Instructor’s Manual
Š Copyright Nathan Waterhouse 2006. Please contact nathan.waterhouse@gmail.com for permission to reproduce.
Being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you’re using your skills to the utmost. Mihaly Cziksentmihaly
contents Process Flow 1. Establish the Goals 2. Start the workshop 3. Welcome 4. Explain the rules 5. Begin the games 6. Improv! 7. Which phase? 8. Recording ideas 9. Creating Place 10 Finding the bugs 11. Build scenarios 12. Iterate and Evolve 13. Wrap–up 14. Post–session checklist Appendix Kit Contents Notes on games New Games Blah Blah Blah
1. Establish the Goals
prior to workshop A) Make sure the goals are agreed & the contract has been signed. B) Design Improv workshops can consist of designers, their clients, and the potential users of the design. Make sure you know who will be coming to the session and speak to the main contact in each group. Explain to them the basic nature of what will follow. C) Prepare custom props and make bespoke games if needed. D) Ensure the space is suitable. Remove any unwanted distractions. Suggestions are welcome, but focus is essential for effective improv problem solving.
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op h s k r o W e h t t r a t 2. S
at the location A) Arrive early. B) Arrange the stage space and mark it with demarcation tape. Initial sessions work best starting with a circle formation of chairs. Decide where the audience will sit once the games begin. C) Set up flip chart. D) Place kit on a table, or hang it up if there is a suitable hanger. E) Finally, place the do no disturb sign on the entrances to the space.
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3. Welcome
introduce the workshop participants A) Introduce your team, and make sure everyone knows each other. If everyone is completely new to each other and you have time, you can play Introductions. This will also introduce the first rule of Improv: Listening. B) Discuss the aims of the session. C) Hand out the workshop notebooks and some pens.
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4. Explain the Rules
improv rules 1) Yes, and. Agreement is essential, but it doesn’t lead to successful improv unless something is offered in return. Encourage and support the team effort of creativity by building on the suggestions of others. 2) Listen with empathy. 3) Spontaneity — Do not hesitate or preconceive. Grounding in the moment — being present. Take risks, embrace failure; Don’t censor yourself.
1. Agreement
2. Listening
3. Spontaneity
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5. Begin the Games
establish a game plan A) Unfold the board. B) If the group is new to Design Improv, then give them an extended warm–up, stressing the importance of each of the rules of improv. If they are seasoned players, great! However, it is always important to refresh people’s memories, and to improvise effectively, we need to warm–up. C) Beginners should start with Exposure. This confronts most people’s stage fright head on, and teaches how having focus removes it. D) This can be followed by a simple ball game. Gifts is a variation on this.
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6. Improv!
tips for coaching Games Always read the aim of each game carefully, but allow yourself and the group freedom to explore new directions and improvise the games themselves. When doing this, be aware of the super-objective. Always let participants opt out of a game if they don’t feel up to it. But remember: everyone is part of the game, even if they are not the focus of attention. Get them to help make suggestions, provide encouragement, write notes about the scene, or film. Your Role Beginners can find improvisation rather daunting. It is your job to make sure the goals are clear throughout the workshop. Be observant about who is not fully contributing – engage them in a playful way, but do not make them feel picked upon. Difficult Groups Often teams that know each other quite well form habits and patterns can be noticed in group play. Freeze the game play if you find the group not being spontaneous. Ask the audience and the players what is happening. Encourage discussion. You might be asked “What if our minds are blank?”. You must get across that anything your fellow player says in a game can be used as an offer. “Play with the offer, tell us the first thing that comes in your head, reverse it, counter it.” Verbalising an improvisation or mime is absolutely fine, and much better than just letting the flow stop.
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Question
Definition
Explore
Have you Explored The Problem Fully?
To discover the scope and context of the problem. To apply techniques of primary and secondary research into user patterns, and current solutions.
Define
Have you Defined your Problem Space?
To specify distinctly. To give form or meaning to the problem at hand. To remove ambiguity. To set parameters by which to proceed. To restructure current definitions.
Ideate
Have you Generated Concepts?
To form an idea of; to imagine. To conceive mental images; think..
Develop
Have you tested your ideas, refined them, and iterated?
To progress from simpler to more complex stages of evolution. To elaborate on early first concepts. To refine and test your ideas.
Deliver
Have you delivered the solution to the client/ user?
To hand over to the client or customer. To test the prototype or final solution with the people who will use it. To communicate the research and value behind the solution.
7. Which Phase?
choosing a design phase A) Choose games with relevant game qualities (see chart opposite). B) Make sure the game board is laid out so that everyone can be around it. Encourage people to look at the different games and encourage discussion. C) More than one game can be chosen at a time but you should consider the time stated on each card.
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8. Recording Ideas
recording ideas As well as recording ideas, improv scenes can be recorded structurally using Push/ Pop stickers and who, what, why, when, where stickers. Push/ Pop These stickers work best when you are using the Push/ Pop technique to explore recursion within a scenario test or to develop an idea within a scene. However, they can also be used to structure the recording of the scene or even the workshop as a whole. Take a flip chart and beginning at the top level, identify where you explored deeper into the scene, and place a Push sticker close to its description. now write the next idea or description below it. When you have returned back to the root of the problem, or to the previous thought, stick a Pop sticker there and now write above the sticker. It might help to use the paper in landscape format. The benefit of recording like this is that you can easily analyse the structures of services or product interactions after improvising them. W stickers Can be used to develop situations further. You generally need three at least to create a successfully improvised scene. Great for getting to the heart of how something will be used or for mapping out primary research.
