HUMAN CENTERED DESIGN | DISCOVERY

Scenarios

20 Min

Scenarios are short stories (usually visual) used to share a product or service journey (similar to Storyboards) with research respondents, and collect their thoughts and feedback. A scenario can be either an end-to-end representation of a service journey or a focused view of one part of the journey.

USE CASES

Collect feedback from users with regard to a current or intended journey of use.
Evaluate different versions of a current journey.
Imagine new journeys (as storyboards).

LIMITATIONS

Scenarios should be clear and visual or else they could end up confusing respondents.

Scenario Mapping for Design Exploration | NN Group

UNDERSTANDING THE TOOL

Text and visuals are both used to build scenarios, so that there is minimal loss in translation. Headline text to describe the overall scenario and descriptive text explaining a milestone.
Visuals on a scenario should be as contextualised and localised as possible. Icons and sketches that are alien or new, can confuse respondents.
In any session 3-4 scenarios may be enough to place before a respondent.
Scenarios are often used as part of User Interviews. They are what researchers call 'probes'. They help researchers touch upon aspects of experience and need, which an oral conversation may not be able to cover.
Scenarios are very closely associated with the 'Storyboard' tool from prototyping.
As respondents study and provide feedback on scenarios, researchers should be prepared to engage in follow-up conversation as and when relevant.

STEP BY STEP

Prepare the scenario cards: Make a note of the most important things a service offers and how. Create simple visuals to describe the main steps and actions. Make variations of visuals where relevant.
Present to users: Present the scenarios to respondents and have them provide feedback on each aspect of a scenario, and compare scenarios (if there are multiple).
Collect feedback: Once the scenarios have been presented, have the respondents share their feedback by asking them what they think of the concept.

HOW TO FOR FACILITATORS

At the start: See if the team is clear on which scenarios they wish to place before respondents and why. If they have not decided, help them brainstorm.
During the exercise: Help teams develop their ideas into short scripts that will be the basis of the scenario. Ask them to identify headline and body text where required.
At the close: Have participants test together how they plan on using the tool during the research session.

FACILITATORS QUESTION BANK

What part of the service or system do you want to test as scenarios?
What are the different scenarios you plan on using? Why did you choose these particular scenarios?
Do you have your scenario scripts in place?
Who is going to visualise the scenarios? Are the visuals easily understood?
What kind of headline and descriptive text are you using?
How will you introduce the exercise to respondents?
What specific parts of the scenario do you want respondents to focus on?
Do you have a list of follow up questions and prompts ready?

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