Participatory design with paper prototypes
Hello everyone,
has anybody used participatory design combined with paper prototyping to gather insight as to the best interaction design solution?
I'm specifically thinking of having users organize, in a guided session, paper widgets and content modules of different sizes to reflect the access they would like to see on the interface to different content items according to their needs and uses. This would be like an extension of conventional card sorting (which we have already done), but to gauge users' needs in terms of access and interaction with the contents.
For example, I would like to see if would they mix a number of content items from different sections on the same page on account of their frequence of use, order them in strict topic categories, prefer lists of quick access links, or a hybrid model etc.
Understanding that the users are not designers, I think this could be worthwhile, though I wonder if it's not too ambitious or complicated to be useful.
This situation has come up because we have 2 different groups of stakeholders leaning towards 2 different info arquitecture models; one more conventional with a menu for different sections, and the other, a more dynamic, less structured and flatter hierarchy with everything visible and only one click away from the first screen.
In the latter case, I suspect content could be hidden forever or it would become unscalable, so maybe a hybrid is required, but that's where I'd like the users' input!
Thoughts, advice, opinions, paper prototype stencils all welcome!
Thanks,
Elizabeth
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Hi Elizabeth,
do me a favor and google "The Bridge". Back in the mid 1990s, Tom Dayton and myself developed a workshop methodology that combined user requirements discovery, discovery of task data objects, and UI design using a process centered on participaotyr design, RAD, and paper prototyping. The methodology included most of what you describe - as it turned out, the methodology was very successful and has morphed a number of times into other methods (e.g., agile, Iconix, etc.).
If you have any questions about the process, please feel free to contact me at 5752.nj@comcast.net, or Tom Dayton (he is at Ames Research - don't have his number handy, but he does come up in google).
Good luck!
Al
----- Original Message -----
From: "Elizabeth P"
To: "5752 nj"
Sent: Saturday, July 10, 2010 10:04:00 AM
Subject: [IxDA] Participatory design with paper prototypes
Hello everyone,
has anybody used participatory design combined with paper prototyping to
gather insight as to the best interaction design solution?
I'm specifically thinking of having users organize, in a guided session,
paper widgets and content modules of different sizes to reflect the access
they would like to see on the interface to different content items according
to their needs and uses. This would be like an extension of conventional card
sorting (which we have already done), but to gauge users' needs in terms of
access and interaction with the contents.
For example, I would like to see if would they mix a number of content items
from different sections on the same page on account of their frequence of
use, order them in strict topic categories, prefer lists of quick access
links, or a hybrid model etc.
Understanding that the users are not designers, I think this could be
worthwhile, though I wonder if it's not too ambitious or complicated to be
useful.
This situation has come up because we have 2 different groups of stakeholders
leaning towards 2 different info arquitecture models; one more conventional
with a menu for different sections, and the other, a more dynamic, less
structured and flatter hierarchy with everything visible and only one click
away from the first screen.
In the latter case, I suspect content could be hidden forever or it would
become unscalable, so maybe a hybrid is required, but that's where I'd like
the users' input!
Thoughts, advice, opinions, paper prototype stencils all welcome!
Thanks,
Elizabeth
I have been successful in having teams of users, requirement analysts and developers create simple lo-fi paper sketches based on existing textual use case descriptions, with the main purpose of verifying the use cases, rather than creating UI designs. By visualizing the requirements (and possibilities!), the quality of the use cases was significantly improved, as was the understanding and involvement of the stakeholders.
If you want to present different suggested designs, make sure that they really are lo-fi, as this is the best way of communicating that the design is far from final and can be easily be changed. Sketches don't have to be complete. People have imagination and can fill in the gaps!
Also, make sure that you present your design sketches together with some suitable task descriptions, detailing what can be done with the suggested design.
Good luck!
NIls-Erik
Nils-Erik Gustafsson
gui@cmpmail.com
View original post: http://www.ixda.org/mailcomment/redirect/%3C30095.26242.0.1278767055.51e8047d69307f5aff674214e59c5bde%40ixda.org%3E
Hi Elizabeth:
This may provide some direction - http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2010/05/achieving-design-focus-an-approach-to-design-workshops.php
rgds,
Dan
Hi Elizabeth,
Hugh Beyer has done a lot of work in this space. Here are some links
The post "paper prototyping in the large" http://incontextdesign.com/articles/paper-prototyping-in-the-large/ talks about how he designed a large room-sized control system with users.
