High Fidelity & Low Fidelity Prototyping Tools

Prototype:
an early sample or model for a product before it is finalise and mass produce.It is also use for testing  by replicate a lot or learned from errors when testing.


what can considered a prototype:-
- paper based outline of a screen/sets of screen.
- Electronic 'picture'
- 3 dimensional paper/cardboard mockup 
- stack of hyperlinked screen shots 

Benefits of having prototype models :
- hand on testing in realistic setting as many as possible as long as prototype models are a lot.
- explore imagine uses *some of the setting sometimes is impossible to create.*
- interact with envisioned product

Low Fidelity Prototyping Tools :

- different design then the final product.

- it is simple,cheap and quick to produce

- using material like paper and cardboard rather than create in computer software and show to screen

- important during conceptual design are never intended to kept and integrated into final product.They are for exploration  

  only.

High Fidelity Prototyping Tools :

- using good material that would expected like final product including appearance and also material.

- prototype tools -Flash ,Visual Basic, smalltalk

- issue for creating high fidelity prototyping = 1) take a lot of time to built

                                                                       2)reviewers and tester tend to comment on superficial aspects rather than  

                                                                          content

                                                                       3)developer reluctant to change something that they crafted so long

                                                                       4)a software prototype can set expectation high.

                                                                       5) 1 error can destroy the whole model.

Week 6: User Centred Design (Chean)

User Centered Design:
User-centered design (UCD) is an approach,which prevent the process in information about the people who will use the product.It is process for user  to focus on planning, design and development of a product when they are interacting with product.

The interface of the produce are created with relevant of information from daily life of user in actions or what  to make association when looking at them and can continue next task that they one by clicking or etc. 

Method of involving user :-

-Contextual Interviews + side views

-Interview

-prototyping 

-Focus group

-Direct observations

-Indirect observations

-Studying Documentations

Difficulties of UCD:-

-Good design not always satisfied user.

 *due to users itself not really have the knowledge of design and they are more focus on what they see is nice (visually).

-Design is a collaborations between designers + customers.

*to produce a better product not only understand by 1 user or the designer itself but it also need to apply to all.

-Design envolves 

-If the input from user is wrong ,then the system will suffer.

 *user trying a lot and clicking non-stop on webside button or etc to archive what they want.Making the system hanging and lagging to continue any tasks.

The only solution to interactive to user:

- Talk to them , face to face to know the exact thing they want and expected.

Week 9: High Fidelity & Low Fidelity Prototyping Tools

What is Prototyping?
Prototyping is the process of building a model of a system. In terms of an information system, prototypes are employed to help system designers build an information system that intuitive and easy to manipulate for end users.

Type of Prototyping:
- Horizontal prototyping - breadth
- Vertical prototyping - depth

Low-Fidelity Prototyping
You can use hand-drawn sketches to create a paper prototype. If you go this route, you may also want to help your users get into the spirit of things during the test by creating a complete low-fidelity, paper environment. This could include a cardboard box made to look like a computer and an object to hold to point and click with. These techniques help users to suspend their disbelief and get their imaginations involved so that they can better visualize the interface. The advantage of using rough sketches is that users will have an easier time suggesting changes. They may even grab a pen and start making their own changes
Tools:
- Storyboarding - Sketching - Index Cards - Wizard of Oz

High fidelity Prototyping
This approach takes you as close as possible to a true representation of the user interface —screen-quality graphics. All of the blanks on the page are filled in, and it looks good. However, you might not have all of the technical or backend problems worked out yet, or you might have only a small part of the entire site rendered. That’s why it’s still considered a prototype. For example, it might consist of a small series of Photoshop images or HTML pages with just enough functional links to convey the feel of the site’s flow. You may need to enlist the help of a graphic designer or web developer to build these in a reasonable amount of time. Advocates for high-fidelity prototypes argue that they are easier for users to understand just by looking at them. There is no disbelief to overcome, and it is easier to determine when they really do not understand the design. If you choose a high-fidelity prototype, make sure the you have enough of the design fleshed out so that users can complete several tasks. Decide on these tasks early, so you know which areas of the design need to be represented for your tests. Otherwise, you will be in for a great deal of preparation work.

