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