Software prototyping is an important UX design skill that many people “just do” but effective prototyping requires crucial knowledge and practices that aren’t obvious. As a result, many prototyping efforts aren’t productive and fail to achieve their goals.
In this talk, Everett will explain prototyping and its goals, compare prototyping to sketching, and explore the different types of prototyping. He will then give the eight rules for effective prototyping and show why those rules are so important.
Everett will review several commonly available prototyping tools (including SketchFlow), give nine criteria for evaluating prototyping tools, and evaluate the tools based on the criteria. He will conclude by showing some examples effective and ineffective prototyping in practice.
If you or your team is prototyping now or considering prototyping in the future, this talk is for you!
1. 10/25/2011
EFFECTIVE PROTOTYPING Who is this guy?
A developer’s guide to better
Principal of UX Design Edge, a UX design training and
design through prototyping consulting company targeted at non-designers
Was a senior program manager at Microsoft for 10 years
Was on the Windows 7 and Windows Vista teams for 5 years,
Everett McKay responsible for managing, writing, and driving the Windows
User Experience Interaction Guidelines
UX Design Edge A Windows and Mac UI programmer before Microsoft
Wrote two books
uxdesignedge.com Developing User Interfaces for Microsoft Windows (Microsoft
Press)
Debugging Windows Programs (Addison Wesley)
Writing another interaction design book now
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Warm-up discussion
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Let’s talk about prototyping Some observations
What is a prototype? Everyone has a good understanding of prototyping
Why do we prototype? basics
Must we prototype? Effective prototyping requires crucial knowledge and
What are the different kinds of prototypes? practices that aren’t obvious
What is the difference between a good prototype My top goal for you today is to understand how to
and a poor one? make your prototyping efforts as effective as you can
What makes a good prototyping tool?
Do you often prototype now?
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2. 10/25/2011
How important is prototyping? Today’s agenda
Not in top 10, but easily in top 15 Prototyping basics
Top of the list for design techniques, which if done Effective prototyping
incorrectly, could be catastrophic Prototyping tools
The KnowledgeSet story Examples
Founded by Gary Kildall Everett’s rules for effective prototyping
A prototype made the company
Wrap up
…and later destroyed it!
Any idea why?
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Prototyping basics
Let’s review the fundamentals
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What is a software prototype? Goals of prototyping
A software prototype is an interface mockup that To communicate and visualize design ideas
demonstrates how a program or feature is going to To evaluate, compare, get feedback, and improve
look and behave design ideas
To user test specific designs
…and to achieve the above goals more efficiently than
with production code
And no, we don’t have to prototype
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3. 10/25/2011
Prototypes vs. sketches vs. mockups Basic design process steps
Sketches: rough ideas, for ideation/brainstorming, Plan
Determine target users, their tasks and goals
concepts matter but everything else doesn’t Determine problems to solve
Set themes, priorities, resources (budgets, schedules)
Prototypes: for task flow and interaction design,
Design
pixels don’t matter Generate ideas, filter
Mockups: visual design, pixels do matter
Propose alternative designs
Make choices
Code: software engineering matters, investment Refine
results in commitment Evaluate
Iterate until done
Is this really a prototype or a sketch? A fine line… Communicate results (throughout)
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Levels of prototyping Wireframes vs. pixels
Low fidelity: Rough sketch or wireframe, no attempt to A wireframe is a prototype represented by rough controls,
look real rectangles, lines, text, and simple glyphs
Paper, Balsamiq, Axure, Mockingbird, iPlotz, Mockflow, Lines vs. pixels
Word Rough vs. precise layout and sizes
Medium fidelity: Attempt to look real, but obviously not Details like colors, backgrounds, fonts, graphics, and icons are
PowerPoint, Visio, Axure, OmniGraffle, SketchFlow often omitted
High fidelity: Looks real program, may be dynamic or Wireframes are the most common form of low-fidelity
have limited functionality prototyping
Real code, Html/Css, SketchFlow, Photoshop, Illustrator, Quick and easy to do
Fireworks Clear that visual design details aren’t up for discussion
But do you really need the wires?
