Public Usability Lab
and Services
Testing in the wild
Most usability testing happens in a sterile lab, with a handful of participants and a moderator behind glass. We do it differently.
The Inventors Nest runs public usability testing inside a working performance venue — The Redwood Theatre and its adjoining studios — where prototypes are experienced by real audiences, in real conditions, alongside live performance, exhibition, and public programming. This gives us feedback that conventional lab testing can't: how people behave around a system when they're not being watched through one-way glass, how a device holds up in a room full of noise and movement, how an experience actually lands with the public it's built for.
How a session works
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Scope — We work with you to define what's being tested and what success looks like.
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Recruit — Participants are drawn from Redwood Theatre's regular audience and public programming, or recruited specifically for your project.
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Test in the wild — Your prototype is tested live, in the Theatre, Dance Studio, Art Gallery Studio, or VR/Tech Studio — whichever fits.
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Feedback & iteration — We capture structured feedback and observations, and work with you to interpret results and plan next steps.
Who runs it
Our research team draws on backgrounds in human-computer interaction, sensory computing, and audio engineering, applying academic-grade methodology to real-world testing conditions.