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9. Creating Place
building a situated problem Creating a sense of place can be done with
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PROJE
CT:
WH E R
?
WH E N E?
Design
Improv
10. Finding the Bugs
testing ideas and scenarios Helping to find bugs in interaction flows is one of the best things Improv can do for a project or idea. During a longer scene or game, interrupt the action by asking the audience to prompt the players with questions. The best game for this is Why. Take the clapper–board and iterate the scene, recording with the camera each time. Just by trying to solve specific user requirements, it is easy to find weaknesses and things one would not have thought of before. Tell the group to call out ‘freeze’ every time they find a bug.
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Push Pop
11. Build Scenarios
exploring the interaction details A) As the exploration of specific ideas and concepts progresses throughout the workshop, record specific ideas and moments for deeper analysis. B) Record each one and explore Who, Where, Why, When, and Why. C) Play out the scenes and use Push n Pop to go deeper or return to the core idea. D) Take breaks, and be discuss what the group learned from the skits.
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12. Iterate and Evolve
creating more detailed scenes for analysis A) After developing detailed W’s, use the pentagonal role necklace to create fast personas with which to explore specific roles. These roles can be more focussed on motivations (why’s) or identities (who’s). B) It is useful to collect ethnographic data (or use stock imagery if that is not available) and print out portraits of the users using the template provided. C) Attach a Why and Who card to each necklace and set the scene in motion. You can write with a dry erase marker on the centre of the necklace and write the name of the character. D) Groups should do this decision making activity collectively. Decisions should be verbalised.
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13. Warm窶電own
summarising and warm-down A) Improvisation sessions are best concluded with warm–down games. Any of the warm–up games can be used. Try and work into the warm–down ideas and conclusions from the session’s outcomes. B) After alf the games you should have been pausing to reflect and discuss. Now is the time to refer back to the notes that you have been making during those reflections and conclude what has been learned. C) Outcomes will vary depending on the phase you have been working in.
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Contact | Client Login
Introduction
Why Improv?
How it Works
Case Studies
Manage Recent Customers In this section of the site you can view a list of recent jobs and update their project documentation. Customer
Last Session
Workshops
Action
Gt London Cncil
04/03/06
3
Add Edit Contact
Live | Work
02/02/06
5
Add Edit Contact
TIM
02/01/06
2
Add Edit Contact
14. Post Session Checklist
follow–up and documentation Don’t forget to collect the documentation from the session, including flipcharts, notebooks, and video tape. Have the flipcharts scanned with a local printers into jpeg format. If you haven’t done so already, open a new project for the customer’s job. Upload the documentation into the relevant sections. Once you login you should find project documentation tools to assist in recording the ideas, photographs and video clips from the skits and improv sessions. Once you have logged the workshop, click the ‘publish & update customer’ tab.
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Appendix Kit Contents Notes on games New Games
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Item
Value/ purpose
Materials
Velcro props
Allowing speedy creation of objects and props for scenes. Encouraging spontaneity.
Acrylic, Velcro.
Service Manual
Supporting the role of the coach.
Paper.
Workbook for participants.
Assisting documentation of the workshop.
Paper.
Demarcation Tape
Quickly defying ad-hoc spaces, particularly the stage.
Plastic tape.
Floor shapes
Assisting in building the problem space.
PVC Vinyl
Improv Games
Many individual values, but essentially for solving problems by playing games.
250 gm white card.
Timer
Spontaneity, keeping order.
Electromechanical timer
Clapper Board
Numbering iterations, logging progress on camera, helping to build scenes.
Acrylic, metal hinge.
Rules
Reminding everyone about the basic requirements for successful improv.
‘Do not disturb’ sign
For maintaining a focused space.
450 gram card.
Notation stickers (Who, what, why, where, when & Push/ Pop)
Structuring documentation.
Adhesive paper.
Kit Contents
Notes
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begin & end with objects
deconstruct (ideate)
deconstruct (develop)
dubbed movie
exposure
gifts
group goal
group vision
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interaction designer
literary letter
machines
malapropism
part of a whole activity (what)
part of a whole activity (who)
performance testing
push n pop
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reconstruct (ideate)
reconstruct (develop)
revolution!
segmenting
storytelling
telephone call
visualise the system
who’s line?
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Name: Number of Players: Time: Goal:
Flow:
Suggestions:
Name: Number of Players: Time: Goal:
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Suggestions:
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Name: Number of Players: Time: Goal:
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Name: Number of Players: Time: Goal:
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Name: Number of Players: Time: Goal:
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Name: Number of Players: Time: Goal:
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Name: Number of Players: Time: Goal:
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Name: Number of Players: Time: Goal:
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Name: Number of Players: Time: Goal:
Flow:
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Name: Number of Players: Time: Goal:
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Notes
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Notes
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Notes
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Notes
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