Prototype improvement
Experience Simulation Test
This test uses a life-sized simulated setup to explore how people would interact with your solution. Users know they are entering a mock environment (for example, a room arranged like a store, a service counter, or a workspace), and they are asked to try it as if it were real. The goal is to observe how the experience flows, where it feels natural, and where it breaks, before moving into a real-world pilot.
Why Use this tool?
Get clarity before diving in
This test helps you improve high-confidence solutions by letting people interact with a physical, spatial, and behavioral simulation. Because users know it’s a test, they’re more open to commenting, reflecting, and suggesting improvements, giving you rich learning before the experience needs to fully work.
what you should know
Start With: A solution that is defined enough to be simulated at full scale
End With: Clear insights on flow, usability, friction points, and experience improvements
Time Needed:
• Preparation: High
• Execution: 10–40 minutes
• Analysis: High
Difficulty: ⭐ ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5 out of 5 – complex setup, high learning value)
People:
• 8-20 users interacting with the simulation
• 2-5 coordinators (facilitation, observation, interviewing)
A quickguide to start
2. Build the simulation. Create a believable setup that represents the experience (space, objects, signage, roles), even if it’s clearly a mock.
3. Design the scenario. Define what users will do and what moments you want to observe.
4. Run the session. Invite users to interact, knowing it’s a simulation. Observe behavior and ask questions during or after.
5. Add a reflective moment. Ask users what felt real, confusing, or forced.
6. Synthesize learning. Capture patterns to improve the experience before moving forward.
helpful tips
- Make it clearly a simulation, not a trick, clarity builds better feedback.
- Focus on experience flow, not operational perfection.
- Listen closely to phrases like “In real life I would…” they reveal gaps between simulation and reality.
RACU meets AI
Life Experience Test
How Can AI Make RACU Easier ?
AI can be your creative partner and research assistant, ready to help you move faster and think deeper at every step of the RACU process.
For each RACU tool, we’ll share a ready-to-use AI prompt. Just copy the prompt into your favorite AI tool (like ChatGPT or Copilot) and it will guide you through the method step by step.
The AI becomes your facilitator, asking the right questions so you can build your thinking as you go. No need to fill out a blank form, the prompt starts the conversation and adapts to your answers in real time.
PROMPT – COPILOT, CHAT GPT
You are a facilitator helping me complete a Research & Discovery Card for a design thinking challenge.
Guide me step-by-step by asking the following questions one at a time, and wait for my answer before moving on. You can ask follow-up questions if needed to clarify or improve my responses.
Start with general context:
1. What is the challenge, project, or topic you’re working on? (Briefly describe the scope or goal.)
Then go into Research (existing data):
2. What existing information do we need to gather to better understand this challenge?
3. Where can we get that information? (e.g., internal reports, dashboards, previous research, public sources)
4. What specific questions will this data help us answer?
5. Who on the team will be responsible for gathering this information?
Then move to Discovery (new research):
6. Who should we learn from? (e.g., users, clients, collaborators, stakeholders)
7. Where can we find or reach them?
8. What topics, needs, or behaviors should we explore in the research?
9. What discovery methods could work best for this challenge? (Examples: interviews, shadowing, observation, journaling, immersing yourself in the experience, etc.)
10. How many people should we involve or study?
11. When will this research happen?
12. Who on the team will lead or coordinate this discovery work?
At the end, summarize my answers as a Research & Discovery Plan with two sections:
- Research (existing data)
- Discovery (new fieldwork)
Use bullet points and keep it simple enough to copy into a worksheet.