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Timing is everything
Time required to create each mockup:
Mid fidelity (Balsamiq, 24 minutes)
Wireframe (Balsamiq, 20 minutes)
Wireless (Word, 12 minutes)
Pen on paper (Bic pen, 4 minutes)
As fast as Balsamiq is, Word took half the time
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4. 10/25/2011
Is saving 15 minutes really a big deal? What’s up with Lorem Ipsum?
Yes! Lorem Ipsum is standard placeholder text of the
It’s not 1 x 15 minutes, it’s n x 15 minutes where n is printing and typesetting industry
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet...
potentially a big number
Often used in prototypes
Given a fixed amount of time, 3x faster means 3x more
OK to use for placeholder document content
design ideas or iterations
Not OK to use for UI text and labels
Generic text (“Option 1”) isn’t any better
Interaction design requires real UI text
Only visual design can use fake UI text
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Effective prototyping
The difference between success and that other
outcome
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Rule 1: Have clear goals Things to prototype
Effective prototypes have clear goals Product concepts
Is your goal:
To communicate design ideas?
Home pages, landing pages
To improve design ideas, get feedback? Task flows
To test design ideas?
Page layouts
Can those goals be achieved efficiently without a
prototype? Complex or unusual interactions
Poor goals Design alternatives
Always prototyping regardless of need
Perfection
Completeness
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5. 10/25/2011
Some recent LinkedIn discussions Things to not prototype
Q: Should the floppy disk icon for "Save" command be Design principles
changed to something more modern? Guidelines, conventions
A: Just do a usability test (and note that doing a Minor details
usability test implies some sort of prototype)
Q: Which should be used: login, log in, logon, log on,
logout, log out, logoff, log off Your limited time is better spent elsewhere
A: Just do a usability test (again, implies a prototype)
Discussion: What do you think? Do you agree?
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Rule 2: Determine communication Rule 3: Choose the right level
Prototyping goals boil down to communicating the Communicating design ideas is the ultimate goal
right design info to the right people Not all communication goals need fidelity
When planning your prototype, be explicit about this In fact, most don’t!
Determine
What specific design ideas do you need to
communicate?
Whom do you need to communicate them to?
How can you best communicate to them?
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Lower is better The Windows Vista story
Use the lowest fidelity prototyping that does the job The Windows Vista design team used Photoshop-
reasonably well based task flows for design reviews
Enables quick design, faster iteration, creativity They were gorgeous! (Especially compared to XP)
Has the least investment and commitment Typical outcome
Focuses on the high-level issues instead of details Design reviews “went well” with few problems found
Perceived as unfinished and easily changeable, so The actual results were often disappointing (to me)
doesn’t discourage feedback
The task flows were super high maintenance
People react emotionally to beautiful things
Beauty hides flaws
People react emotionally to beautiful things
Beauty hides flaws
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6. 10/25/2011
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Rule 4: Choose the right tool Rule 5: Avoid tool bias
There is no single best prototyping tool, but here are Is your prototyping tool biased towards certain
some attributes designs?
Efficient (can prototype quickly) Ease of use equals use
Expressive (can prototype any ideas) Ifyour prototyping tool makes solution A easy but
solution B difficult, which do you think you will use?
Flexible (can choose your level)
Don’t let the tool determine your designs
Easy to maintain, manage (important for large projects)
Paper has no bias!
No design bias (more later)
Do you have a personal tool bias?
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Rule 6: Avoid commitment Rule 7: Throw it away!
A prototype is a prototype only if it is easily thrown away A prototype is a prototype only if:
This means avoiding commitment It is easily thrown away
The goals of prototyping lead to changing or even It is actually thrown away!
abandoning a design idea A common conversation with a developer…
A test: Suppose you determine that a design isn’t working: Code prototypes tend to not get thrown away
Is this good news or bad news?
Are you willing to start completely over or make radical
chances? (Or will you fight for just small changes?)
If bad, you have too much commitment
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7. 10/25/2011
Prototypes aren’t production code What about SketchFlow?
