Instructor’s Manual

© 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

contentsProcess 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

| p. 7

prior to workshopA) 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.

2. S

tart

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| p. 9

at the locationA) 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.

3. Welcome

| p. 11

introduce the workshop participantsA) 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.

4. Explain the Rules

| p. 13

improv rules1) 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.

3. Spontaneity1. Agreement 2. Listening

5. Begin the Games

| p. 15

establish a game planA) 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.

6. Improv!

| p. 17

tips for coachingGames 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.

7. Which Phase?

Question Definition

Explore Have you ExploredThe 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 deliveredthe 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.

| p. 19

choosing a design phaseA) 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.

8. Recording Ideas

| p. 21

recording ideasAs 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.

9. Creating Place

| p. 23

building a situated problemCreating a sense of place can be done with

Design Improv

PROJECT:

WHERE?

WHEN?

10. Finding the Bugs

| p. 25

testing ideas and scenariosHelping 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.

PushPop

11. Build Scenarios

| p. 27

exploring the interaction detailsA) As the exploration of specific ideas and concepts progresses throughout

the workshop, record specific ideas and moments for deeper analysis. B) Re-

cord 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.

12. Iterate and Evolve

| p. 29

creating more detailed scenes for analysisA) 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 char-

acter. D) Groups should do this decision making activity collectively. Decisions

should be verbalised.

13. Warm–down

| p. 31

summarising and warm-downA) 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.

14. Post Session Checklist

Manage Recent Customers

Introduction Why Improv? How it Works Case Studies

Contact | Client Login

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

| p. 33

follow–up and documentationDon’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. Up-

load 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.

| p. 35

Appendix

Kit Contents

Notes on games

New Games

Kit Contents

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. Electro- mechanical 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.

| p. 37

Notes

begin & end with objects

deconstruct (ideate)

deconstruct (develop)

dubbed movie

| p. 39

exposure

gifts

group goal

group vision

interaction designer

literary letter

machines

malapropism

| p. 41

part of a whole activity (what)

part of a whole activity (who)

performance testing

push n pop

reconstruct (ideate)

reconstruct (develop)

revolution!

segmenting

| p. 43

storytelling

telephone call

visualise the system

who’s line?

Name:

Number of Players:

Time:

Goal:

Flow:

Suggestions:

Name:

Number of Players:

Time:

Goal:

Flow:

Suggestions:

| p. 45

Name:

Number of Players:

Time:

Goal:

Flow:

Suggestions:

Name:

Number of Players:

Time:

Goal:

Flow:

Suggestions:

| p. 47

Name:

Number of Players:

Time:

Goal:

Flow:

Suggestions:

Name:

Number of Players:

Time:

Goal:

Flow:

Suggestions:

| p. 49

Name:

Number of Players:

Time:

Goal:

Flow:

Suggestions:

Name:

Number of Players:

Time:

Goal:

Flow:

Suggestions:

| p. 51

Name:

Number of Players:

Time:

Goal:

Flow:

Suggestions:

Name:

Number of Players:

Time:

Goal:

Flow:

Suggestions:

| p. 53

Name:

Number of Players:

Time:

Goal:

Flow:

Suggestions:

Name:

Number of Players:

Time:

Goal:

Flow:

Suggestions:

| p. 55

Notes

| p. 57

Notes

| p. 59

Notes

| p. 61

Notes

| p. 63

Notes

| p. 65

Notes

| p. 67