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