Prototyping

Prototyping Survey and Chance for a Free Copy of the Book

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 13:11:02 -0500

I'm looking for some input on different techniques and tools people are using, as well as issues they've run into with prototyping.

Here's your opportunity to provide some input and have a chance at a free copy of the prototyping book, expected later this year. I've got a short, 5 page, survey — answer all the questions and you'll be entered into a random drawing for a free copy of the book.

Let me at that survey!

Chapter 4—Prototyping Guiding Principles

Wed, 28 May 2008 18:45:11 -0500

Today marked another milestone in my book. I delivered a new chapter titled "The Eight Guiding Principles. This chapter wasn't originally planned to be 8 guiding principles, but after my recent presentation for Refresh DC it was obvious this was very valuable to my audience. While you'll have to wait for the book to read about the 8 guiding principles, you can see what they are right here:

Understand the Audience and Intent.
Plan a little. Prototype the rest.
Set expectations.
You can draw.
It's a prototype—not the Mona Lisa.
If you can't make it, fake it.
Prototype only what you need.
Reduce risk. Prototype early and often.

7 Principles of Prototyping at Refresh DC

Wed, 28 May 2008 18:44:00 -0500

A few weeks ago I gave a talk at the Refresh DC group. I was really excited about this talk for a couple of reasons. First, Jackson, one of the guys on my Wif panel runs the group and asked me to speak. Second, it was their highest RSVP for an event yet. And Third, this was a new talk for me that actually influenced some change in my book. The talk was titled "7 Principles of Prototyping."

Here are my slides.

Prototyping Talk in DC Thursday May 15th

Wed, 14 May 2008 17:42:50 -0500

I'll be doing a talk tomorrow evening in Arlington, VA for the Refresh DC group on prototyping. Find our more about it and RSVP via the Upcoming event. So far there are 100+ people attending.

Agile 2008 Prototyping Tutorial

Tue, 06 May 2008 17:04:52 -0500

Just found out I'll be teaching a half-day tutorial on paper prototyping at the Agile 2008 conference in Toronto. Dates are August 4th-8th, 2008.

Speaking at Webdesign International on Prototyping

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 16:26:21 -0500

I'll be speaking on a panel about agile and prototyping at the Webdesign International Festival on Friday, April 18th.

From the site:
"The new professional practices of design: professional communities and methodological tools

At the time of the social Web based on collective cooperation and intelligence, new strategies, methods and techniques are appearing that allow constant innovation. The round table will focus on the following question: through their approach based on cooperation and the central role given to the user, how is the development of the agile web and interaction design revolutionising design methods and actual website strategies ?"

Speaking at IA Summit on Prototyping

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 16:14:12 -0500

I'm on a panel discussing practical prototyping at the IA Summit Sunday, April 13th. I'm fortunate to share the panel with some talented individuals including Chris Conley, Anders Ramsey, and Jed Wood.

From the Summit site:
"Prototypes are a great way to involve customers early in the design and development process. With the decreasing barrier to entry and an increasing availability of tools today, like Flash, Fireworks, iRise, Expression, and an endless supply of JS/AJAX libraries prototyping should be in every interaction designers’ toolbox. So, why isn’t prototyping as common place in software development as it is in industrial design and architecture? The failure to include prototyping is rarely due to lack of skills with the tools, but instead naiveté about the kinds of prototypes to make and how to use them productively with colleagues and users.

This panel brings together a seasoned group of practitioners to discuss various methods for prototyping with a focus on why we don't prototype in software as much as we should and why we should be doing it more. We'll also discuss what's available today that makes it more accessible and easier today than it was a few years ago (e.g. JS/AJAX libraries, tools like Expression, Flash, Fireworks, iRise) and how to make better decisions about picking the right kind of prototype for the job."

Webdesign International Festival

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 12:56:11 -0500

I'm headed to Limoges, France April 17-19 to discuss prototyping and agile at the Webdesign International Festival (WiF). Looks like a really interesting and fun conference. FYI, the site has audio when you launch it. So, if you're at work, you might want to turn down your speakers.

