Susan Dybbs and Katie McCurdy co-led a workshop to help attendees at the UX Strategies Summit learn about Participatory Design. We led the group through exercises intended to help them understand what it is like to be a participant in a participatory design session, and then we helped them understand what went into that exercise and how to plan their own session. I've captured resources about participatory design, for anyone who is interested, here: http://katiemccurdy.com/participatory-design/

1. Participatory Design
UX Strategies 2015

2. Katie McCurdy
UX Designer & Researcher
focusing on healthcare
@katiemccurdy
Susan Dybbs
Head of Design
Collective Health
@dybbsy

3. Tell us your name, what you do,
why you’re here

4. AGENDA
+ What is Participatory Design, & how can I use it?
+ Exercise 1
+ Break
+ Exercise 2
+ ‘How to do it’
+ Reflect

5. WHY WE’RE HERE
Designing without our end
users just doesn’t work.

6. Participatory Design!

7. WE WANT YOU TO WALK AWAY WITH:
+ Practical experience as a participant
+ Excitement about participatory design
+ Confidence to plan your own session

8. We want you to have fun!

9. WHAT
Participatory design brings your
end users into the design process,
usually in a workshop format. Also
called co-designing.

10. WHAT
Can be used to help design digital
or physical products…or services,
workflows, systems, policies, etc.

11. WHY
+ Research emotionally charged
subject matter
+ Uncover users needs and mental
models

12. WHY
Creative, hands-on process means
you have amazing artifacts to refer
to later

13. WHY
Helps you find the real problems
and make sure you’re designing the
right thing

14. WHAT NOT
Not about firing the designer and hiring
users to design our products

15. IT’S ABOUT DESIGN OPPORTUNITIES
Requirements, behaviors, roles, mental
models, priorities

16. BUILDING EMPATHY
Bringing the end user’s voice into our
process, building deep empathy and
collaboration

17. WHEN
+ Beginning of a project
+ Middle of a project

18. Preconditioning Participatory
Session
Conversation
& Analysis
HOW

19. 1EXERCISE

20. E X E R C I S E 1 • 1 5 M I N U T E S
Emotionally charged subject matter
Fill out the questionnaire
Using the materials provided, create a map of
your ER experience
1
2

21. EXAMPLE

22. What was your ER experience like?

23. ON FACILITATING
+ Ask open-ended questions:
+ Why is that important?
+ How do you use that?
+ Could you say more about that?
+ Can you give me an example?
+ Understand why they’re doing things, and in
what order

24. E X E R C I S E 1 • 2 0 M I N U T E S
Distilling themes
Take turns interviewing and taking notes
(write one idea per sticky note)
Cluster related sticky notes together
1
2

25. EXAMPLE

26. THIS IS GOOD FOR
Understanding
users’ experience
and mental
models
THIS IS NOT GOOD FOR
Prioritizing
features

27. OTHER EXAMPLES OF WHEN YOU MIGHT USE THIS
METHOD:
+ Explore how people got into debt
+ Explore feelings around getting your first bra
+ Understand a negative travel experience
+ Map out challenging work collaborations and
look for fundamental breakdowns

28. Take a break

29. RECAP
+ Early in design process, participatory design
can act as investigation tool
+ Once you learn more about the problem
you’re solving, participatory design can act as
a generative tool

30. EXERCISE2

31. WE’VE IDENTIFIED A BIG OPPORTUNITY:
Give patients a more transparent view into
where they are in the ‘ER process’ and what will
happen next

32. E X E R C I S E 2 • 4 0 M I N U T E S
Plan & hold your own
generative mini-session
You’re the researcher. With your team, create
a quick + dirty hand-drawn ‘design kit’
Then you will take your kit and practice
conducting a participatory design session
with another team
1
2

33. EXAMPLE

34. EXAMPLE

35. EXAMPLE

36. Participatory
Session
Conversation
& Analysis
Preconditioning
Exercise
+ Interview
+ Walk-through/tour
+ Survey
+ Diary study

