Take it to the next stage

Using role play at every stage of the design process has been a vital tool for IDEO in working with clients and users. With the dual properties of bringing participants into the moment and making shared activities physical rather than just mental, role playing techniques make the process more experiential and creatively generative. Role playing is complimentary to traditional design techniques providing additional team dynamics and insights that bring the process and designs to another level. This paper describes how we have used role-playing in our design process and how it can be integrated into any HCI project.