Paper Prototyping Workshop

Sun, 27 Jan 2008 20:12:49 -0500

I'm teaching a workshop on paper prototyping at the IxDA conference in Savannah, GA Friday, Feb 8th. In doing some preparation, I came across this example on YouTube.

Adobe Thermo Looks Promosing

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 11:50:34 -0500

Adobe has a demo video of a new prototyping environment they've been working on called Thermo and it looks pretty promising.

Definition of a prototype

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 12:37:26 -0500

There's a pretty good discussion on the IxDA list regarding prototypes, what constitutes a prototype, what the goals are, etc. When I asked what tools people are using for prototyping, I received a long list of responses. One of the most interesting came from a respondent who didn't feel paper is a prototyping medium, but rather a design medium. Personally, I disagree with the notion of paper not being a prototyping tool—I've taught a number of workshops on it and use paper for prototyping in my work as a design researcher.

However, without actually defining what constitutes a prototype, it's rather difficult to say whether paper can be considered a prototyping tool or not. So, here's a few excerpts from my upcoming book that address the issue of defining a prototype:

[...] First, on an individual basis our definitions and descriptions of what constitutes a “prototype” vary greatly. Prototypes have been described as hi-fidelity, lo-fidelity, functional, nonfunctional, paper, Flash®, HTML, interactive, non-interactive, click-through, garden variety walk-through, cognitive walk-through—the list just keeps going.

Second, as a collective whole, prototypes share one thing—they are often incomplete. [...]

When I refer to a prototype, I'm referring to something that, from my book, "regardless of its fidelity, functionality, or how it’s made, a prototype is a conceptual model that captures and communicates the vision, intent, or idea of a design."

How would you define a prototype?

The 5 Types of Prototypes

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 20:21:58 -0500

Prototypes can serve a number of purposes. Here's the five primary roles a prototype can take on. Keep in mind that a prototype can take one more than one of these roles at a time.

As a common communication platform–using them to get everyone on the same page, avoiding misinterpretation of ideas, using them as a method to show and tell.
Work through a design–for designers and developers, prototypes act as a way to work through your design solution, giving you the ability to evaluate a few different options, tweak them, and come up with the best one.
Sell your idea internally–using them to sell your design solution to internal stake holders like senior management, other designers, or the engineering team.
Gauge technical feasibility–designers want to do X, but can engineering do it? Do we have the resources? Is it worth the effort?
As a marketing tool–while similar to number 3, this is for an external audience.

Protoscript for Prototyping

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 14:11:17 -0500

Bill Scott from Yahoo! recently released Protoscript. There are an endless supply of JavaScript libraries and toolkits out there, but Bill didn't create Protoscript with the intent of creating another toolkit. Instead, he created it with the intent of prototyping.

His motivation was pretty simple, "Prototyping is too hard for non-techies."

Great work, Bill.

Concept Cars as a Prototype

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 21:05:22 -0500

One of the advantages of prototyping is the ability to work through a design concept. A team at Ford discuss the design thinking behind their Verve concept car. Pay attention around 1:25 left. You'll see a guy prototyping rims for the car. It's an interesting look at combining sketching and prototyping.

What can apply from this to software prototyping?

Paper Prototyping Workshop

Sun, 19 Aug 2007 09:16:47 -0500

I'll be teaching a workshop on paper prototyping at the inaugural Interactions08 IxDA conference in Savannah, GA Feb 8-10th.

This highly detailed, practical, and hands on workshop will provide a framework for creating and testing paper prototypes. When you leave this workshop, you'll be equipped to create and use paper prototypes for your own projects.

We'll discuss what paper prototyping is, when to use it, when not to use other methods, and what to expect. We'll explore different techniques for paper prototyping, including methods for handling challenges with simulating interactivity, representing transitions with paper prototypes, and what to do when something unexpected happens.