Methods – Pseudo-documentary
What it is:
This presents a design scenario in the form of a film that has a documentary format but is actually staged. Real users of a future product or service can participate in the pseudo-documentary working as actors with a script. This method enables people to share in the exploration of imagined or speculative outcomes. Although events and characters are fictitious, they can nevertheless be based on real user insights
Input:
Expertise:
Time:
Staffing:
Costs:
Low | Medium | High
Low | Medium | High
Low | Medium | High
Low | Medium | High
Output:
A realistic representation of an imagined scenario
Best suited to:
”DISCOVER
Earlier stages of the design process
Supporting design scenarios with a compelling narrative
Enabling real users to engage with future outcomes
Demonstrating the potential of a highly speculative idea
Characteristics:
DESIGNING FOR | WITH | BY PEOPLE
Type of interaction:
LEARN | LOOK | ASK | TRY | IMAGINE
Goes well with:
Interviews, Day in the Life, Observation & Shadowing, Video Ethnography
What designers say
‘…The pseudo-documentary format brings to life ideas about the future that can be hard to visualise and understand by other means …’ – Peter Bosson
Examples
Futurescapes of work: a documentary from 2012
In 2006, designer Anab Jain made a pseudo-documentary about the office wokers of the future, populating the imagined district of Little Brinkland with three fictitious characters.
Desire Management
Noam Toram’s film, Desire Management, comprises five sequences in which objects are used as vehicles for dissident behaviour. The work is based on real testimonials and news reports.
Background and further reading
One of the first uses of the pseudo-documentary in design research was by Tony Dunne, Dan Sellars and Fiona Raby on the EU-funded Presence project in 1995. A film called The Pillow was made in which an elderly woman described how she thought she would live with an object like ‘The Pillow’, how often she would use it, and how her friends and neighbours might react. The interviewee was a knowing participant in a fiction. The aim was not to convince an audience of a need, but to draw them into a ‘what if’ scenario.
Dunne T. (1999) Methods Lab|User Research Methods, Royal College of Art, p26
