INTERFACE PROTOTYPING Mariana Salgado and Andrea Botero- Media Lab- ARTS 2014
Aug 17, 2014
INTERFACE PROTOTYPING
Mariana Salgado and Andrea Botero- Media Lab- ARTS 2014
About the workshop
Do not forget to present ourselves
TIMETABLE1st day22.04Tuesday
2nd day23.04Wednesday
3rd day24.04Thursday
4th day25.04Friday
5th day28.04Monday
6th day29.04Friday
9.00 Introduction of the course. Lecture on: Different prototyping techniques
9.00
Lecture: Why paper prototyping?
9.00
Lecture: Meeting the user.
9.00
Lecture: What to observe?
9.00 -16hs
Planning and testing 1 more iterations
Working on the presentations
10-14hs
Audio interface for dating service
10-14hs
Video Poem
10-16hs
Independent work
10-14hsTesting 1st iteration. Redoing the prototypeTesting again
Working on the presentations
13hs
Final presentations
14hs
Lecture:Remix practices and EUscreen
14hs
Lecture: Introducing the exercise + more on remix
Designing renmixing toolsPlanning the 1st iteration
15hs
Students presentations: how was the day?
Validation of any design idea is best done by prototyping and testing. Through
practical exercises this workshop introduces different paper prototyping techniques and their related research results and analysis; these tools will enable you to
develop and present your design ideas with professional conviction and flair. The
interfaces in this workshop are assumed to be either screen based or physical operation interfaces for digital products and services.
Study MaterialRettig, Marc. (1004) "Prototyping for tiny fingers." Communications of the ACM 37.4: 21-27.
Snyder, Carolyn (2003). Paper Prototyping. The fast and the easy way to design and refine user interfaces. Elsevier Science. USA.
Houde, Stephanie, and Charles Hill. "What do prototypes prototype." Handbook of human-computer interaction 2 (1997): 367-381.
Buchenau, Marion and Fulton Suri, Jane (2000) Experience prototyping. DIS ´00, Brooklyn, New York. CC by Abeo5 in Flickr
Assessment Methods and CriteriaLectures, group work. 80% attendance, completed exercise tasks and a written report.
WorkloadContact hours: 7hs X 6 days: 42hs
Independant work: 39hs
Total amount of hours: 81hs
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Explore different prototyping techniques
Use a case study: remixing video and their related interfaces
Make prototypes using different techniques, test and iterate them.
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Main task: design a non-traditional video editor. Videos cannot be download. The novelty will be in the interface, but can also be in the outcome. It can be an interface for tablets, desktop or
mobile devices. It can apply different type of filters.
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OUTCOMES
Final presentations: students have to prepare a 5min video in which they document the process, including the different test situations. The final interface has to be evaluated at least three times.
In addition to the exercises participants are required to compile a learning diary in which they document the process and make an account of the reading material.
BASIS OF PROTOTYPING
Mariana Salgado and Andrea Botero Media Lab ARTS 2014
"What I hear I forget. What I see, I remember. What I do, I understand!”
Lao Tse
INTRODUCTION TO PROTOTYPING
Fields of HCI and design
Evaluation role (e.g. usability tests): tools for evaluation of design failure or successGenerative role (tools supporting design exploration): design thinking enablers (Lim et al. 2008)
Prototypes are communications media (Eriksson 1995)
Prototypes are concrete - they help to communicate and evaluate ideas.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF PROTOTYPES
… pencil sketch, cardboard or foam mock up of a device, slide show of images, videotape showing simulated
behavior, simulation in a software prototyping environment, partially implemented version of the product
(Eriksson 1995)
DIFFERENT TYPES OF PROTOTYPES
Crude/rough/non-interactive prototypes can capture rough ideas early on (Eriksson 1995)
DIFFERENT TYPES OF PROTOTYPES
More polished prototypes can help communicate the gist of the design
Prototypes supporting interactivity can be used to ask feedback from users
(Eriksson 1995)
Juha Salonen- Interface prototype workshop 2009
VISION PROTOTYPES & WORKING PROTOTYPES
Vision prototypes can be rough or polished. Highly polished prototypes have both drawbacks and benefits. c.f. Apple Computer's "Knowledge Navigator”.
