Participant journals

What they are

Service design relies heavily on establishing the true needs and practices of both service users and providers. One means of capturing rich, accurate information during a service design project is to equip users and providers with tools called participant probes. These help capture participants’ activities, thoughts and feelings. Journals are an effective and easy to use form of participant probe.

Journals are usually sent to participants with a specific brief on how and when they should be used. Their structure can vary from loose to specific; some are intended to capture a number of experiences over a longer period, while others focus on specific tasks. The very presence of a journal acts as a physical motivator to participants to record their thoughts on a regular basis.

A journal’s information design has a huge impact on how it is used. Exercises that trigger or reveal emotions - both pleasant and unpleasant - can provide useful insight on a variety of experiences over time. Journals must be usable, with any page layout being well considered. 

Participant journals are often accompanied with disposable cameras. Images taken help tell the story through the participants’ eyes.

What you get

The journals are returned full of information and knowledge from the participants. Simply put, you get what you’ve asked for. The structure or brief originally set determines how participants respond - and therefore the nature of the data.

Presenting information from the journals to project stakeholders with photos taken by participants helps to build a convincing story. The format of journals allows both easy skimming, and deeper interpretation.

When to use them

Journals are most useful when you need a deep, detailed understanding of the thoughts, feelings or activities of users and other stakeholders. They are used effectively in advance of discovery workshops. Participant journals are usually a good compliment to other design research techniques such as contextual interviews.