37. Participatory
Session
Conversation
& Analysis
Preconditioning
Exercise
+ Interview
+ Walk-through/tour
+ Survey
+ Diary study
+ UI elements
+ Objects
+ Devices
+ People
+ Words
+ A ‘blank canvas’ to
work with

38. Participatory
Session
Conversation
& Analysis
Preconditioning
Exercise
+ Interview
+ Walk-through/tour
+ Survey
+ Diary study
+ UI elements
+ Objects
+ Devices
+ People
+ Words
+ A ‘blank canvas’ to
work with
+ Ask open ended
questions
+ Understand the
meaning behind the
elements
+ What is included is
important as not
included

39. What did you learn?

40. THIS IS GOOD FOR
Gathering
information,
hierarchy and
experience needs
THIS IS NOT GOOD FOR
Creating a final
design

41. OTHER EXAMPLES OF WHEN YOU MIGHT USE THIS
METHOD:
+ Envisioning your ideal collaboration tool
+ …ideal travel app
+ …ideal bra-fitting experience

42. Participatory Design: how to do it

43. There’s no perfect way

44. 1. UNDERSTAND YOUR GOALS
+ What information do you need from participants?
- Emotional, physical, task-based needs?
- One point in time or spanning time?

45. 2. UNDERSTAND WHO SHOULD PARTICIPATE
Photo credits: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nic/

46. 2. UNDERSTAND WHO SHOULD PARTICIPATE
+ Who has knowledge of the domain area?
+ What are their attributes?
+ Where can you find them?
+ Start a screener – 6 to 9 is usually a good
number of people

47. 3. PICK EXERCISES
+ What activities will reveal the best insights?
+ Collage, timeline, etc?
+ How can participants play off each other?
+ How many people?
+ Plan pre-conditioning
+ Resources at katiemccurdy.com/participatory-design

48. 4. PLAN, PLAN, PLAN
+ Down-to-the-minute
session plan
+ Be realistic with time
+ Be on top of recruiting

49. 5. PREP EXERCISE MATERIALS
+ ‘Just enough’ for personal expression
+ Fewer options helps people work faster
+ Cut-outs, stickers, tape, glue…?

50. 6. RESERVE A SPACE
+ Re-arrangeable is good
+ Walls to put up and review work
+ Casual

51. 7. COME UP WITH AN A/V PLAN
+ How will you capture the session?
+ Photos, video
+ (Something will go wrong-so plan for it)

52. 8. THINK ABOUT FOOD & DRINK
+ Festive atmosphere, keep energy up
+ How much should you get? What time should
you order it? How will it arrive?
+ How messy is it?

53. 9. GET AN ASSISTANT
+ Help take notes, ask & answer questions,
deal with A/V issues, etc.

54. 10. DO A DRY RUN
+ Helps you work out the kinks, make sure the
session will go smoothly

55. 11. BE A CHECKLIST FREAK
+ Week before
+ Day before
+ Day-of

56. BE A CHECKLIST FREAK
Leading up to session
! Get participant compensation together
! Prepare NDA and consent forms
! Make sure all exercise supplies are ready/printed/purchased
! Session plan is created, down to the minute
! Remind participants – by email or phone – the day before the session
! Make a list of everything you need to bring to the session
Day-of
! Plan & order food, get napkins/kleenex
! Make signs/tell front desk person where to send people
! Test A/V
! Put out exercise materials, set up your space & seating arrangements
! Have your session plan handy, make sure you can see a clock

57. 12. ON FACILITATING
+ Ask open-ended questions:
+ Why is that important?
+ How do you use that?
+ Could you say more about that?
+ Can you give me an example?
+ Understand why they’re doing things, and in
what order

58. 13. DISTILLING INSIGHTS
+ Review physical artifacts, watch session
video; gather pithy comments & insights
+ See what themes arise
+ Include your team
+ How can you creatively communicate
findings?

59. R E F L E C T • 5 M I N U T E S
How can you bring it back?
On a note card: write down at least 1 way you
can bring participatory design back to your
work life
Share
1
2

60. @dybbsy
@katiemccurdy
Thanks!
katiemccurdy.com/participatory-des