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VISION PROTOTYPES & WORKING PROTOTYPES
Emphasize form, interactivity, and visual appearance.
Part of the iterative design process, for the designers to engage with each other, but also in participatory or design approaches to engage "users" in the design process.
Piia Aho- Paper prototyping course 2009
VISION PROTOTYPES & WORKING PROTOTYPES
Working prototypes should have two properties: accessibility and roughness
Piia Aho- Paper prototyping course 2009
EXAMPLE: CASE URBAN MEDIATOR
Vision prototype – animation (public)VISION PROTOTYPE
Vision prototype – sketch (project partners)
EXAMPLE: CASE URBAN MEDIATOR
Working prototype – sketches (design team)
EXAMPLE: CASE URBAN MEDIATOR
Working prototypes – paper – co-design sessions
EXAMPLE: CASE URBAN MEDIATOR
Working prototypes – mobile proto (co-design activities)
EXAMPLE: CASE URBAN MEDIATOR
Working prototypes – “magnets” (design team)
EXAMPLE: CASE URBAN MEDIATOR
Working prototypes – wireframes
EXAMPLE: CASE URBAN MEDIATOR
Working prototypes – paper prototype (design team)
EXAMPLE: CASE URBAN MEDIATOR
Software prototypes (“alpha version”)
EXAMPLE: CASE URBAN MEDIATOR
Urban Mediator v2.0
EXAMPLE: CASE URBAN MEDIATOR
PRINCIPLES OF PROTOTYPING
(Lim et al. 2008)
LOW FIDELITY METHODS
Low-cost, easy and fast to make, multiple designs can be evaluated, proof-of-concept, can happen early
Flexible, no fear of computer, focus on important things
BUT: Error cases potentially hard to find, does not produce detailed
specifications, Not Real!
Typically just sketching with pen and paper.
No need for great drawing skills to communicate the ideas
HIGH FIDELITY METHODS
Building an interactive prototype of the systemIt could be for example Flash, Director or Visual Basic
Pros: realistic functionality, user-driven, can be used for real testing, look and feel, already usable for specification, marketing and sales
Cons: expensive and slow to develop, cannot be used early, might direct attention to irrelevant details, people often reluctant to change major aspects, may lead to unrealistic expectations
Software design example - too detailed prototypes lead the customer to think that the project is ahead of the schedule. Beware.
STORYBOARDING
Drawing sequences of possible user interaction tasks
Help to develop ideas further and also find missing features
Related to scenarios (what are scenarios?)
IN BRIEF
When creating a prototype, it is important to consider:
• the material
• the resolution
• the scope
PAPER PROTOTYPING
The prototyping method used during this workshop
Best suited for 2D interface design, especially often used in web designFor 3D or highly interactive content less useful
Rough sketches of the interfaceOne of the designers acts as a "computer" and changes the pages.
When the user interacts with the imaginary system: points with a finger
Need to take notes AND videotape the test case for further analysis
Use your imagination: for example menus can be done with pieces of paper
ROLES IN THE TEAM
the facilitator/introducer(the only one talking with the user)“Speak aloud the option you have chosen”
the machine (browsing papers/ finding the right one)“I will act as the computer, turning the pages to maneuver through the site”
the observer(talking notes of the user behavior/ problems/ suggestions)
Today teamwork
Task: Make a quick scenario for a call service for dating
The person is calling to select a date. This is a warm-up exercise to get you started with prototypes and evaluation.
It's okay to make mistakes :) Make cards for reading aloud
Necessary features: selection of the right person (gender, physical qualities, profession, etc), meeting place (address), payment method: cash, sms, money transfer.
Confirm date (place, hour, person). Work in groups of three: test leader ("facilitator"), computer, observer
and test user (recruited from another group). Rotate the roles. Everybody gets to try all the roles and
visit the other groups as a test user.
