Play with Playmobil. Service Design Prototyping Tool

2014 - Design Management - Fjord

TIMELINE

December 2013 ~ March 2014 (3 month)

BRIEF

One of the best way to build a successful digital interface is through prototyping (AKA failing fast). Same principle can be applied to service design, but we have limited tools to prototype systems where we have to consider people and surroundings. To bring service design methodology in our everyday design practice, Lena Hammes and I proposed to purchase a series of Playmobil. The small size replication of our world can be used in all stage of service design process from visualizing complex systems to envisioning design solutions.

Our proposal was accepted and I ran two series of design sessions to show what they are, and how we use them.

NOTE

This was not a client project, but an initiative that came out of my curiosity. Finding a way to work better as a team is also a big part of what I do at Fjord.

Proposal

2014 Playmobil proposal

^ Summary of our proposal

They are here!

2014 Playmobil

^ This is a shot from the day it arrived (January, 2014). After the arrival, I ran a couple of design workshops to promote our new hires into the studio.

Design Workshop Part 1

2014-Playmobil-workshop1

^ On Feb 14, 2014, I invited everyone in the New York studio to brief what we’ve got and why we got them as well as to give them hands-on experiences. We divided into 3 groups and within 30 min of time, they produced really fun stories told with Playmobils.

Design Workshop Part 2

2014 Playmobile example

^ Soon after the first workshop, designers started using Playmobil in their work. A team did a great concept deck to show a workflow of an app that they were designing, which was a great way to visualize the usage of the app without showing too much details. Another team bought more Playmobil sets to use in the business development deck to visualize their perception on the subject matter. On March 21, we had ‘Play with Playmobil’ workshop part 2 to showcase these examples.