Applied Theatre in Design: la dramatización del proyecto como metodología centrada en la persona

The methods used to study the users and their needs (user-centred design) can sometimes be insufficient to understand people’s real pains and motivations. A person presents a much more complex and articulated profile than what is usually described and analyzed by the most common techniques, since it includes different dimensions, according to a “bio psycho-spiritual unity”: rationality, corporeity and interiority. The experimentation with methods and techniques from Applied Theater and other artistic and therapeutic disciplines has allowed not only to achieve a deeper understanding of the needs of the recipients of the project, but also the development of soft skills by the designers themselves. Just as an actor studies a character, and does work on himself, to get to identify and interpret it in the most appropriate way, analogously a designer can study his receiver, getting to identify with him and understand his pains, motivations and true needs. This work of experimentation and theoretical deepening (research line called “Applied Theater in Design”) explores opportunities and potential of integration, in Design processes, of theatrical games, exercises of creative improvisation, methods of storytelling and for the construction of characters, techniques belonging to the Ludic Teaching, Art Therapy or Psychodrama, among others. Based on the results obtained, a person-centred methodology based on the dramatization of the project (Design Drama©) has been defined, in order to support the designers in the deep understanding of the receivers of the project, through higher empathy and the development of soft skills.