[Sigia-l] Axure

Wed Oct 31 18:41:09 EDT 2007

I've used Axure for about 12 months now. Primarily, I've used it to create conceptual prototypes as a communications tool.

I generally use storyboarding to produce low-fidelity prototypes particularly within workshops and then re-create them in Axure to demonstrate:

* the user experience,
* the user interactions and
* the information classification used throughout the system.

For these things it does a good job. I've also used it to do design in-session with users and for this task it also works well (but u need to be fast!)

I then use it as a tool to communicate to developers the _intent_ of the design. The last thing I want to do is to get into an argument with developers about how to create the thing.

There are things that Axure could do better, but then again, it's just a tool -- it's only as good as the IA behind it.

M

________________________________________
From: sigia-l-bounces at asis.org [sigia-l-bounces at asis.org] On Behalf Of David Malouf [dave.ixd at gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, 1 November 2007 9:01 AM
To: SIGIA-L
Subject: Re: [Sigia-l] Axure

I thought I was being a tad sarcastic w/ the "ultimate" request ...

To your point about tools being limiting to design, I agree.
The only way out of this is to not DESIGN (verb) in the tools, but use
the tools as a means of testing and communicating your designs.

Why are annotations still important?

Because, not everyone looks at the same level of detail from the same
point of view and if the prototype is not production code (and I hope
it isn't), then it will be interpreted by others through the
production process.

Further, annotations or documentation are used by others who are
looking for guidance in their own parts of hte puzzle. Communicators
(help documentation writers) and Quality Assurance folks require
documentation (text descriptions) from which to create the artifacts
that they need. Further, some tech writing is often required from the
point of view for compliance testing. I.e. in a pharma environment
where everything needs to be compliant, reviewed and approved by 3rd
party agencies, or companies that require transparency for SEC
compliance purposes, software documentation is required.

Even w/o those reasons, my experience is that even when I have done
"production" code it is actually a valuable design tool to annotate
your prototypes so that codes within the prototype such as stylings
can be more easily extracted, further annotating markings for
customizations that didn't make it into the level of fidelity of the
prototype could be further explained. I.e. "This text needs to be
localizable" or "brandable".

I think it would be a tad harsh to an entire product lifecycle team to
due away with annotations or other documentation at his point in
digital product design.

I didn't even get into issues that products like DOORs and RUP deal
with around traceablility of features down to requirements.

-- dave

On 10/31/07, Ziya Oz <listera at earthlink.net> wrote:
> > I want the ultimate prototyping tool.
>
> There are no ultimate tools.
> If tools remain at the 'ultimate' level that eventually leads to stasis.
>
> > I want to using spoken language convert my wireframes into interactive
> > high fidelity designed prototypes. ;)
>
> Given a reasonably defined set of wireframe objects, actions and operators,
> this would be fairly trivial to do. Whether it's needed, useful or
> justifiable is another matter.
>
> > Seriously though,  I want a place where I can build interactive
> > prototypes in high fidelity but be able to "stop action" the
> > prototypes and bring in annotations and add data sources for test
> > binding.
>
> One would think the 'ultimate' utility of a prototype is inversely
> proportional to the degree to which it relies on the necessity of
> annotations.
>
> One could argue that the fundamental purpose of prototyping is the
> elimination of documentation and annotation: the 'ultimate' prototype speaks
> for itself.
>
> Axure brings up the question of whether a prototyping tool should be
> (efficient but) constraining or liberating? If the tool is constraining,
> chances are the designer will be subtly and covertly nudged towards
> solutions that are an easy fit for the tool. If you are not an expert with
> broader experience, you won't even notice this.
>
> I haven't formed an opinion on Axure yet.
>
> But all Axure lovers should also be aware of this:
>
> <http://www.simunication.com>
>
> Watch the videos.
>
> --
> Ziya
>
> It depends.
> If it didn't, you'd be out of a job.
>
>
> ------------
> IA Summit 2008: "Experiencing Information"
> April 10-14, 2008, Miami, Florida
>
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--
David Malouf
http://synapticburn.com/
http://ixda.org/
http://motorola.com/
------------
IA Summit 2008: "Experiencing Information"
April 10-14, 2008, Miami, Florida

-----
When replying, please *trim your post* as much as possible.
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