This document discusses scenario-based design and provides examples of scenarios. It defines scenarios as stories about people and their activities that include elements like setting, agents/actors, goals, actions, events, and objects. Scenarios can be used in participatory design to evoke reflection on design issues. Different types of scenarios are described, including problem scenarios, activity scenarios, information scenarios, and interaction scenarios. Examples of scenarios are provided for a history teacher preparing a lesson and for an app called Ach So.

1. Scenario-based
design
Media Design course
Autumn 2016

2. INDEX
1. Introduction
3. Scenario-based design
4. Scenarios in Participatory Design
5. Scenario types
2. Elements
6. Examples

3. 1. INTRODUCTION
Scenarios are stories about people and their activities.
Carroll, 1999

4. 2. ELEMENTS
• Setting (explicit or implicit): description of the starting state of the
episode and objects that are involved
• Agents o actors
• Goals
• Actions – things that actors do
• Events – things that happen to actors
• Objects

5. Harry is interested in bridge failures; as a child, he saw a
small bridge collapse when its footings were undermined after
a heavy rainfall.
He opens the case study of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and
requests to see the film of its collapse. He is stunned to
see the bridge first sway, then ripple, and ultimately lurch
apart.
He quickly replays the film, and then opens the associated
course module on harmonic motion.
He browses the material (without doing the exercises), saves
the film clip in his workbook with a speech annotation, and
then enters a natural language query to find pointers to
other physical manifestations of harmonic motion.
He moves on to a case study involving flutes and piccolos.
Goals (Carroll, 1999)
2. ELEMENTS

6. Harry is interested in bridge failures; as a child, he saw a
small bridge collapse when its footings were undermined after
a heavy rainfall.
He opens the case study of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and
requests to see the film of its collapse. He is stunned to
see the bridge first sway, then ripple, and ultimately lurch
apart.
He quickly replays the film, and then opens the associated
course module on harmonic motion.
He browses the material (without doing the exercises), saves
the film clip in his workbook with a speech annotation, and
then enters a natural language query to find pointers to
other physical manifestations of harmonic motion.
He moves on to a case study involving flutes and piccolos.
Actions (Carroll, 1999)
2. ELEMENTS

7. Harry is interested in bridge failures; as a child, he saw a
small bridge collapse when its footings were undermined after
a heavy rainfall.
He opens the case study of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and
requests to see the film of its collapse. He is stunned to
see the bridge first sway, then ripple, and ultimately lurch
apart.
He quickly replays the film, and then opens the associated
course module on harmonic motion.
He browses the material (without doing the exercises), saves
the film clip in his workbook with a speech annotation, and
then enters a natural language query to find pointers to
other physical manifestations of harmonic motion.
He moves on to a case study involving flutes and piccolos.
Objects (Carroll, 1999)
2. ELEMENTS

8. 3. SCENARIO-BASED DESIGN
• Evoke reflection about design issues
• Are open-ended and easily revised
• Allow different perspectives on a same interaction
• Can be abstracted and categorized.
• Support communication and discussion on work processes, as well as
stakeholders’ participation
5 reasons for scenario-based design (Carroll, 1999). Scenarios:

9. Collaborative Analysis of Requirements and Design
Example of CARD technique (Muller et al., 1995)
4. SCENARIOS IN PARTICIPATORY DESIGN
• Developed by Muller et al. 1995.
• Explores work flows through playing
cards that represent screens or task
components.The sequential laying out of
cards into work flows becomes a
representation of work scenarios.

10. PICTIVE
Example of CARD technique (Muller et al., 1995)
4. SCENARIOS IN PARTICIPATORY DESIGN

11. 4. SCENARIOS IN PARTICIPATORY DESIGN
Scenarios can be used at different stages of the lifecycle:
• Task analysis: discussion with end-users around initial scenarios created
by designers
• Design: users created their own scenarios that serve as a basis for
discussion with designers and developers.
• Assessment: the scenario of a mockup is presented to end-users in
order to obtain feedback.

12. 5. SCENARIOTYPES
• Problem scenarios: describe current situation features
• Activity scenarios: propose transformation from current practice into new
design features
• Information scenarios: how users perceive, interpret and make sense of
information
• Interaction scenarios: physical actions and system responses that enact and
respond to the users’ task goals and needs
Rosson and Carroll (1999):

13. 6. EXAMPLES
Activity scenarios
History teacher Jana
Jana
is
a
history
teacher
in
a
small
primary
school
in
Poland.
She
just
graduated
from
the
university
last
spring,
so
it
is
her
first
year
as
a
teacher.
Jana
is
a
very
concerned
teacher
and
wants
to
make
her
lessons
interesng
for
the
students.
She
has
been
using
computers
for
years
-­‐
mainly
for
university
studies
and
communicang
with
friends.
She
is
also
interested
to
use
Internet
and
ICT
tools
with
her
students.
In
6th
grade
history
lessons
are
focused
on
the
Middle
Ages.
Currently
Jana
is
preparing
a
lesson
about
life
in
medieval
cies.
She
looks
for
addional
informaon
from
Polish
Wikipedia
and
Google.
Wikipedia
has
good
arcles
on
Polish
cies,
but
it
lacks
the
detailed
informaon
about
medieval
mes.
Jana
remembers,
that
one
of
her
colleagues
was
talking
about
Toolbox.
She
finds
Toolbox
from
Google
and
starts
to
browse
the
website.
Toolbox
has
a
good
selecon
of
learning
resources,
which
are
all
tagged
with
keywords.
Jana
is
searching
for
history
and
receives
several
hundred
results.
Maybe
there
is
something
on
medieval
cies
too?
New
search
gives
only
a
dozen
results.
Some
photos,
some
slide
shows
and
a
few
pages
of
text.
Escenari creat durant el disseny de LeMill
(http://lemill.org/trac/wiki/Scenarios)

14. Scenarios created during iTEC project by A. Keune.
Activity scenarios
Outdoor study project and Recognizing informal learning
6. EXAMPLES

15. Scenarios created during iTEC project.

16. Scenario created by Leyla Nasibova during the MA thesis project “Planet Hero”.
Information scenarios
Discovery of relevant projects in geographical proximity
1
2
3
6. EXAMPLES

17. Ach So! app scenario.The app was developed as part of the Learning Layers project (video: L. Nasibova)
Interaction scenarios
6. EXAMPLES

18. Carroll, J. M. (1999). Five Reasons for Scenario-Based Design Proceedings of the 32nd Hawaii International
conference on system Sciences.
Muller, M. J.,Tudor, L. G.,Wildman, D. M.,White, E.A., Root, R.W., Dayton,T., ... Dykstra-Erickson, E. (1995,
September). Bifocal tools for scenarios and representations in participatory activities with users. In Scenario-
based design (pp. 135-163). John Wiley Sons, Inc..
Poldoja, H. (2011). Scenario-based Design. http://www.slideshare.net/hanspoldoja/scenariobased-design?
from_action=save
Rosson, M. B., Carroll, J. M. (2009). Scenario based design. Human‐computer interaction. Boca Raton, FL,
145-162.
FURTHER READINGS
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