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Touchstone Tours

Using artifacts and the environment as touchstones for insightful conversation

  • The guided tour is a contextual, empathic method to understand how people organize information and systems using space and cognitive artifacts.
  • The exploratory method allows designers to establish familiarity with a territory in early-phase research.
  • The participant is asked to guide the researcher through an environment and objects, specific to themes or subjects being explored by the designer.
  • Tours can be guided through homes, workspaces or individual rooms, micro or mobile environments such as backpacks and purses, or digital devices and computer desktops.
  • Conversation should be guided yet flexible, allowing fluid departures based on highlights selected by the tour guide and attentive observations by the researcher.
  • Thoroughly document tours with video, photos, or sketches and a transcript of the conversation.

See alsoArtifact Analysis • Contextual Inquiry • Personal Inventories

A touchstone tour in a prototyping lab highlights specialized tools and processes for a design project investigating master-apprentice relationships.

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Courtesy of Max Snyder

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