Ch 10 Prototyping page 1CS 368

Prototyping

• an initial version of a software system used to demonstrate concepts, compare design alternatives and to explore the problem and possible solutions.

• it should be suitable for representative users to interact with in order to observe their behavior and identify potential usability problems.

• heavily used in industry: automotive, consumer electronics

Ch 10 Prototyping page 2CS 368

Looking for Innovation

• strive for multiple designs early to discover the best solution

• product designers are trained to consider alternatives, software developers generally are not

• most ideas are evolutionary rather than revolutionary

• humans tend to build upon what they already know rather than truly think out of the box

• Examples of true innovation

Doc Brown invented the flux capacitor which is the basis for time travel

velcro

amazon.cm “one click”

post-it notes

Ch 10 Prototyping page 3CS 368

Advantages

• relatively cheap and quick to create

• a lot of bang for the buck

• the user can better clarify her needs by seeing the features in action

• actually shortens development time by identifying problems early when it is easier to make changes

• enhances communication with the user

• supports an iterative design process

Ch 10 Prototyping page 4CS 368

Types of Prototypes

• Low Fidelity

quick and cheap to create

might not look realistic

limited functionality

used early in the specification or design phase

• Demonstration

targeted functional for specific concepts

user can respond to the demonstration

• High Fidelity

more realistic

slower to develop and more expensive

nearly complete functionality

more effective towards the end of the design phase

Ch 10 Prototyping page 5CS 368

Additional Strategies

• Evolutionary

make incremental changes to the ‘final’ product

designers may feel overly committed and limit their choices

• Throw Away

forced to start from scratch

• Local vs Global Features

depth vs breadth

perhaps implement one menu instead of all of them

• Wizard of Oz

create the illusion of a functional application under the control of someone in the background

could be done for a voice application

Ch 10 Prototyping page 6CS 368

Prototyping Tools

• Visual Basic for relatively quick event-driven prototypes

• Scripting languages such as Python allow for rapid development

• Tkl / tk

• HTML authoring tools

• Paper

google “paper prototyping” for resources

Ch 10 Prototyping page 7CS 368

Group Activity

• Day 1

introduce the problem

explain the prototyping materials

• Day 2

iterative design and refine the prototype

• Day 3

send envoys out to the other groups

each group has a puppeteer and scribe

note usability problems

• Possible projects

Restrict interaction style to Menus for Linux commands

Phone message system for a receptionist to take messages