Convivial Toolkits
Co-Design
Definition
Convivial toolkits are a way to elicit reactions from participants and encourage them to co-design with you. By having a formal “game plan” it is easier for people to engage with the design space.
“As the feeling of the group livened perceptibly, we started explaining the contents.Worry transformed to excitement. Perhaps the probes would work after all.”
— Gaver B, Dunne T, & Pacenti E, Cultural Probes Pg 22
Procedure
Preparation
Gather evocative materials to encourage introspection
Set up a time to meet with a participant and explain what you will be doing
Create some toolkits such as:
Emotional toolkit
Photos and words (or phrases) ore used for elc1t1ng memories from the past.
Story line toolkit
A time line running from left to right defining the flow of time, including visual and verbal icons.
Dolls’ house toolkit
A model of a space to help people act out their experience.
Cognitive toolkit
A range of simple and symbolic shapes combined with words can be used to express the relationships between ideas.
Bring a recording device
In person
Make sure that you create a comfortable space and address your participates in a kind manner to set them at ease.
Ask your participant if you can record the interaction.
Explain the opportunity space and help them understand the overall goal of your research.
Then start running through the toolkits you have brought. It is often best to start them out with an easy one that involves using their hands and iterating so that they get used to moving things and changing them.
Make sure to thank them when you are done.
Analysis
The easiest way to analyze a toolkit session is just to see what sticky notes or changes they have made.
Then compare those to other participants and pick out similarities and differences.
Use Case
While researching the waste management procedures of the Eskenazi Museum of Art me and my teammates did a toolkit session with a front desk worker at the museum. He gave a new insight to how someone who talks with patrons all day interprets how the museum’s public image is doing.
Strengths
Any method that can get people to use their hands often opens up a whole new line of divergent thinking.
They are called convivial because they are meant to be fun, so they are a great way to build a relationship with the group you are researching.
Weaknesses
Toolkits can be hard to carry around and they take a lot of time to create and use.
