Benefits of paper prototyping
There are many advantages to paper prototyping. Most notable is that potential usability problems can be detected at a very early stage in the design process before any code has been written. In addition:
- Paper prototyping finds a wide variety of problems in an interface, including many of the serious ones
- Communication between designers and users is promoted
- Allows an interface to be refined based on user feedback before implementation begins
- Paper prototypes are quick to build / refine, thus enabling rapid design iterations
- Only minimal resources and materials are required
- Encourages creativity from the product team and users alike
Look out for...
Paper prototyping is great, quick and cheap.
But, on the other hand, the technique:
- Doesn't produce any code
- Doesn't find all classes of problems with an interface
- Can affect the way users interact with the interface
- Makes some development teams nervous because they fear users will think it unprofessional
- Has stronger benefits in some situations than in others
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Useful resources
| Snyder, C. (2003) Paper Prototyping: The Fast and Easy Way to Design and Refine User Interfaces. Morgan Kaufman. 978-1558608702.
Dumas, J.S., & Redish, J.A. (1999) Practical Guide to Usability Testing. Intellect Books. |
