1. Prototyping: What? Why? and How? Emma J. Rose UW Technical Communication

2. Emma J. Rose - UWTC Today we’ll talk about What is a prototype Why and how prototypes are used How this applies to you Some examples …and, if time permits, we’ll build a prototype

3. Emma J. Rose - UWTC What do you think when you hear the word “prototype”?

4. Emma J. Rose - UWTC What is a prototype An original … what other forms will be developed from A physical model A design of some part (or entire) system

5. Emma J. Rose - UWTC What do prototypes look like? They are “mock ups” Rough drafts or sketched of a design Can be just a drawing or have extended functionality A work in progress

6. Emma J. Rose - UWTC We use prototypes all the time User-centered design (UCD) Is a philosophy and an approach to creating products and processes Puts the user in the center of the design decisions Usability Is an essential part of UCD Helps evaluate a product to see if it’s working

7. Emma J. Rose - UWTC Why do we use prototypes? To get a sense of how a product will work Identify essential features or components Have something to evaluate early on And….

8. Emma J. Rose - UWTC Why else do we use prototypes? Helps you from going in the wrong direction A cheap way to do it! Let’s you make changes quickly, try something new without being tied down.

9. Emma J. Rose - UWTC According to Jakob Nielsen Cheaper to change a product early than later in the development process Common estimate is that it's 100 times cheaper to make a change before any code has been written

10. Emma J. Rose - UWTC How are prototypes used Throughout the design process Help design and evaluate a product along the way Moves from simple to more complex: this is called fidelity

11. Emma J. Rose - UWTC Fidelity How detailed a mock up is How close to being “done” Low - Paper Medium - Visio, PowerPoint, Word High - Programming can include full functionality

12. Emma J. Rose - UWTC Prototypes Evaluate Design

13. Emma J. Rose - UWTC Lower cost Higher cost Summary of findings evaluate Summary of findings evaluate Summary of findings evaluate Low fidelity High fidelity

14. Emma J. Rose - UWTC What do prototypes look like? Picture from Norman Nielsen Group (NNG.com)

15. Emma J. Rose - UWTC Picture from Norman Nielsen Group (NNG.com)

16. Emma J. Rose - UWTC Many products started on paper Can just use stickies Draw idea on a napkin!

17. Emma J. Rose - UWTC Choosing diamonds on Amazon.com Mock upActual interface

18. Emma J. Rose - UWTC How do we evaluate prototypes? Similarly to how we evaluate any product An essential element to user-centered design….. We do usability studies!

19. Emma J. Rose - UWTC Evaluating prototypes All you need is paper A person to play “computer” Some imagination Picture from Norman Nielsen Group (NNG.com)

20. Emma J. Rose - UWTC Picture from Norman Nielsen Group (NNG.com)

21. Emma J. Rose - UWTC Objections you may hear I can’t use a prototype, my product is too complex! How will people know what the system is doing? It needs to be coded so it’s interactive. How can we evaluate a paper version? Users will think it’s silly.

22. Emma J. Rose - UWTC How we respond No product is too complex! Think of it from a user’s perspective. You can think just screen to screen. An evaluation can be interactive, someone plays the computer and simulates interactivity Users are willing to go along! They pretend it is real product.

23. Emma J. Rose - UWTC How this applies to you The Make it Better assignment When you suggest a redesign, it is helpful to provide visual elements Consider creating a prototype You can evaluate it with real users You will have data about what works and what doesn’t Gives you an aid to talk about what you changed and why All design is iterative…this is why you can “Make it Better”

24. Emma J. Rose - UWTC In class activity How many people drive in Seattle? How about park? What’s hard about parking? How about after you park?

25. Emma J. Rose - UWTC Progress? We went from

26. Emma J. Rose - UWTC Design scenario The city of Tacoma has hired you to create new digital parking meters After doing some research, they like some aspects of the Seattle digital meters: Solar powered Send data to a central location Let users pay with credit card However…

27. Emma J. Rose - UWTC They don’t like the design! Your task: Design an interface for a parking meter It should: Allow use of Credit cards, cash: bills and coins Be easy to use Not required lots of instructions on the design itself Use paper and pencil or pen

28. Emma J. Rose - UWTC Debrief What was easy or hard about the exercise? What would you do next before pitching the design to the City of Tacoma? What are some extra bonuses of doing a prototype?

29. Emma J. Rose - UWTC If you want to learn more About Paper Prototyping Paper Prototyping by Carolyn Snyder Jakob Nielsen’s article on Useit.com

30. Emma J. Rose - UWTC If you want to learn more about User centered design and usability Coordinated study: Offered Spring 2006 Meets evenings and weekends 3 linked courses: Theory of Human Computer Interaction User Experience Design Usability Research Methods You get to design a product and evaluate it.

31. Emma J. Rose - UWTC Thanks for your time! Questions? Email Me: ejrose@u.washington.eduejrose@u.washington.edu TC advisor: knappy@u.washington.eduknappy@u.washington.edu Pick up a brochure See the website http://www.uwtc.washington.edu/programs/certs/ coordstudy.php http://www.uwtc.washington.edu/programs/certs/ coordstudy.php