Actors, hairdos & videotape---informance design

We have been developing a visualization technique that we cafl Irrjortrrance Design. We render scenarios as plays and interactive environments. Designer “actors” role-play as users with simple prototypes employed as “props”. These performances open up informed dialogues between designers and an audience, to further explore the design issues raised. The use of performance techniques such as improvisation can promote mul[i-disciplinary, collaborative design work in ways that areas much visceraf and experiential as intellectual and reflective. Inforrnances, like user testing, are enactive and evaluative. Unlike user testing, they are intended to explore design ideas in ways that are generative rather than analytic.