[Sigia-l] Thoughts on Paper Prototyping at NNG Usability Week

[Lee Hsieh]

Yes, paper prototypes are really the most efficient and economical method to putting a strw man in front of users.  Not only is low cost in terms of time/resources, it sets a low hurdle for immediate, iterative improvemnt.  Also, participants realize it's more conceptual so won't glom onto visual design issues which can become a distraction the more polished the prototype becomes. Depeding on your budget/sched, you can use your lo-fi paper version to create a more hi-fi interactive version.

In terms of logistics, i would recommend just 1 person acting as the moderator/machine vs 2-3 and recording the session.  The problem with having multiple personnel and one participant is that it creates a dynamic where the indivdual feels under pressure to rush their thinking, and often, say somehting they dont actually mean.

Lee


sigia-l-request at asis.org wrote:
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2008 07:05:15 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Jodi Bollaert <jodi at bluesunworks.com>
> Subject: [Sigia-l] Thoughts on Paper Prototyping at NNG Usability Week
> To: sigia-l at asis.org
> Message-ID: <746157.51196.qm at web82308.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
> 
> Greetings Siggies,
> 
> I'm in San Francisco this week (woo hoo!) for Nielsen
> Norman Group's Usability Week.  Yesterday we spent
> part of the afternoon in teams, creating paper
> prototypes with paper no less, markers, sticky notes,
> scissors, etc.  When we finished, we tested the
> designs with others.  One person played the
> facilitator, instructing the user about the test;
> another was the computer, changing pages/stickies as
> the user interacted with the paper; and another person
> took notes.  While this experience was entertaining,
> and I enjoyed the team-based element, it also seemed
> rather low-tech given the tools we have available
> today.  It could have just been my teammates and I
> that felt this way though.  I was wondering if any of
> you IAs out there are actually doing paper prototypes
> in a similar fashion.  If yes, it would be great to
> hear about your experiences, and any tips/tricks you
> might have to make this a valuable activity.  If some
> of you also feel like this is too low-tech, it would
> be interesting to hear that, too, and what methods you
> are using instead.  The bulk of my experience has been
> creating paper prototypes in Visio, and on occasion,
> I've made them interactive.  (Where I work, however,
> we usually test clickable comps.)  I have considered
> exploring the creation of site maps and interactive
> prototypes myself (skipping the paper part) using
> Dreamweaver, but haven't done so yet.  I imagine this
> might not be so easy to review with others...?? 
> Thoughts?
> 
> (Please excuse the CHI cross-post.)
> 
> Thanks!
> Jodi