Prototyping is all about facilitating a conversation between you and your user. The goal of this conversation is to test the assumptions you had while building your product. This presentation examines different prototyping scoping, designing and testing methodologies from the perspective of testing assumptions in the product design process.

1. prototyping
A Conversation About
Your Assumptions
presented at olin college

2. ross beyeler
Founder of Growth Spark
Babson College Alum
BusinessWeek Top 25

3. agenda
Introduction
Scoping Activities
Testing for Content
Testing for Context
Testing for Capabilities
Prototype Testing
& Feedback
Q&A

4. Introduction

5. introduction
We use prototyping to facilitate
a conversation between us
and our users.

6. introduction
These conversations focus on
testing a set of assumptions as we
continue to define the product.

7. introduction
We use the quickest, and most
effective methods of prototyping
to start these conversations.

8. introduction
Determining what method
to use depends on the type of
assumptions you are testing.

9. introduction
There are three types of assumptions
you should be testing while prototyping.
Content.
Context
Capabilities
1
2
3

10. Scoping Activities

11. scoping activities
Before we can begin prototyping,
we need to define a baseline driven
by assumptions. The following
activities inform our assumptions.

12. audience personas
Who is using your product?
photo via mailchimp.com

13. problem definition
What problem are you trying to solve?
chalkboard

14. how will you help
How will your product solve their problem?
photo via caryarts.net

15. define success
What does success look like for your users?

16. Testing for Content

17. testing for content
Testing for content is about
defining what elements need
to be included in your product.

18. testing for content
We need to visually communicate
the elements of our product that
meet our user’s goals.

19. low-fi wireframes
Whiteboard Sketches

20. mid-fi wireframes
Balsamiq

21. hi-fi wireframes
UX Pin

22. Testing for Context

23. paper prototypes
photo via medialab.hva.nl

24. pdf prototypes
Invision App
photo via wireframes.linowski.ca

25. html prototypes
Bootstrap
photo via getboostrap.com

26. mobile prototypes
Flinto
photo via flinto.com

27. cms-based prototypes
Wordpress
photo via wordpress.org

28. Testing for Capabilities

29. scripts
Codepen
photo via codepen.com

30. scaffolding
Ruby Tutorial
photo via railstutorial.org

31. data-scraping
Kimono App
photo via kimono.com

32. mock-data
Mocky.io
photo via mocky.io

33. crud data
Firebase
photo via firebase.com

34. api integrations
Zapier
photo via zapier.com

35. rapid infrastructure
Heroku
photo via heroku.com

36. Prototype Testing
& Feedback

37. prototype testing &
feedback
If we built our prototype to test
our assumptions, then we must
test our prototype.

38. prototype testing &
feedback
Getting your prototype in the
hands of your users is key to
collecting feedback that will
improve your product.

39. in-person demos
photo via tishadiplomaproject.blogspot.com

40. qualitative surveys
Qualaroo
photo via heroku.com

41. usability testing
UserTesting
photo via usertesting.com

42. visual tracking
Mouseflow
photo via mouseflow.com

43. the end!
Thank you!
ross@growthspark.com / @growthspark
any questions?