Interaction Design (Week 7)

What should prototypes aim to address?

One specific problem within the whole

Advantages of Wizard of Oz Prototyping?

- Faster to iterate and cheaper than fully functional prototypes - easy to create multiple variations - user-centred development - feedback about a design straight away

What is the issue with software prototyping tools?

- Can't interact with tangible objects or include touch or gesture - an issue as technology is no longer an app or a web-page anymore

What is a prototype?

- a series of screen sketches - a storyboard - a power point doc - a cardboard mock-up

What do personas do?

- capture a set of user characteristics - not real people but synthesised from real users - should not be idealised - include name, characteristics, goals and personal background -

List the advantages of a high-fidelity prototype:

- complete functionality - fully interactive - user-driven - clearly defines navigational scheme - use for exploration and test - look and feel of final product - serves as a living specificaton - marketing and sales tool

Disadvantages of Wizard of Oz Prototyping?

- easy to get over-commit for tech in the design (i.e. technologies which are impossible to design) - cannot simulate all system features

Why do we need prototypes?

- evaluation and feedback are central to interaction design - stakeholders can see and interact with a prototype more easily than a document or drawing - encourages reflection - support designers in choosing between alternatives - easier to change prototype than a final design

Where are card-based prototypes often used?

- in website development - each card represents one screen

List the disadvantages of a low-fidelity prototype:

- limited error checking - poor detailed specification to code to - facilitator-driven - limited utility after requirements established - limited usefulness for usability tests - navigational and flow limitations

What are storyboards?

- low fidelity - used with scenarios to bring more detail - series of sketches showing how a user might progress through a task using the device - used early in design

List the advantages of a low-fidelity prototype:

- lower development cost - evaluates multiple design concepts - useful communication devices - address screen layout issues - useful for identifying market requirements - proof of conept

List the disadvantages of a high-fidelity prototype:

- more resource intensive to develop - time consuming to create - inefficient for proof-of-concept designs - not effective for requirements gathering

What is wizard-of-oz prototyping?

- user thinks they are interacting with a computer but developer is responding to output rather than the system - usually done early in design to understand users expections

What is high-fidelity prototyping?

- uses materials you would expect to be in the final product - prototype looks more like the final system than a low-fidelity version

Give an example of a prototyping software?

Balsamiq

What should prototypes be?

Evocative, imaginative, malleable but practical

What are personas?

Fictitious characters that embody generalised attributes of real people interviewed as part of previous user research

In wizard-of-oz prototyping, what does the 'wizard' do?

Hidden human who operates the interface

What are the advantages of low-fidelity prototyping?

Is quick, cheap and easily changed

What is Fogg's behaviour model?

It plots motivation against ability

In wizard-of-oz prototyping, what does the 'facilitator' do?

Provides the tasks, instructs the participants and takes notes

Prototypes can be transitioned from paper to computers using:

Tool kits like arduino and senseboard

What is the danger of high-fidelity prototyping?

Users think they have a complete system and see compromises

What is low-fidelity prototyping?

Uses a medium which is unlike the final medium e.g. paper cardboard