Activities

Why improvisational theatre is good for design(ers)

Session Title

Why improvisational theatre is good for design(ers)

Presenter

Franco Papeschi

Session Type: Activity

Improvisational theatre is fun, and it’s difficult. It pushes out of one’s comfort zone and disrupts some of the typical patterns of behaving. In this activity session I will share some of the things that I have learnt while doing a beginner’s course of improvisational theater, and we will discuss why and how these can be important for different aspects of design. The session will be highly interactive, with 3 exercises done together (in one or more small groups, depending on attendance). A few principles and suggestions from impro’ can be adopted easily into the design field: they can help involve users and stakeholders in participatory design and co-design projects; they can help with the creation of an effective agile process; they can facilitate design thinking at a more systemic level; they can foster lateral thinking and envisioning.

Biography

I like to ask questions about different aspects of the world. In the past 10 years I’ve become more and more curious about how human beings interact with socio-technical systems. In other words, I’m a User Experience designer, whatever you may think it means (well, I do have a pretty clear idea, ask me more!). I am fascinated by how involving people can change design of services and products, and how a deep understanding of their attitudes, practices and behaviours is pivotal for inspiring innovation. if we meet up in Savannah or somewhere else, you may also want to ask me something about capoeira, or maybe about improvisational theatre. And also something about my passion for the slow food movement.

3 Comments

  1. d-technical
    Posted September 30, 2009 at 10:12 am

    awesome!

  2. johanna kollmann
    Posted October 1, 2009 at 9:30 am

    i found impro theatre techniques very useful for improving my presentation skills, so would be interested to see how this can be related to design. thinking about e.g. bodystorming scenarios.

  3. Posted October 1, 2009 at 11:25 pm

    How does one convince clients to engage in methods such as this. Do you have any insights into this and will you address this in the session?