Paper Prototypin g
Jan 13, 2015
Paper Prototyping
Prototyping
• Prototyping is an interaction design approach used by designers to acquire feedback from users about future designs– While simple, paper prototyping can provide a
great deal of useful feedback which will result in the design of better products
Explorative prototyping
• Explorative prototyping is used to explore system requirements in cooperation with users– I can be seen as a communication facilitator
designers, developers and users
Experimental prototyping
• Experimental prototyping aims to assess whether the planned system will be adequate and acceptable when finished– Experimental prototypes can be used as
requirements specification
Evolutionary prototyping
• And prototyping can also be evolutionary in nature– This is the case when a design evolves through
multiple generations succeeding each other– In this case, each prototype is an early version of a
product or service that is further worked upon until the prototype has evolved into a final solution
Prototypes
• Prototypes may be horizontal or vertical– Horizontal prototypes cover a very broad range of
the intended future features, but only very little of the actual functionality of the features is addressed
– Vertical prototypes address fewer features but, on the other hand, these are almost fully described.
Prototypes
• Prototypes serve several purposes…– They incite and facilitate experimentation as they
are inexpensive to alter• As they focus on content and functionality and turn
attention away from details of graphic design
Prototypes
• Prototypes serve several purposes…– They incite criticism from users because they are
perceived as being low-cost and low-fidelity• If a user is presented with an early version of a product
or service that has required substantial work, she or he is likely to be more reluctant (as well as able) to criticize it
Prototypes
• Prototypes serve several purposes…– They have the advantage of ‘grounding’ the
discussion during a stakeholder session, making the sure the session does not get too much off track
Prototypes
Prototypes
• The question now should be… – How do we go about it?
Prototyping process
• You…– Follow design patterns– Create a prototype for each (set of) user stories• Starting by sketching and structuring and eventually
ending with a paper mockup of the envisioned product or service frontend
– You iterate the prototype and the user stories• There is an interplay between both so its only
expectable that they will co-evolve
Design patterns
Design patterns
Design patterns
Prototyping user stories
• Well… you start with your user story and end up with something like this:
Prototyping user stories
• Early prototypes normally evolve through a sketching and structuring iterative process– Sketching is normally based on existing design
patterns, unless there is an unusual problem to be addressed or a novel solution with potential added value
– Structuring normally follows state transition diagrams principles, which allows clear validation of the underlying user stories
Prototyping user stories
• Early prototypes normally evolve through a sketching and structuring iterative process
Mature paper prototypes
• Mature paper prototypes usually let go of the state transition diagram and become fully actionable paper prototypes– Of course, in this case the processor is the person
animating the prootype
Mature paper prototypes
Mature paper prototypes
• For demonstration purposes, mature paper prototypes can also be animated using stop motion animation
However…
However…
• This only makes sense if you have progressed from your idea’s personas into scenarios and user stories– Most likely you have actually address all this in
previous activities but under different names or even implicitly• My recommendation is that you reframe what you have
under this heading to better start this interaction design process
However…
• This only makes sense if you have progressed from your idea’s personas into scenarios and user stories– If this is not so clear for you, please bear with me
for a little longer
Personas
• These are base on observation, interviews, research
• They can be primary, secondary, etc…• Personas support design decisions– But should not entirely replace real users
Personas
Scenarios
• Scenarios describe the context of the interaction between the personas and the envisioned product or service– These consist of goals, expectations, actions and
reactions– They aim to reflect the real context and usage
Scenarios
User stories
• User stories are written sequences of actions and events leading to an outcome– Good user stories are standalone, short and
testable– They bring users, designers and developers
together– Users stories are a powerful way to reflect upon
user needs
User stories
• Go more or less like this…– As a <ROLE>, I want to <DO SOMETHING> so that I
could <GET SOMETHING>• User stories:– Describe one specific need– Are not to detailed– Are testable
User stories
User stories
Now it’s up to you to make it happen
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