Facilitate design through improv: The qualified eclectic

Abstract

With the growing popularity of Design Thinking and the widespread use of it in contexts with non-designers, the role of the design facilitator is in increasing demand. This warrants investigation into skills needed and tools available for the facilitator to use when guiding non-designers through design processes. Existing research has highlighted shared practices between Design Thinking and Improvisational Theater (Improv). However, the benefits Improv can provide to design facilitators has not yet been addressed. Through three qualitative studies, the aim of this research is to investigate how practitioners are leveraging or might leverage their Improv experience in their current practice of facilitating design processes. The results of the studies show that design facilitators may use Improv to support them in 1) reading the room, being flexible, having a tolerance for ambiguity/uncertainty, 2) guiding non-designers through design processes through fostering self-learning and 3) extracting design tools out of the principles of Improv. Additionally, the research conceptualizes the role of the design facilitator and highlights success factors for successfully facilitating design.