2 iterations with 2 different users each oneThe test leader do not give hints to the user, the user should communicate with
her/him onlyThink aloud protocol: what, how and why?
Come back here for group discussion and wrap up at 15hs
Mariana Salgado and Andrea Botero- Media Lab- ARTS 2014
Reflection
What did you notice about test situation?How did you fix your design along the way?
Observations on the rolesThink aloud protocol challenges, not giving unintentional hints
anything else?
Mariana Salgado and Andrea Botero- Media Lab- ARTS 2014
Reading for tomorrow
Rettig, Mark (1994) Prototyping for tiny fingers. Communications of the ACM, April 1994/ Vol.37, No.4
Mariana Salgado and Andrea Botero Media Lab ARTS 2014
WHY PAPER PROTOTYPING?2nd day
Mariana Salgado and Andrea Botero Media Lab ARTS 2014
TIMETABLE1st day22.04Tuesday
2nd day23.04Wednesday
3rd day24.04Thursday
4th day25.04Friday
5th day28.04Monday
6th day29.04Friday
9.00 Introduction of the course. Lecture on: Different prototyping techniques
9.00
Lecture: Why paper prototyping?
9.00
Lecture: Meeting the user.
9.00
Lecture: What to observe?
9.00 -16hs
Planning and testing 1 more iterations
Working on the presentations
10-14hs
Audio interface for dating service
10-14hs
Video Poem
10-16hs
Independent work
10-14hsTesting 1st iteration. Redoing the prototypeTesting again
Working on the presentations
13hs
Final presentations
14hs
Lecture:Remix practices and EUscreen
14hs
Lecture: Introducing the exercise + more on remix
Designing renmixing toolsPlanning the 1st iteration
15hs
Students presentations: how was the day?
“Papers Prototypes are low-tech, low-cost, but highly effective form of usability testing for web
site design”
Helen M. Grady
usability testing at the end of the design
they find content and structural problems
re-design may be impossible
Problem
simple tools like paper, scissors, and stickies.
separation of design and content allows to be focused on content
“hands-on” designing manipulating physically the content
the whole group can be following all the steps
no computer skills are neededPaper prototyping EUscreenXL- Translation tool
users recognizing that the prototype is a rough model felt freer to criticize and make recommendations
multiple tests with small number of users is more helpful at identifying problems than elaborated usability tests
paper prototyping allows to separate content from visual design
Paper prototyping EUscreenXL- Translation tool
changes can be made on the fly during the test
after several iterations of testing and design on papermaking an interactive prototype should not take long
the interface elements should be as real as possible (labels, titles, etc)
Paper prototyping EUscreenXL- Translation tool
early focus on users and tasks
empirical measurement of product usage
iterative designed, modified and tested
usability testing with paper prototype is one technique
WIZARD OF OZ
The user sits at a computer and uses the system
The responses actually generated by a remote operator who manually simulates the system
It already requires some material in digital form
“Pretend that your finger is a mouse and point to anything on the page that you
would like to click on”
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Suggestions for today teamworkMake groups of 3 persons
Plan an interface to create Video Poem
adding audio to an existing silent video from EUscreenXLExamples of video poems: 1- 2- 3
Make a prototype to test how it works. Choose a part to develop.
Make a quick scenario and the prototype for testing. Test it
Meeting time for agreeing on project. Reflection
Come here for group discussion at 14hs
Mariana Salgado and Andrea Botero- Media Lab- ARTS 2014
Reading for tomorrow
Snyder, Carolyn (2003). Paper Prototyping. The fast and the easy way to design and refine user interfaces. Elsevier Science. USA.
(choose chapters)
Mariana Salgado and Andrea Botero- Media Lab- ARTS 2014
MEETING THE USER3rd day
Mariana Salgado and Andrea Botero- Media Lab- ARTS 2014
TIMETABLE1st day22.04Tuesday
2nd day23.04Wednesday
3rd day24.04Thursday
4th day25.04Friday
5th day28.04Monday
6th day29.04Friday
9.00 Introduction of the course. Lecture on: Different prototyping techniques
9.00
Lecture: Why paper prototyping?