He gave a talk at Agile 2009 that covered some aspects of this. The .pdf of the session material can be downloaded here. http://www.agile2009.com/node/2751 (you have to join/make a free account to access the file)
I see Hugh is also planning a talk for Agile 2010 called "The user feedback two step" http://agile2010.agilealliance.org/ui.html which I believe will cover the subject. The materials are usually available after the conference.
While looking for these links, also found this, but have not read it, so can't speak for it's usefulness.
http://www.amazon.com/Participatory-Design-Principles-Douglas-Schuler/dp/0805809511/ref=pd_sxp_f_pt
cheers,
-lane
We use participatory design regularly in our design studio. We've used it with clients and I've taught several workshops using the method combined with paper prototyping.
At the Agile09 conference, a group of us (myself, @yoni, @russu and @motoguzzi) ran a series of sessions that leveraged participatory design and paper prototyping to design a mobile ecommerce app.
On day 1, we ran four (4) 90 minute sessions, two of which were participatory design based, including one that leveraged paper prototyping. On day 2, we took those designs, prototyped them using Fireworks/HTML/Rails. On the third day, we shipped the mobile ecommerce app that took orders.
All in all, we were able to design and ship a mobile ecommerce app in roughly 48 hours. The app exceeded the client's expectations and took orders that were 3X what we originally planned.
Many thanks guys for all your suggestions. The literature referenced has given me a lot of ideas and I plan to keep reading up on the techniques both old and new.
In the end, for this particular session in question, we used A4 sized paper widgets to roughly organize and "build" pages.
Obviously, the final design will evolve several times over and the users' comments have to be interpreted rather than followed to the letter, but what was interesting to see was that very few items were grouped to form a "page"; things were very focused.
The widgets need polishing, but it was helpful to have visual cues rather than simple card sorting titles.
Regards
This is basically the technique that Carolyn Snyder suggests and describes in her book "Paper Prototyping" (Morgan Kauffman).
Synder sees the participatory creating of the prototype and activities to test it out as integral parts of the process.
Like The Bridge, her method works well with a group of people who include both "users" and creators of the eventual product. The technique allows the group to define the current way of working, an ideal (blue sky) version and then a "real" version that takes into account whatever realities exist. It was created at Bell Labs/Bellcore as a way of working with highly technical interfaces, but I've also seen it used for enterprise workflows where many different users/departments/functions all participate.
The Bridge focuses on task/flow and defining objects in an abstract way, while Snyder's paper prototyping uses actual interface elements and considers interaction as well as navigation or task/information flow.
On Sat, Jul 10, 2010 at 9:57 AM, Elizabeth P wrote: > Hello everyone, > > has anybody used participatory design combined with paper prototyping to > gather insight as to the best interaction design solution? > > I'm specifically thinking of having users organize, in a guided session, > paper widgets and content modules of different sizes to reflect the access > they would like to see on the interface to different content items according > to their needs and uses. This would be like an extension of conventional > card sorting (which we have already done), but to gauge users' needs in > terms of access and interaction with the contents. > > For example, I would like to see if would they mix a number of content items > from different sections on the same page on account of their frequence of > use, order them in strict topic categories, prefer lists of quick access > links, or a hybrid model etc. > > Understanding that the users are not designers, I think this could be > worthwhile, though I wonder if it's not too ambitious or complicated to be > useful. > > This situation has come up because we have 2 different groups of > stakeholders leaning towards 2 different info arquitecture models; one more > conventional with a menu for different sections, and the other, a more > dynamic, less structured and flatter hierarchy with everything visible and > only one click away from the first screen. > > In the latter case, I suspect content could be hidden forever or it would > become unscalable, so maybe a hybrid is required, but that's where I'd like > the users' input! > > Thoughts, advice, opinions, paper prototype stencils all welcome! > > Thanks, > Elizabeth > >