Participatory design – explorative, collaborative workshop

When is this method appropriate?

In the participatory design prospective users and project partners (product manager, marketing, distribution, designer, etc.) are brought together. Thereby it is a purely explorative method with about 8 to 9 attendees.

Within a workshop either on the base of first drafts optimisation recommendations or alternatives can be generated or on the base of ideas that refer to a planned website/application and that are prepared without any master.

All attendees have the same rights to represent their interests and requirements on the product.

In the workshop the partners interact with different facilities (paper, pencils/pens, glue, etc.) and give utterance to your desires and visions. Hereby different creativity techniques are used (brainstorming, brainwalking, etc.). In a creative and productive atmosphere the website/application is further developed. In addition, experienced product mangers, developers and designers come to know more about the needs of the users.

Possible questions

• • Purely explorative: how would users (re-) design your website/application if they would have the chance to?
• • How is the design or the arrangement of the site elements rated by a fistful of users?
• • How does one harmonise the internal view of the project partner and the needs of the actual users?
• • What do the attendees associate with the particular concept or design versions?

And many more…

In what project phase applicable?

• Development/conception
  Workshops with all product partners and actual users are most efficient in the early development phase as soon as first basic concepts or design drafts in terms of graphical prepared screens or schematic wireframes (in digital form or on paper) are available. In this development phase the workshop attendees are not influenced in their creativity e. g. by technical restrictions.

What is the procedure of this method?

First of all a short introduction of the participants of the workshop takes place to know each other little better. Afterwards a short presentation about usability in general provides sensitisation and focussing of the attendees.

On demand already existing concepts are presented to discuss them. Alternatively a “free” generating of new ideas with reference to a planned website/application is possible. Depending on the question or the goal-setting of the workshop a variety of creativity techniques is employed like brainwalking and the SIL-method (Systematic Integration of Solution Elements).

Finally, we determine the result of the workshop: completely new drafts, preparation/optimisation of already existing or a combination of both aspects.

In advance defined use cases (description of central action processes or interactions) assist the attendees to guarantee a user central discussion of the scenarios.

Afterwards small groups are formed. Their task is to develop independently solutions for the given problems or scenarios with pencils and paper for a certain and fix timeframe.

Finally, each group presents its solution to the other attendees. Together all advantages of the presented versions are discussed and get to the bottom of the problem.

Depending on the result of the first round one decides whether the cycle is supposed to be looped again to extend or concrete the suggestions on the base of previous discussions.

Strengths of this method

• All attendees have equal rights while representing their interests and requirements on the product. The first goal is the user-central, user-friendly design of the product.
• The product partners get insight into the ideas and desires of the users.
• Users are able to actively contribute to the product development. This strengthen the relation to the product/brand/company.
• Due to the creative atmosphere the attendees work out a large number of ideas/solutions.

What about the sample size?

The optimal number of attendees amounts to about 8 to 9 to create the workshop clearly. It is advisable that at least the product manager, a marketing employee and a distribution employee as well as a designer/developer attend this workshop. The rest of the attendees are formed of representative users of your target-group(s).

How much time takes the implementation?

Depending on the sample and the complexity of the examination object the workshop incl. preparation and reworking can be implemented within 1,5 to 3 weeks.

What input do you have to provide?

OOptimally you come to our premises with concrete questions and already existing concepts/drafts that we thematise during the workshop. Or you would like to use the workshop to create completely new ideas without any master/base.

Of course we can work out this kind of questions or approaches with you in a kick-off workshop (on the spot or by conference call).

What do you receive from us?

The worked out drafts of every single attendee or work group and the findings from the discussions are usually the result of the participatory design. We document these results in a chart report, completed with a comprehensive analysis that also takes the ideas and needs of the different user types into account.

Do you have any further questions? Please do not hesitate to contact us! We would like to consult you.