Creative way to test interactive products and services
Project Stage:
Develop
Who:
Customer
Decision makers
Service Providers
Design Principles:
The Wizard of Oz method involves creating a prototype of a service that appears fully functional to users but is actually operated behind the scenes by a human. This allows teams to test interactions and gather feedback before fully building out the service.
Use it to
Test service interactions and functionality without fully developing the service.
Quickly gather feedback on a service idea.
Simulate how a digital service will function in the real world.
Top Tips
Keep the interaction as real as possible to gather authentic feedback.
Use this method when building a fully functional prototype would be time-consuming or costly.
Involve multiple team members to help operate the “behind the scenes” functions.
How – to
Create a simple prototype that simulates the full service experience.
Have a person (the “wizard”) manually operate the backend of the service while users interact with the prototype.
Gather feedback from users based on their interaction with the service.
Wizard of Oz
Creative way to test interactive products and services
The Wizard of Oz method involves creating a prototype of a service that appears fully functional to users but is actually operated behind the scenes by a human. This allows teams to test interactions and gather feedback before fully building out the service.
Use it to
Top Tips
How – to
Related Methods
Walkthroughs
Empathy Maps
Brainstorming