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Video Card Family Game

The Video Card Family Game is a collaborative design technique that leverages video clips from ethnographic fieldwork to co-create products or services. It involves analyzing key frames of participants’ activities to generate design insights, making it ideal for teams involved in product innovation or service design.

Duration
7h–8h
Group size
6–12 people
Materials
video camera or smartphone, video editing software, graphics software…

How to run it

  1. 1

    Prepare video segments by editing fieldwork footage into clips no longer than two minutes.

  2. 2

    Select key frames from each segment and create video cards with these images, ensuring each card has a unique identifier.

  3. 3

    Print duplicate sets of these video cards and distribute them among participants.

  4. 4

    Instruct participants to review video segments, take observational notes, and then discuss their insights in pairs.

  5. 5

    Have pairs organize their cards into thematic 'families' based on their observations and discussions.

  6. 6

    Each participant chooses a favorite family and presents it to the group, allowing others to add cards that fit the theme.

  7. 7

    Compile all 'families' onto posters with thematic headings for further group analysis.

Tips

  • Ensure that video segments focus on actions rather than conversations to capture authentic behaviors.

  • Encourage participants to focus on observational notes before interpretations to ground insights in actual behaviors.

  • Allow flexibility in thematic categorization to align with the design focus.

Variations

Consider using still images instead of video if resources are limited. Alternatively, incorporate digital collaboration tools for remote teams to participate in the analysis and discussion phases.

Where it fits

Developing user-centered design concepts in product innovation teams.Gaining deeper insights into user behaviors through visual ethnography.Facilitating cross-disciplinary collaboration in service design projects.
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Method descriptions on Workshop Weaver are original content written by our team, based on established facilitation practices. This method was inspired by work from Gamestorming.

Video Card Family Game — Facilitation Method | Workshop Weaver