…and vice versa Isn’t code reuse the entire point?
Problem: Goals of prototyping fundamentally conflict Yes, but it shouldn’t be…any decisions based on a code
with goals of production code reuse goal are likely to be bad
If you are writing production code “We want to reuse the prototype code, therefore…”
You aren’t really prototyping, you are coding
Better approach
You can’t achieve any goals of prototyping
Focus on the goals prototyping
If you are writing prototype code
When done, let reuse happen—don’t try to force it
The code will be hastily written, poorly designed, poor
implemented, full of bugs More later…
Reuse would be a mistake
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Rule 8: Watch for team culture traps Evaluate your prototyping efforts
Managers who are “visual thinkers” What were your goals?
Problem: Manager has weak design skills, demands high Were they achieved?
fidelity prototypes
Result: Design team wastes time on wrong things,
Was the prototype worth the trouble?
prototypes take too long and don’t get good feedback Could the goals be achieved more efficiently?
Higher fidelity prototypes get higher review scores Did you use the right tool?
Problem: Team claims it wants low fi prototypes, but
people who do high fi prototypes get better review scores
Did you consider design alternatives?
Result: You get what you reward Did you throw the prototype away?
Managers who want code reuse
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Prototyping tool attributes
The ideal prototyping tool:
Prototyping tools Is easy to learn and use
Enables you to communicate your ideas quickly
An agenda-free survey Is expressive, enabling a wide range of designs
Focuses you on the design, not the tool itself
Isn’t biased towards particular designs
Enables good prototyping habits
Encourages feedback
Creates prototypes that are easy to manage and maintain
Is a good value
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8. 10/25/2011
Good ol’ paper Good ol’ paper pros and cons
Pros
Is easy to learn and use
Enables you to communicate your ideas quickly
Is expressive, enabling a wide range of designs
Focuses you on the design, not the tool itself
Isn’t biased towards particular designs
Enables good prototyping habits, including low commitment
Encourages feedback
Is a good value
Cons
Prototypes not easy to manage and maintain
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You can usability test using paper! Whiteboards
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Microsoft Word Microsoft Word pros and cons
Pros
Is easy to learn and use
Enables you to communicate your ideas quickly
Focuses you on the design, not the tool itself
Enables good prototyping habits, including low commitment
Encourages feedback
Is a good value
Cons
Not expressive, focused on text and basic controls
Biased towards particular designs
Prototypes not easy to manage and maintain
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9. 10/25/2011
Balsamiq Mockups Balsamiq Mockups pros and cons
Pros
Is easy to learn and use
Enables you to communicate your ideas quickly
Focuses you on the design, not the tool itself
Isn’t biased towards particular designs
Enables good prototyping habits, including low commitment
Encourages feedback
Is a good value
Marginal
Try web version for free at Is expressive, enabling a wide range of designs
http://www.balsamiq.com/demos/mockups/Mockups.html Cons
Prototypes aren’t easy to manage and maintain
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SketchFlow SketchFlow pros and cons
Pros
Is expressive, enabling a wide range of designs
Encourages feedback
Is a good value
Marginal
Focuses you on the design, not the tool itself
Isn’t biased towards particular designs
Enables good prototyping habits, including low commitment
Creates prototypes that are easy to manage and maintain
Cons
Isn’t easy to learn and use
Doesn’t enable you to communicate your ideas quickly
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Using Photoshop Photoshop pros and cons
Pros
Is expressive, enabling a wide range of designs
Focuses you on the design, not the tool itself
Isn’t biased towards particular designs
Cons
Difficult to learn and use
Doesn’t enable good prototyping habits, including low commitment
Discourages feedback
Doesn’t enable you to communicate your ideas quickly
Prototypes not easy to manage and maintain
Not a good value (Photoshop Elements is though)
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10. 10/25/2011
Other tools
More Office: Visio, PowerPoint, Excel, OneNote (on a
tablet) Some examples
Windows Paint (horrible!) Let’s look at some real prototyping examples
Axure (expensive!)