Tools:
- Adobe Flash - Visual Basic - Smalltalk - Microsoft Expression Blend

Warawit Whangpakdi
1091102446

Week 9: High Fidelity & Low Fidelity Prototyping Tools

What is a PROTOTYPE?
When you hear the term prototype, you may imagine something like a scale model
of a building or a bridge, or maybe a piece of software that crashes every few minutes.
But a prototype can also be a paper-based outline of a screen or set of
screens, an electronic "picture," a video simulation of a task, a three-dimensional
paper and cardboard mock-up of a whole workstation, or a simple stack of hyper linked
screen shots, among other things.

Low-Fidelity Prototyping
A low-fidelity prototype is one that does not look very much like the final product. For example, it uses materials that are very different from the intended final version, such as paper and cardboard rather than electronic screens and metal.

Low-fidelity prototypes are
- simple - cheap - quick to produce.
-quick to modify so they support the exploration of alternative designs and ideas.
-never intended to be kept and integrated into the final product. They are for exploration only.

Tools:
*Storyboarding
*Sketching
*Index Cards
*Wizard of Oz

High-Fidelity Prototyping
-uses materials that you would expect to be in the final product
-produces a prototype that looks much more like the final thing.
-full-fledged development environments
-building prototypes using them can also be very straightforward.

Tools:
*Adobe Flash
*Visual Basic
*Smalltalk
*Microsoft Blend

Compromises:
The intention is to produce something quickly to test an aspect of the product.

2 common type of prototyping:
Horizontal prototyping - breadth
Vertical prototyping - depth

Conceptual Design
Concerned with transforming needs & requirements into a conceptual model

Conceptual Model:
An outline of what people can do with a product and what concepts are needed to understand how to interact with it.

Week 8: Identifying Needs and Establishing Requirements.

In this week.
We talk about Identifying Needs and Establishing Requirements.
So.. What is Identifying Needs and Establishing Requirements?
(based on Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction)

Identifying Needs:
Understand as much as possible about the users, as well as their work and the context of their work and system under development should support users in achieving their goals.

Establishing requirements:
Building upon the needs identified, produce a set of requirements.

What are requirements?
A requirement is a statement that specifies what an intended product should do, or how it should perform. Two types of requirements :
1. Functional requirements specify what the system should do.
2. Non-Functional requirements specify what constraints there are on the system or its development.

Categories of requirement
• Functional requirements ---> What the product should do.
• Data requirements ---> The type, volatility, size/amount, persistence, accuracy and value of the amounts of the required data.
• Environmental requirements ---> Or “context of use” – circumstances in which the interactive product must operate.
• User requirements ---> Characteristics of the intended user group.
• Usability requirements ---> The usability goals and associated measures.

Data Gathering Techniques:
• Questionnaires
elicit specific information, can be YES / NO, multiple choice, comment
• Interviews
forum for talking to people, can be structured, unstructured, or semi-structured
• Focus Groups
group interviews, good at gaining a consensus view and / or highlighting areas of conflict
• Naturalistic Observation
spend time with stakeholders in their day-to-day tasks, observing work as it happens gain insight into stakeholders' tasks
• Studying Documentation
procedures and rules are often written down in manuals good source of data about the steps involved in an activity, and any regulations governing a task

Task Descriptions:
• Scenarios - an informal narrative story, simple, 'natural', personal, not generalizable
• Use Cases - assume interaction with a system, assume detailed understanding of the interaction
• Essential Use Cases - abstract away from the details, does not have the same assumptions as use cases

Task Analysis:
Task analysis is an umbrella term that covers techniques for investigating cognitive processes and physical actions, at a high level of abstraction and in minute detail.

Summary:
• Getting requirements right is crucial
• There are different kinds of requirements, each is significant for interaction design
• The most commonly-used techniques for data gathering are: questionnaires, interviews, focus groups and workshops, naturalistic observation, studying documentation
• Scenarios, use cases and essential use cases can be used to articulate existing and envisioned work practices.
• Task analysis techniques help to investigate existing systems and practices

Warawit Whangpakdi
1091102446