What are prototypes
“When creating initial prototypes, it’s a lot better to use a whiteboard and give everyone a pen than have a single person sketching on paper. Programmers and engineers can be sceptical of using whiteboards ( too low tech) but persevere, once they have used them, the benefits are obvious.” (Jones and Marsden, 2006, p. 193)
Defining a prototype
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What you think prototype, what image comes to mind? What is a prototype? Where is it used in the ixd process?
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Did your ideas match those presented by professional interaction designers and others of your group?
- Moggridge (2007) identifies three difference purposes for prototyping.
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What do you think this might be?
- Do they fit with the purposes identified in your text?
A process?
- Your text differentiates between low fidelity and high fidelity prototypes and suggests that prototypes for conceptual design come before physical design prototyping implying a process.
- In the field of mobile interaction design, Jones and Marsden, 2006 offer a process that they have used in an academic context. They also contrast this with a commercial process used to develop mobile products.
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Read the short description provided by Jones and Marsden. Contrast this with the article by Pering
- From these, work out how you will approach your prototyping activities
Low fidelity prototypes
PowerPoint is a great way to create a prototype interface which can provide interactivity through its hyperlink. (Jones and Marsden, 2006, p. 193)
Low fidelity: a place to start
A low fidelity prototype is one that does not look very much like the final product.
To gain a better idea of what is involved in low fidelity prototyping, use the resources from your text and other sources to understand the what and why of low fidelity prototypes so that you can construct your own.
LoFi prototypes for your product
For those of us who are heavily into developing (i.e. programming, building software) this part of the process is sometimes difficult. Even while we are gathering the initial requirements our minds are analysing the development possibilities.
We need to put on our designer hats, and forget, for the time-being, the actual software development. We need to appreciate that this phase can save us many thousands of lines of code in the long run.
- Conceptual model: At the end of the design phase, you created 3 conceptual models selecting one for further development.
- What aspects of this conceptual model do you need to prototype?
- what behaviours or experience do you need to demonstrate
- what ides do you need to explore and evaluate
- what aspects of the design model require further understanding
- Create three or more alternative low-fidelity prototypes based on the chosen conceptual model. You may use a paper-based sketch approach, storyboard, or appropriate prototyping applications.
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Some of you may want to follow the steps that your text outlines which includes creating a scenario, translating this to a storyboard; representing this in a set of cards, and then developing a paper or digital representation
- Seek some informal feedback on each of the prototypes from user and stakeholder representatives
- Post the low fidelity prototypes and the feedback from clients and your subsequent design changes on your web site. (You will need to scan or photograph paper-based prototypes to present them as images).