OmniGraffle (Mac)
Mockingbird (SaaS)
There is no “best” tool!
Use my pros and cons to help you decide
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Balsamiq Mockups in action Microsoft Word in action
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SketchFlow in action SketchFlow: apply the criteria
The ideal prototyping tool:
Is easy to learn and use
Enables you to communicate your ideas quickly
Is expressive, enabling a wide range of designs
Focuses you on the design, not the tool itself
Isn’t biased towards particular designs
Enables good prototyping habits
Encourages feedback
Creates prototypes that are easy to manage and maintain
Is a good value
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11. 10/25/2011
SketchFlow: my analysis Does this mean SketchFlow is bad?
This is what I saw: No, SketchFlow is awesome (but dangerous)
Focus was mostly on using tool, very little design
Mentioned xaml, color, tagging, components You have to use it the right way
Lots of setting properties
Design a Sign In screen (in 30 seconds or less) Always start on paper to think the design through
Design choices (what few there were) were biased what is easy to do When using focus on the design, not the tool
in SketchFlow
Why did he define all those pages? Think: Issue by issue, not dialog by dialog
Why did he use an animation?
Don’t worry about reuse
Design decisions feel “one off”, “spur of moment”, and overly focused
on details If you can reuse the xaml, great!
A Sign In screen isn’t even worth prototyping…completeness Don’t let reuse drive any decisions
Most Sign In screens have a poor UX, but layout and lack of animation
aren’t among them
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Designing animations and transitions My favorite prototype
How I would design do it:
Determine goals
Research existing examples (software and real world)
Define an animation vocabulary on paper
Evaluate on paper
Create interactive prototypes using SketchFlow
Evaluate and improve using scenarios, context
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Everett’s rules for effective prototyping
Rule 1: Have clear goals
Everett’s rules for effective prototyping
Rule 2: Determine the right communication
If you remember only one thing… Rule 3: Choose the right level
Rule 4: Choose the right tool
Rule 5: Avoid tool bias
Rule 6: Avoid commitment
Rule 7: Throw it away!
Rule 8: Watch for team culture traps
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12. 10/25/2011
Related things to consider
Lower is better
Always start with paper Wrap up
Consider using paper—even for user testing
More alternatives, iterations is better
Reconsider Photoshop
Tools
Focus on the design, not the mechanics
Consider using different tools for different goals
Use “my favorite prototype” as an inspiration
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Prototyping resources UX Design Edge offerings
Sketching User Experiences, Bill Buxton UX Design Edge is all about helping teams without
Paper Prototyping, Carolyn Snyder design resources do their best work
Dynamic Prototyping with SketchFlow, Chris Bernard Efficient,cost effective consulting
and Sara Summers Team, onsite, and online training
Prototyping: A Practitioner’s Guide, Todd Zaki Warfel If you need design help, please contact me at
Paper Prototyping: A How-To Training Video (DVD), everettm@uxdesignedge.com
Jakob Nielsen
Subscribe to my blog and join my mailing list
Get Effective Prototyping deck from
http://uxdesignedge.com/EffectivePrototyping
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UX Design Essentials Workshop New! Online UX Design Basics
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13. 10/25/2011
Coming soon! UX Design for Silverlight Top UX Design Edge blog posts
Course concept: Provide developers the UX design From http://www.uxdesignedge.com/blog :
Getting started in interaction design
knowledge they need to use Silverlight to its full
Why “everybody is a designer”: The UX Design Skills Ladder
potential Intuitive UI: What the heck is it?
With hands-on exercises using Silverlight and Blend! Don’t design like a programmer
Partnering with Run At Server, a Montreal-based Design scenarios—and how thrilled users ruin them
Icon design for non-designers
Silverlight training company
Are you sure? How to write effective confirmations
First course scheduled for October 2011 in Montreal Interaction design interview question #1
The politics of ribbons
Personas: Dead yet?
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Got feedback?
Would love to hear it!
Contact me at everettm@uxdesignedge.com
Questions
Be sure to get a biz card and flyer
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Thank you!
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