UXD Method 11 of 100: Bodystorming

by Chauncey Wilson

This is the 11th in a series of 100 short articles about UX design and evaluation methods. Today’s method is called bodystorming. Bodystorming is an immersive ideation method for exploring ideas through role-playing and physical interaction with props, prototypes, actual products, and physical spaces. The overall goal of bodystorming is to understand the relationships between people, their physical location, and the things (e.g., tools, devices, materials) they use in that environment.

If you were designing a postal kiosk for a mall, for example, you might go to a mall with a prototype system and role-play a scenario about trying to use the kiosk when you are holding a baby and trying to weigh a package. Another bodystorming scenario suggested by Oulasvirta, Kurvinen, & Kankainen (2003) involves role playing elderly users (with memory problems) as they try to remember product information in a supermarket or drug store.

Method 11 of 100: Bodystorming

When to Use:

Bodystorming is useful when you are designing devices or interior or exterior spaces. For example, you might use bodystorming to understand how users of different heights and ages would experience different versions of aircraft cabins (for example, what are the problems with lifting luggage in crowded planes from the floor to the overhead bins), or the layout of modern train cars. Bodystorming can be quite useful in understanding the experience of teams who work in close quarters like doctors and nurses in an operating room or the cooking staff in a restaurant. Bodystorming is a way to envision how people will interact with ubiquitous computing systems like smart homes and virtual meeting spaces.

Procedure:

There are different approaches to bodystorming. Here is a basic approach.

1. Get a small group together for the bodystorming.
2. Define the locations were a product or service will be used. Go to those locations and observe how people interact. Watch how people interact with each other and the artifacts in their environment.
3. Develop the prototypes and props that you need to explore an idea. You can do this on the cheap with cardboard, sketches, existing furniture, and whatever else you can find nearby.
4. Identify the personas or roles that are important for understanding your product, service, or environment. Keep in mind that people may play the role of hardware or software as well as the roles of customer, user, or troubleshooter.
5. Role play different scenarios. Feel free to improvise and role play new situations and scenarios that emerge from your initial round of bodystorming.
6. Reflect on the bodystorming experience. What did you learn? What new questions emerged? You are likely to find new possibilities as well as gnarly problems.

Strengths and Weaknesses:

+ The method is useful for generating empathy for users.

+ The method provides clues about the impact of the environment on the user experience.

-  Bodystorming involves role playing and improvisation which may be difficult for some members of a product team.

 

References:

Dennis Schleicher, D., Jones, P. & Kachur, O. (2010). Bodystorming as embodied designing. interactions 17, 6 , 47-51.

Fairbrother, A. (2008). Bodystorming. Retrieved on April 4, 2011 from http://annefairbrother.co.uk/2008/03/26/bodystorming/

Gray, D., Brown, S., & Macanufo, J. (2010). Gamestorming: A playbook for innovators, rulebreakers, and changemakers. O’Reilly.

Oulasvirta, A., Kurvinen, E., & Kanjaunen, T. (2003). Understanding contexts by being there: Case studies in bodystorming. Personal Ubiquitous Computing 7, 2, 125–134.

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What’s Next in the Series?

The next UX method posting will describe a method called teachback that is used to elicit and understand information from subject matter experts.