Playbook for universal design

Universal design methods for more inclusive solutions

Experience Harvesting Add/remove

Purpose:

The purpose of experience harvesting is to explore and validate your product/service in a real-life, non-conditioned setting. You will be observing how users interact and perceive your product/service.

Step by step Facilitating tips Materials needed Goes well with Download template (pdf)

Tips to include participants who are not able to:

See

If your participants need to observe how a potential user interacts with their product/service but your participants can not see, you could tell the user to say each step he/she does out loud while someone notes down each step. Furthermore, it would be beneficial to have a helper who can see what the user does so that the helper can verify the user's actions with the person who is blind.

Focus

If your participants have a hard time focusing and therefore would not be able to observe/note down every step the user does, repeat the method multiple times but for shorter periods of time.

Speak

As the user should not receive any instruction, not being able to speak, would not be a huge issue. Only if the user asks a direct question. If so there could be a helper that could perform sign language.

Hear

If you or your participants can not hear, the method could be carried out anyways as it is more important to observe how the user acts. If you want to ask the user questions afterwards this could be done though a survey so that the person who can not hear does not have to listen to the answer but can read the answer in the survey instead.

Hold

If you or your participants can not hold on to a pen when taking notes while observing the user, there could be a helper who could take notes.

Overview

Input

Product/service

Output

Feedback/potential changes

Complexity

Simple

Time

2 hours

Participants

2-10+

Activity

Core abilities:

  • Be observant
  • Take notes

Step by step:

  1. Notepad or template, pens, prototype of either product or service.

  2. Create artifacts or narratives that can evoke emotional reactions from people, in order for us to harvest insight on how people perceive the experience.

  3. Put the artifacts and narratives in a real-life, non-conditioned setting.

  4. Observe people’s reaction when exposed to the message and ask them how they feel about it.

When doing this method you should consider:

Think of the most relevant touchpoint to expose the artifacts/narratives.

Materials needed:

Notepad or template, pens, prototype of either product or service.