Categories: design, graduate school, process

Marion Buchenau and Jane Fulton Suri of IDEO describes experience prototyping as a form of prototyping that enables design team members, users and clients to gain first-hand appreciation of existing or future conditions through active engagement with prototypes. I heard of the term before, but I did not have a clear picture about the design method until today.

Professor Youn introduced this term in my HCI Design Evaluation Methods class and gave a fascinating example described in a paper by Buchenau and Suri. The example illustrated was a product and service for an internet enabled cardiac telemetry system. The system would involve both face-to-face and remote doctor-patient interactions as well as automated supervision for patients with chest-implanted automatic defibrillators.

For designers to understand what would ensure a positive experience for patients, test participants involved in this experience prototype were given an “experience kit”. The kit included a pager, a camera, a paper journal, and a writing utensil.

In summary, to replicate the experience of a defibrillating shock, the designer would randomly call the number on the pager to activate the buzzer. When participants were paged this indicated that they had received a shock; they recorded their surroundings with the camera, and noted their impressions. Where they were, with whom, what they were doing and what they thought and felt knowing that this represented a defibrillating shock?

I found this to be a great example for me to understand how the designer should think about the design problem in terms of designing an integrated experience rather than think directly about the design of the artifact themselves.

I’m beginning to see how these empathetic design methods, such as experience prototyping bonds with users to create moments of awe repeatedly, making them want to use the product or service again. In the end, this creates customer loyalty and long term success.