Beauty and the Beast: An IoT Design Method Based on Improvisational Acting

Abstract

The ability to anticipate end-user needs in the implementation of Internet of Things (IoT) design is currently limited. Thus, this study aims to introduce Beauty and the Beast, a new IoT design method that enables IoT design ideations considering the needs of the user, while retaining IoT properties. This method employed improvisational acting by four acquaintances who acted out the roles of three IoT products and one user. Through five studies and two designer workshops, we discovered several advantages of the method, which demonstrate its potential to discover more human-centered IoT design ideas.