Great example of using an intervention to study an issue. IDEO mocks up a machine that prints up “free time” stickers and gives them out to people on the commuter train. What takes this beyond a piece of conceptual art is the analysis of the reactions. This is a tool that doesn’t need such a grandiose PR-friendly approach to be useful, of course. Tickets that offer a conceptual benefit could be a little activity in any sort of design research process; handing them out to someone and asking how they’d use it. See also “Moving With A Magic Thing”

The second technique, “moving with a magic thing” works according to a similar concept. It’s claimed to be useful when finding uses for new technology, by giving users the new thing (or a mock-up of it) and getting them to go away and discover uses for it.