying it (e.g.,store, machine, street vendor);
• Who you're buying it from (salesperson/self-checkout);
• What were the steps to buying.

*What to buy:*
1. Buy stamps for mailing your bills, or a monthly transit pass.
2. Buy your kids some pens, pencils, erasers, or notebooks for school, orbuy some needed underwear or socks for your partner or close friend.
3 Buy some of your own favorite music or if you collect things, something that you can add to your collection.
4. Buy some wine or food that you can share with some friends.

These are items which represent 4 shopping ecologies and can help us start to think and feel our way through different kinds of experiences that people can have with buying things.

After you buy each of these things please write a sentence or two down about each experience.You might also take pictures on your phone or/and bring in pictures from magazines ,newspapers the internet.

Please bring your observations with you on Friday.

*Please note: *If you don't have a chance to complete this exercise it's fine.
Your purchasing observations from the past will serve you well.

If you would like to read more about shopping ecologies please go tohttp://argus-acia.com/white_papers/ethnography.html

Thanks again,

The Team

Voices before the Storm

What do you hope to get out of the upcoming Bodystorming event? Well, we have asked many conformed attendees, and here what they had to say..

"I think the biggest challenge in Design for America ,NU (DFA) is how to bring people to be inspired and feel comfortable while doing design thinking. By attending ProjectBodystorming, I want to learn how the thinking skills that I learn from this event can be applied to our organization."

- Northwestern University, Segal School of Design

"Sounds like a great concept and I am a sponge right now, learning as much as a can in terms of ideas/techniques for future reference."

- DePaul University, College of Computing and Digital Media

"I am fascinated by all the different methods men have of expressing themselves. Talking, singing, through art like painting, or pictures, through video, as well as acting and movement. Each medium can tell people things, show people things, and communicate messages that no other medium can. I am interested to learn how we can use integrate acting and movement into our design work, two mediums that are extremely untapped when it comes to our design process"

- Northwestern University, Segal School of Design

"I am interested in "bodystorming", to improve my knowledge of research in the disciplines of design...as well as learning how to educate potential clients about appreciating good design."

- Eclectic Design

"One of our biggest challenges in Design for America, NU (DfA)is to get people comfortable in the creative zone. From what I've learned, bodystorming is a very applicable process that we can use during our projects. I would like to know more about how DfA and DD+D can collaborate. "

- Northwestern University, Segal School of Design

"A new technique I can use with clients and project team members, to get them thinking in an open and sensory way."

- Manifest Digital

"Don't really know!"

-Chicago Public Schools

Please also tell us what you think, we hope to hear more from you!

YOU ARE INVITED TO...

Dear All,

On February 26,2010 at 5:45 p.m., thirty participants from around Chicagoland will come together to do a Bodystorming exercise, a physical brainstorming that will help generate solutions to a problem facing Sears of the future.

We’re hoping you’ll be one of those participants!

This will be an activity in which we learn about and then do a Bodystorming exercise. A Bodystorming is a live presentation (think: a short play) in which participants improvise several scenes and also has the audience asking questions. It leads to a better understanding of the problem and solution space. We will go over best practices as well as theater techniques and tools for Bodystorming (one for idea generation to prepare for Bodystorming and another for analyzing a Bodystorming activity.)

Use Case Theater (Prototyping the Space/Place your product will be used in using “actors” and “props”.) Let’s say you have been hired to build a new hot-dog vendor stand. Bodystorming Type III says you should get 3 or 4 of your co-workers and have them act-out the the different roles. So you have one person be the vendor. Another person ordering their hot dog. The other people waiting in line to order. Perhaps you have them run through it for a couple of takes and you can watch and see what happens and perhaps change things up to explore different options. Such things as how long it takes to service 10 people with one vendor versus two vendors, or if you add a form for people to fill out instead of telling the vendor their order.

Our GOALS:

To use Bodystorming as a tool to introduce design to a lager community. To share the technique of Bodystorming with a diverse group of participants, and to encourage its use in their own disciplines. To interact in diverse groups and learn the value of having done so. To introduce/expose designers to a new technique. To integrate/build on the Focus Troup work of Salvador and Soto.

You may RSVP for the event by contacting Byron Stewart of Dramatic Diversity DD+D, one of the organizations facilitating the evening along with Sears . If you have questions prior, feel free to contact Byron at byron@dramaticdiversity.com.

Is it really possible to change the world simply by exchanging ideas with those who appear to have little in common with you? We look forward to showing you how. :)

Sincerely,

The Team,
Byron Stewart
Dennis Schleicher
Miaoqi Zhu

Bodystorming Video Example -"BetaCup"

The BetaCup Bodystorming Session - Overlap 09 from the betacup on Vimeo.