9.00
Lecture: Meeting the user.
9.00
Lecture: What to observe?
9.00 -16hs
Planning and testing 1 more iterations
Working on the presentations
10-14hs
Audio interface for dating service
10-14hs
Video Poem
10-16hs
Independent work
10-14hsTesting 1st iteration. Redoing the prototypeTesting again
Working on the presentations
13hs
Final presentations
14hs
Lecture:Remix practices and EUscreen
14hs
Lecture: Introducing the exercise + more on remix
Designing renmixing toolsPlanning the 1st iteration
15hs
Students presentations: how was the day?
GENERAL ISSUES
Things can go wrong that affects both test quality and user happiness.
Respect the user - they are helping you to do your work Test situation might be stressing to the user: it's up to you to help to keep the stress to a minimum. For example the test leader should act as confident and relaxed as possible.
A typical test setup involves a test leader and additional staff who operate the equipment, take notes etc.
The user typically only communicates with the leader - the others should not disturb. Be out of sight preferably.
RECRUITING THE USER
Might be hard to get especially if you want statistical results and/or the user group is very specialized
Might be from the target company, your company or external recruits
Should naturally represent the target group - not your workmates
Novice users become experts by time so you possibly need to find new ones to get relevant results
These days computers and mobiles are everywhere so finding complete beginners is getting hard - on the other hand less relevant as a targetgroup
BEFORE MEETING THE USER
Have everything ready. Extra hassle is both unprofessional and distract the user
Test the equipmentTurn off your mobiles!Offer refreshments, chat with the user informally to relax the situation
The test leader introduces himself and the other persons
Ask for permission to video tape the user and to use the test material (ethical issues) Tell her that she may stop whenever she wants or ask questions
Emphasize that you're testing the system and NOT the user.
Some videos
Usabiity test with paper prototype
Iphone app paper prototyping
EI NÄIN - Opetusvideo Käytettävyystestauksesta
DURING THE TEST
Give clear instructions. You might give the tasks to the user on a piece of paper one at a time.
Ask if it's okay to start.
Tell the user when a task is completed - easy to misinterpretate
Speak the user's language - no slang or terms invented by you
Start with an easy task - it gives the user confidence.
Encourage the user to think aloud if it doesn't come naturally (if the protocol is used)
DURING THE TEST
Questions like:
- What do you see now? - Where would you go next? - What are you looking for?
It's surprisingly easy to (unconsciously) help the user with gestures, sounds etc. Observe yourself on the tape and try to learn out of it.
If the user gets stuck you may gently interrupt the task so that they don't get overly stressed or help them complete the task and mark it as failed
Sessions should not last longer than an hour if possible: - drop out tasks if necessary
TIPS
you can test different parts of the systems
or you can give an scenario to the user(you want this and this)
focus on having the users behave naturally
60-90 minutes of user interview
focus on what they do, not in what they say
Refreshments, again. Not during the test.
Time for a post-test questionnaire or free-form discussion
Have time for questions and comments
Thank the user for her cooperation
Often some sort of little prizes are given. Preferably not money.
After the test
Suggestions for today teamwork
Plan a remix tool for EuscreenXL
Take in consideration the restrictions of not downloading content
Independent work
Mariana Salgado and Andrea Botero- Media Lab- ARTS 2014
Reading for tomorrow
Buchenau, Marion and Fulton Suri, Jane (2000) Experience prototyping. DIS ´00, Brooklyn, New York.
Mariana Salgado and Andrea Botero- Media Lab- ARTS 2014
WHAT TO OBSERVE?4th day
Mariana Salgado and Andrea Botero- Media Lab- ARTS 2014
TIMETABLE1st day22.04Tuesday
2nd day23.04Wednesday
3rd day24.04Thursday
4th day25.04Friday
5th day28.04Monday
6th day29.04Friday
9.00 Introduction of the course. Lecture on: Different prototyping techniques
9.00
Lecture: Why paper prototyping?
