Method cards for movement-based design activities: A survey of free online toolboxes

Abstract

Card-based design tools have proven useful in both industry and academia in the fields of interaction design, human computer interaction (HCI), and the umbrella of fields overlapping user experience design. Wölfel and Merritt classified the design dimensions of physical card-based methods into five categories: 1) Intended Purpose & Scope, 2) Duration of use and placement in design process, 3) System or Methodology of use, 4) Customization, and 5) Formal Qualities. Furthermore, they identified three graduations of intended purpose & scope, ranging from very general to context specific: 1) General/repository card systems, 2) participatory design, and 3) context specific/agenda-driven. This paper draws attention to the methods involving human movement or movement-based methods, which constitute to one of the categories of agenda-driven methods. The design activities, particularly for the development of systems and services involving human movement, should build on movement-based methods for involving both designers and users for the increased emphasis on domain-specific human-centred design. We find that in the multi-disciplinary domains involving play, sport, fitness, games, and health, the movement-based method cards have become crucial in the new study programs and design projects involving innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship. There are numerous articles on how cards are used in the design activities including examples of human movement-based methods. However, an overview of movement-based method cards has not been conducted and articulated. So, adopting an approach for systematic literature review, this paper identifies 20 free online resources resembling card-based design toolboxes from an organic Google search and discussion with colleagues in the HCI field. Studying the toolboxes containing 55-85 cards each and identified eighteen unique names for the movement-based design methods. The methods are mapped into Stanford D. school’s five categories of design activities, empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test. The methods grouped into each of the categories are presented briefly followed by discussion on practical implication due to similarities and differences. Four of the 20 card-based toolboxes were excluded as those do not contain any movement-based method. The paper concludes with the scope of further development of card-based design tools particularly for movement-based methods for the human-computer interaction practitioners and education programs.