Deep approximations of human or environmental conditions
Effective simulations forge a tangible, immersive sense of real-life user experience to influence design sensitivity and decisions.
Simulated real-world conditions can provide empathic emotional experiences or test functional interactions like response time and decision-making.
These exercises have been used in military, aircraft and NASA training, driving simulators, and virtual worlds.
In design, exercises might approximate the limitations experienced by people with physical disabilities, brain injuries, or age-related sense and cognition deficits.
Low-tech simulations can utilize wheelchairs, manipulated glasses lenses, or blindfolds to empathically experience restricted mobility or visual impairment.
Designers are involved in the creation of simulated environments such as video games, virtual or augmented reality, physical spaces, and artifacts.
Researchers perform tasks wearing the “Age Gain Now Empathy System” (AGNES), developed in the MIT AgeLab to simulate the dexterity, mobility, strength, and balance of a 74-year-old.