9.00
Lecture: Meeting the user.
9.00
Lecture: What to observe?
9.00 -16hs
Planning and testing 1 more iterations
Working on the presentations
10-14hs
Audio interface for dating service
10-14hs
Video Poem
10-16hs
Independent work
10-14hsTesting 1st iteration. Redoing the prototypeTesting again
Working on the presentations
13hs
Final presentations
14hs
Lecture:Remix practices and EUscreen
14hs
Lecture: Introducing the exercise + more on remix
Designing renmixing toolsPlanning the 1st iteration
15hs
Students presentations: how was the day?
Positive discoveries - what worked well?
Problem situations - incorrect navigation paths - long pauses - getting stuck
Observe users' gestures
Did your prototype convey a correct mental model?
What corrections did you make?
Your reflections on the method itself
OBERSERVING
Error rates, task completion times, navigation steps etc.Straightforward to analyze statistically
Enables direct comparison of two systems such as prototypes or improved versions
Presented through numbers, charts, graphs ...
Pros: Precise, convincing, easy to understand, brief, often can be collected automatically
Cons: Might be laborious to collect by hand, does not tell much about the user’s thinking, feelings or support a creative progress
QUANTITATIVE DATA
Real-life use cases or test cases used to build up a story
Anecdotes and video clips serve as the material
Make notes, look for emerging patterns, group
Verify your findings with the users
Free-form, rich, convincing, user-oriented - but: not too exact
QUALITATIVE DATA AS STORY
Look for patterns and incidents: delays, user made errors, got stuck
Form categories
Multiple persons work on the same data
MAKING CATEGORIES
Description of a problem or an observation, possibly a screenshot
Again: grouping
0-3 scale (comment, cosmetic, adequate, fatal)
Sorting criteria: part of system, importance, type of problem
Possible suggestions
REPORTING A PROBLEM
What to videotape? The user, the hands,
computer screen?
DOCUMENTING WITH VIDEO
Prototyping produce great amount of data: video/sound clips, photos, sketches, diaries, notes etc.
What should we do with all the data?Analyze and document, learn from it
Who are you writing to? Different stakeholders need different information in different orders of precision.
What are the possible target groups? (managers, software/interface designers, customers)
Always offer an overview where the most important findings are presented in a compact way
Remember to report positive findings as well!
REPORT
Please write a learning diary about your activities in this workshop. The reportshould be at least four pages of A4 (1,5 line spacing, 12pt font) andinclude the following:
- Description of your work with the construction of three different prototypes and test tasks- Experiences you got on the different roles (leader, computer, observer)- Improvements your group made based on the observations- Reflections on the methods (paper prototypes and Wizard of Oz)
Although this is not a learning diary, please elaborate in the end on howone or more of the topics discussed in class are relevant (or notrelevant) to your work. The report is to be written individually, not ingroups.
Deadline:, submit the document by email to [email protected]
Format: PDF written report with images.
(This is not meant to be the same document as your group's final
presentation on Tuesday!)
Suggestions for today teamwork
user tests- observations- redoing the prototypes- more user testsTutorial sessions with groups
Mariana Salgado and Andrea Botero- Media Lab- ARTS 2014
Kiitos! Thanks!
Mariana Salgado and Andrea Botero- Media Lab- ARTS 2014
TIMETABLE1st day22.04Tuesday
2nd day23.04Wednesday
3rd day24.04Thursday
4th day25.04Friday
5th day28.04Monday
6th day29.04Friday
9.00 Introduction of the course. Lecture on: Different prototyping techniques
9.00
Lecture: Video Prototyping by Ville Tikkanen.
9.00
Main task description and introduction Remix tool
9.00
Lecture on testing
9.00 -16hs
Planning and testing 2 more iterations
10-14hs
Audio interface for dating service
10-14hs
Video Poem(Wizard of OZ)
10-16hs
Independent work
10-14hs 13hs
Final presentations
14hs
Lecture:Remix practices and EUscreen
14hs
Lecture: formats and tools for remixing
15hs
Students presentations: how was the day?