Role-playing is a type of prototyping used to simulate a situation by acting it out. In Design Thinking, role-playing is used to give the audience an example of what the user’s experience with a proposed solution might look like. Through role-playing, the Design team creates an improvised situation that represents a potential use case for their solution, or a likely scenario that may arise during the customer’s journey and interaction with the solution.
Although role-playing is primarily used during the Prototyping step of the Design process, the activity can also be used to gain empathy for the user’s experience during the earlier steps of the process. When used during the Empathize step of the Design process, the Design team can gain an empathic understanding of the user’s experience through simulating what that experience feels like by re-enacting scenes and situations that the customer encounters.
The main objective of role-playing is to make an idea tangible enough for someone to provide feedback on – whether that is from the other people on the Design team, the customer, or other stakeholders. Some other benefits include:
All of our tools and templates are available in Word or PowerPoint format to allow organizations to purchase and customize the templates to their brand standards.
Role Playing is a critical step in the Design Thinking process when designing a new product or service. Role Playing allows the design team to experience what the customer experiences and what a proposed solution might look like. This topic is a core concept of applying creative problem-solving through design thinking. To learn more about design, please visit our Introduction to Design Thinking Course.
The Design Thinking course teaches a creative problem-solving that will give any professional an advantage in their industry or career.
This course will help expose the learner to various design thinking tools and mental models – all with the emphasis on innovating through creative problem-solving.
Our objective is to provide the learner with practical tools for applying a versatile 3-step design thinking process within their organizations. Through this framework, the learner will be able to reframe problems from the customer’s perspective. With this perspective in mind, the learner will drive improvements around the customer experience using tools such as deep-dive interview, journey mapping, empathy mapping, and rapid prototyping.
Need help introducing use of a Role Playing at your organization?
Schedule a 30 minute coach call today and let’s talk through the details.
Sign up for our newsletter to get the latest articles, tools, templates, podcasts, and improvement tips. All delivered right to your inbox!
Let’s nerd out!