Design games as a tool, a mindset and a structure Kirsikka Vaajakallio
Design games as a tool, a mindset and a structure Kirsikka Vaajakallio
Design games as a tool, a mindset and a structure Kirsikka Vaajakallio
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in its aims of eliciting inspiration, empathy <strong>and</strong> fresh points of view by<br />
making familiar unfamiliar, p<strong>as</strong>tiche scenarios resemble cultural probes.<br />
The examples above were given to clarify the nature <strong>and</strong> meaning of<br />
user information in co-design <strong>as</strong> a way of eliciting empathic underst<strong>and</strong>ing<br />
<strong>and</strong> inspiration, instead of concentrating on explaining the current situation.<br />
User representations aim to encourage creativity by inviting imagination,<br />
the way Mattelmäki (2006, p 95) explains probes: “Since the probe<br />
material never tells the whole story about people <strong>and</strong> their experiences, the<br />
material is supplemented, through storytelling.” Consequently, user representations<br />
are influenced by the purpose, selection of the material, the<br />
chosen visualization format, <strong>and</strong> personal skills <strong>and</strong> interests of the people<br />
doing it. Thus the outcome is not an image of reality but reconstruction of<br />
parts of it. We can adopt theatre director Professor Richard Schechner’s<br />
(1985, p 51) notion, concerning ethnographic films that are shot in the field<br />
but edited at home, about user representations: “History so-called is not<br />
“what happened” but what h<strong>as</strong> been constructed out of events, memories,<br />
records: all shaped by the world view of whoever – individually or collectively<br />
– is encoding (<strong>and</strong> performing) history. To “make history” is not to do<br />
something but to do something with what h<strong>as</strong> been done.”<br />
In order to engage their audiences <strong>and</strong> to elicit empathy, user representations<br />
should be rich in details <strong>and</strong> allow some level of role immersion.<br />
In co-design, this is often reached by co-constructing user<br />
representations together with those people who should implement user<br />
information in their work, whether they are researchers, designers or<br />
other stakeholders. Moreover, creating representations of current <strong>and</strong><br />
future world collectively is often more than just sharing information by<br />
engaging various people, such <strong>as</strong> users <strong>and</strong> other stakeholders, to vision<br />
what could be. I will next give some examples of co-design techniques<br />
that engage participants by performing either in order to reach role immersion<br />
or to rehearse the future in terms of Halse et al. (2010). Again,<br />
some of them build on direct user involvement, while others underst<strong>and</strong><br />
design partners in wider terms. Also, user data is broadly considered <strong>as</strong><br />
covering the data collected during a user study <strong>as</strong> well <strong>as</strong> the verbal <strong>and</strong><br />
visual material available in face-to-face encounters.<br />
When these action-oriented scenario techniques are referred to in<br />
design literature, they are often called theatre techniques (e.g. Sato & Salvador<br />
1999), drama methods (e.g. Br<strong>and</strong>t & Grunnet 2000) or role playing<br />
(e.g. Iacucci et al. 2000a; Svanæs & Sel<strong>and</strong> 2004; Diaz-Kommonen et al.<br />
2009) to highlight their connection to theatre performances. I will next<br />
look at techniques where play <strong>and</strong> performance shape the dialogue while<br />
creating future visions in relation to the themes addressed before: design<br />
collaboration (roles <strong>and</strong> facilitation), interplay between current practices<br />
<strong>and</strong> envisioned future (contextual information), <strong>and</strong> role of design material<br />
(the link between future visions <strong>and</strong> people’s daily life).<br />
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