065 Picture Cards

Cards with images and words help people think about and share true experiences

• In a session, participants recall an experience, using the cards to support memories and evoke conversation.

• Picture cards stem from activity theory, which asserts, “the human mind is the product of our interaction with people and artifacts in the context of everyday activity.”

• Cards are created with images and caption text relevant to the research inquiry, but connected to the personal accounts of participant lives.

• Card sets should account for current and future product and service experiences and include blank cards for details that might emerge during sessions.

• The method should be used flexibly, adding, subtracting, and editing picture cards in pretesting prior to field use and even between research sessions.

• The cards can be used for sorting current products and services used and “sketching” future scenarios, which are laid out as a story unfolds.

See also   Directed Storytelling • Interviews • Touchstone Tours

Courtesy of Adaptive Path

In a picture card session, cards are sorted by participants and used to guide storytelling of past experiences and the sketching of future scenarios.