This video is an example of bodystorming. Here, a team of designers from Overlao '09 are trying to discover better solutions to replace current coffee cup consumption by Bodystorming. To obtain more information about this activity, you may also look at this video too .

(To view the video of our Bodystorming, please go to this link .)

Also, please tell us what you think?

About DD+D/ What is Bodystorming?

About DD+D

DD+D is the name given to Dramatic Diversity’s (http://www.dramaticdiversity.com/) offerings in the various fields of design. DD+D has an innovative approach to helping designers use acting methodology and improvisation to engage in the design process as well as communicate and collaborate around design possibilities. DD+D uses bodystorming, embodied dramatic personas, realistic scenarios, participatory design, and forum theatre techniques to help designers empathize with users.

For more info please reach us at byron@dramaticdiversity.com

Bodystorming

Explore this unique mentod for bringing innovate ideas to life!

Bodystorming is a participatory method for demonstrating or developing ideas in a physical setting. Team members explore ideas and interactions physically, using props such as maps or photos to give a sense of place. Bodystorming goes beyond brainstorming by giving an idea a physical form and acting it out in different contexts. The process is designed to uncover how the relationships between people, locations and things affect ideas in ways that written scenarios cannot. It enables rapid iteration of ideas and relationships through a dynamic process of acting and evaluating. The process reveals how people interact with services, products and each other on a physical, emotional and intuitive level.

We believe that Bodystorming is a powerful design/research tool to understand how people obtain desired experience under various contexts in an embodied way.

WHY BODYSTORM?

UX designers are becoming overwhelmed by the mass of design research data they now have access to. Experience designers need to return to core design principles by having better empathy with the users in the context of their everyday lives. We do this by rapidly re-framing the problem in succession over the course of just a few seconds. By creating and “performing” a vision of the future that requires no sophisticated technologies other than people’s bodies to explain, clients or patrons need only “watch” and be entertained to understand. Bodystorming is an innovation tool that helps to create stories or themes out of the things we observe around us- the things we perceive- and translate this knowledge into rapid communication and generation of ideas around an envisioned scenario. It is also a way to allow people to be people, by working together in tight Generate- Do- Learn cycles to engage one another in simulating experiences and processes by designing them through joint acting and improve

Dennis Schleicher, Sears ux, researcher, DD+D partner, and practitioner of the technique considers "Bodystorming" to be used in three ways:

Bodystorming Type I

Working in the Space/Place your product will be used in – Let’s say you have been hired to build a new cash register interface for a cafe down the street. Bodystorming I says that you should go the the cafe and do your work there. I didn’t say analysis, but work. So go there and do all your design and coding there. The idea is that just be being in the environment for which your product is supposed to be for you will build it better. Things such as loud environments, feelings of safety or crime prone areas will be hard to ignore.

Bodystorming Type II

Strong Prototyping the Space/Place your product will be used in. Lets say you have been hired to build a new handheld device that will work in the hallways a submarine . Bodystorming II says that you should construct out of cardboard what the hallways of a submarine would be. Perhaps make the lighting the same (maybe red lights?) So you have test out your handheld in the “simulated” environment. Perhaps it doesn’t have all the properties of the actual field environment, but it should have some of the more important aspects of the setting. Then change constraints such as lighting, or how easy it is to walk through such spaces while holding on to PDA.

Bodystorming Type III

Use Case Theater (Prototyping the Space/Place your product will be used in using “actors” and “props”.) Let’s say you have been hired to build a new hot-dog vendor stand. Bodystorming Type III says you should get a perhaps 3 or 4 of your co-workers and have them act-out the the different roles. So you have one person be the vendor. Another person ordering their hot dog. The other people waiting in line to order. Perhaps you have them run through it for a couple of takes and you can watch and see what happens and perhaps change things up to explore different options. Such things as how long it take to service 10 people with one vendor versus two vendors, or if you add a form for people to fill out instead of telling the vendor their order.

Dennis also suggests several tips for Bodystorming , which can be found here.

Please contact us to bring Bodystorming to you byron@dramaticdiversity.com

Who We Are

About DD+D

Project Bodystorming/DD+D is the name given to Dramatic Diversity’s (http://www.dramaticdiversity.com/) offerings in the various fields of design.
DD+D leverages theatre techniques and acting methodology to help designers empathize with users and produce better results for their clients, as well as to communicate and collaborate around design solutions. DD+D uses the following techniques in addition to Performance Testing, Design Improv and Design Empathy workshops to aid designers, design teams and their clients.

