USER RESEARCH WITH
PROTOTYPES: ASKING
THE RIGHT QUESTIONS
Showing users a prototype is partially usability testing & partially user
research. You get feedback on actual designs & you learn about
users.
3D low-fidelity
prototype for
HealthyMade: fresh
ingredients and
recipes packaged
into a healthy
preplanned meal.
This product
answers the
question, “How
might we provide
healthier food
options to people in
USER RESEARCH WITH
PROTOTYPES: ASKING
THE RIGHT QUESTIONS
Showing users a prototype is partially usability testing & partially user
research. You get feedback on actual designs & you learn about
users.
PROTOTYPE MINDSET
YOU CAN PROTOTYPE ANYTHING
PROTOTYPES ARE DISPOSABLE
BUILD JUST ENOUGH TO LEARN, BUT NOT MORE
THE PROTOTYPE MUST APPEAR REAL
Stay optimistic and adopt the prototype mindset.
Don’t prototype anything you aren’t willing to throw away.
The prototype is meant to answer questions, so keep it focused.
Show customers something realistic, their reactions will be genuine.
INNOVATION PROCESS
FAKE-IT PROTOTYPE
TIME
FAKE IT
LEAR
N
MONEY
After customer problem/pain discovery
Instead of taking weeks, months, or even
years to build the solution, you can fake it.
If customers are ready to buy your product or
solution
Ask upfront payment, partial or full
FAKE THE REAL THING
VIDEO
MARVELAPP.COM
& SIMILAR
LANDING PAGE
IMAGES
Experiments
ALEXA: WIZARD OF OZ TESTING
Feature testing
DISCOVERY OF CUSTOMER PREFERENCES
TESTING DEVICE READINESS
TIME CONSUMING
STRONG INPUT FOR DEVELOPERS
HOW TO PROTOTYPE?
TEST & VALIDATE
START WITH INEXPENSIVE
METHODS
CONTINUE WITH MORE EXPENSIVE
OTHERWISE YOU WASTE MONEY
Including customer interviews and user groups
Paper, digital visualization, MS PowerPoint, Keynote
Only if validated by customers
And you never learn what customers want
IF A PICTURE IS WORTH 1 000
WORDS, THEN A PROTOTYPE
IS WORTH 1 000 MEETINGS.
A saying at IDEO
1. A4 SHEET OF PAPER WITH 8 BOXES
2. TIMER FOR 8 MINUTES
3. 8 QUICK IDEAS / CUSTOMER WALK THROUGH
SCREENS
4. SHARE THE STORIES
5. AGREE ON WHAT STORY TO STICK TO
THE CRAZY 8
1. A4 SHEET OF PAPER WITH 8 BOXES
2. TIMER FOR 8 MINUTES
3. 8 QUICK IDEAS EACH IN 8 MINUTES
4. SHARE THE STORIES
5. AGREE ON WHAT STORY TO STICK TO
THE CRAZY 8
USER RESEARCH WITH
PROTOTYPES: ASKING
THE RIGHT QUESTIONS
Showing users a prototype is partially usability testing & partially user
research. You get feedback on actual designs & you learn about
users.
Nintendo use low-fidelity prototyping: the only way to actually
know what a Miiverse would feel like was to hold it. That’s when
he built this prototype out of cardboard.
LOW FIDELITY: PAPER PROTOTYPE
A high-fidelity (high-fi or hi-fi) prototype is a computer-based
interactive representation of the product in its closest
resemblance to the final design in terms of details and
functionality..
HiFi PROTOTYPE
SELL
VISUAL
DESIGN FEEDBANK
EASY
You can start selling now
Hi-fi prototypes are more visually appealing
They allow clients to test your design and to give you
feedback
High fidelity is easier than ever in today’s world of top
software.
What questions:
Customer likes
Customer profitable acquisition
Unit economics
Business model scalability
All together – Product-market FIT
What questions:
Customer likes
Customer profitable acquisition
Unit economics
Business model scalability
All together – Product-market FIT
What questions:
Customer likes
Customer profitable acquisition
Unit economics
Business model scalability
All together – Product-market FIT
What questions:
Customer likes
Customer profitable acquisition
Unit economics
Business model scalability
All together – Product-market FIT
EIA Smart watch example
Test involved a human “wizard” sitting in aseparate room and responding in real-time to anyvoice query a human testing subject would maketo the Echo.
Objective was to collect informationon the nature of responses- What types ofresponses worked and what didn't work?
The objective was to figure out what does it take to really make people excited?
1. Primary task: The first thing to do before you even think about putting pen to paper is to ask yourself this question: what is your app’s primary task? Specifically write down:
(Your differentiator) (Your solution) for (Your audience).
Let’s look at an example for the app Evernote:
“Evernote for iPhone lets you create notes, snap photos, and record voice memos that you can then access any time from your iPhone, computer, or the web.”
The copy on their website clearly explains the primary task for the app:
(Omni-accessible) (multiple file type creation and storage) for (casual iPhone users).
2. 2. Create Use Case Scenarios
Once you’ve defined your primary task, you’ve probably also put some thought into who wants an app that performs this task! Use cases are the BEST way to get the paper prototyping process started. In this article, I talk about how I defined use case scenarios for our Doodle Bright app. I gave “my people” a name, an address, an occupation and a specific scenario when they might use an app like Doodle Bright.
Here’s an example:
Jane is waiting in the doctors office for a 3 o’clock appointment with her 4-year old son, Chad. She brought her iPad just in case the wait is longer than expected and of course they’re stuck in the waiting room for a half hour before they are called. Jane passes the time by drawing trucks and trains with Chad while they wait for her appointment.
In this scenario, Jane and Chad are playing with the app together, which means mom can prompt him on how to interact with different elements on the screen if he is unsure of the next step.
Now let’s look at this example:
Jane is in the carpool line to pick up her eldest from school. Chad is in the backseat, bored after a day of running errands. Jane hands her iPad to him with the Doodle Bright app launched. Chad knows which buttons to push because they are intuitive to a 4-year old.
In this scenario, the controls have to be easily understandable for an unsupervised child. Does this alter the types of paper prototypes you create for this app? Heck yea it does! Now, instead of designing for mom and son, to have a wider appeal we see that the prototypes should primary be geared towards only the child.
It may be obvious that an app like this would require “thinking like a child” but without this use case scenario to back up that claim, you may fall into the default “adult mode” of thinking about the design.
3.
What questions:
Customer likes
Customer profitable acquisition
Unit economics
Business model scalability
All together – Product-market FIT