It’s Not Frankensteining why you should be building twin prototypes
Frankensteining The merger of multiple designs into one despite the fact that they don’t form a coherent, consistent whole.
usabilityfirst.com
Prototype A Prototype B
Build a behaviour change service for patients struggling to lower their cholesterol
Activities Exercise Diet and lifestyle
Reporting Automatic tracking Self-reporting
Motivation Self-motivated Peer pressure
Rewards Tangible rewards Points and badges
Duration Until reach goal Until set time
Not Frankensteining • Focus relentlessly on named hypotheses
• Gather input from users doing tasks (not clients)
• Use what you learn in the next round of design
Why you should be building twin prototypes
1. We are often wrong
“The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt”Bertrand Russell
2. Users are often wrong
“Most people don't know what they want unless they see it in context”Dan Ariely, behavioural economist
3. Clients are often wrong
“Paradoxically, it is easier to construct a coherent story when you know little.”Daniel Kahneman, psychologist
4. Design needs exploration
“The biggest part of our work disappears automatically. But you can’t look at these designs as waste. They’re ideas.”Rem Koolhaas, architect
Stolen from Designing the Design Process by Sjors Timmerhttp://notura.com/2012/02/rem-koolhaas-designing-the-design-process/
5. Life is short
“Working on the right thing is probably more important than working hard”Caterina Fake, flickr co-founder
Why you should be building twin prototypes
1. We are often wrong 2. Users are often wrong 3. Clients are often wrong 4. Design needs exploration 5. Life is short
When you should be building twin prototypes
for new products
After exploratory research
after initial research
Before further iterations
before design iteration
with three headsprototyper, copywriter, visual designer
How you should be building twin prototypes
Planning project
Creating hypotheses
Building prototypes
Iterating the design
Testing prototypes
• Sell the idea on the time and money it will save.
• Commit yourself to twin prototypes in advance.
Planning project
Creating hypotheses
Building prototypes
Iterating the design
Testing prototypes
• Be big and bold and explicit with hypotheses.
• Test things you think you know the answer to.
Planning project
Creating hypotheses
Building prototypes
Iterating the design
Testing prototypes
• Don’t give yourself too much time to prototype.
• Ensure each prototype is internally consistent.
Planning project
Creating hypotheses
Building prototypes
Iterating the design
Testing prototypes
• Task with one, then the other, then compare.
• Narrate blank sections during the research.
Planning project
Creating hypotheses
Building prototypes
Iterating the design
Testing prototypes• Tear it all up and start
again each time (really).
• Don’t Frankenstein! Create a coherent whole.
“Enough confidence to believe you can solve any design problem and enough humility to understand that most of your initial ideas are probably bad”Larry Tesler, HCI specialistQuoted in Designing for Interaction by Dan Saffer
Will Myddelton, cxpartners@myddelton