Embodied Dramatic Personas This workshop connects research to personas. We take two-dimensional representation of a customer and bring it to life. Participants learn to write character based personas and perform them. Make data memorable

Realistic Scenarios
This session is similar to a theatre rehearsal. Designers act out scenes based on users problems identified during the research phase to step into the shoes of the user in the context of a particular touch point or day-in-the-life. Participants learn how to use their embodied insights to create rich contextual scenarios.

Make Products Considerate
This workshop encourages designers to think differently about the products they design. Designers play the role of the product as they interact with users to understand what users want from an experience with a product. Participants explore creating products that are deferential, forthcoming, and perceptive. Learn to design good product behavior.

Bodystorming
This session uses a method of problem identification and solving to translate ideas and opportunities into physical experiences explored through improvisation and role-play. Bodystorming uses a design brief, props and simple costumes to give a sense of place. The process is designed to uncover how relationships between people, locations, and things affect ideas in ways that brainstorming alone cannot. It enables empathy and rapid iteration of ideas and relationships through a dynamic process of acting and evaluating. The process reveals how people interact with services, products, and each other on a physical, emotional and intuitive level.

Performance Testing
Flow: Using an existing scenario test how users interact with products or services. Set the stage/location, decide where everything should be. Assign roles and relationships based on personas and research. If you are testing a scenario, take it in slices. As soon as it starts to break down, the audience must call bug! Iterate the scene, changing the variables as you do. Change relationships the Who, Where, and Why.
Suggestions: Use this with potential users to test the experience of a device or service. Assess and record findings. Performance Testing can be done on the road ,or in the studio. Film the process/performance to capture and evaluate.

For more info. please contact Byron at byron@dramaticdiverstiy.com


Who We Are

Byron Stewart Byron Stewart is an actor, director, consultant, facilitator, and presenter, and is owner of Dramatic Diversity/DD+D. For the past ten years, Dramatic Diversity has provided corporate training and diversity & inclusion consultation to Fortune 1,000 companies as well as colleges and universities. Among the leading firms with which Dramatic Diversity has worked are BP/Amoco, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Motorola, Northern Trust Bank, Brookfield Zoo, University of Chicago, and PepsiCo.

Project Bodystorming/DD+D is the name given to Dramatic Diversity’s new offerings in the field of Design. An outgrowth of Dramatic Diversity, DD+D leverages acting methodology and improvisation to help designers empathize with users and produce better results for their clients.

Byron and the DD+D team deploy an innovative approach to helping product and service designers use acting methodology and improvisation to engage in the design process as well as communicate and collaborate around design possibilities. DD+D uses improvisation, bodystorming, embodied dramatic personas, realistic scenarios, participatory design, and forum theatre techniques to help designers empathize with users. Byron has applied theatre-based techniques to the design field facilitating theatre+design workshops for McDonald’s, Critical Mass, RTC, IIT’s Institute of Design, DePaul University, Columbia College and for Northwestern University’s Design for America Fellows. Byron has facilitated bodystorming sessions for Sears and Walgreens, and is a local leader and presenter for Chicago’s Interaction Design Association (IxDA). Byron was service design consultant on the development and launch of a new diabetes class for University of Chicago and coordinator of the Chicago Service Jam’11. He is a co-founding of the Service Design Network Chicago. Articles on Byron’s workshops have been featured in the UXmatters and Experience Matters online magazines.

As a professional actor, for over twenty years, he has received a Jeff Citation, Black Theatre Alliance Award, and an After Dark Award. He served as Artistic Director of A Real Read, Chicago's African American LGBT performance ensemble for five years. He has co-starred in feature films and did casting for the award winning made-for-television series, Kevin's Room I-III; produced by Chicago Department of Public Health and Black Cat Productions. Byron is a member of Actor's Equity Association, the Association for Standardized Patient Educators (simulation in health care). Mr. Stewart received his BFA degree from Howard University in Washington D.C.

Byron’s speaking engagements:
Upcoming:
IxDA Chicago “Personas and Prototyping”, SymphonyIRI Group,Chicago,IL. April, 2012
World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 “Theatre + Design”, Cable Factory, Helsinki,Finland June 2012
Past:
Design Research Conference “Design Improv” workshop, IIT/Institute of Design, Chicago, IL. Oct. 2011

Service Design Network’s Global Conference. “McDonald’s + Service Experience + Jam” Palace Hotel, San Francisco, CA. Oct. 2011

UXMasterclass Conference . “Using Theatre Techniques to Write Effective Personas” Field Museum Chicago, IL. Sept. 2011

DePaul University Continuing and Professional Education, with Millennia Consulting, “Bodystorming: Improv + Inclusion + Innovation” DePaul University, June, 2011

DD+D Team Members, led by Byron Stewart, bring expertise in: UX, interaction, product, and service design, ergonomics, HCI, and business. Theatre, improv, storytelling, facilitating, directing, acting.
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