Service Prototypes

If your solution is a service/process, e.g., the new airport security experience, these prototyping methods are useful:

Customer Journey map
Step-by-step visualization of the customer’s experience, including all the relevant steps of the process and the touchpoints you have with the users. Useful to identify problems with the status quo or to develop a new process.

Storyboard
Use pen and paper to visually depict the new service/process as a story, e.g., as a comic. It illustrates the interaction of the user or object in a specific context.

Role Play
Allows to explain a service or product idea by acting out the scenario of its use. Define some key roles, and prepare rough prototypes that facilitate the performance. While a part of the team acts, the others observe to spot opportunities.

Scenario
To make your idea tangible, find a way for the user to experience it first hand. Test it in a “real-world” scenario, e.g., by creating a fake security gateway and play out the process of getting through.