>> The fact that Visio seems to be a "legitimate" tool in the field >> just makes me want to cry. I mean, would you create a scale model if >> you were building the original iPod out of PlayDough to show to the >> guy who signs the checks what the design will be? Or Legos for that >> matter?
One of the "prototyping" methods used for the original Palm Pilot was balsa wood, the equivalent of PlayDough or lego bricks. The purpose was to test one critical aspect of the product: The aspect they were prototyping was "how does it feel in the hand" and "how does it fit into a person's various pockets and bags". They built lots of different blocks and tried them all before settling on the deck-of- cards size we all know today as the de-facto PDA standard form factor. The universal consensus today is that Palm completely nailed that form factor question, and I don't doubt that the balsa prototyping made that success happen. The balsa wood blocks didn't *do* anything, any more than a paper prototype *does* anything. Andrei, would you say that the balsa wood block was not a prototype just because it didn't have a computer in it? How is a block of wood (which tests how something works with the hands) any less a prototype than a piece of paper (which tests how well the design works with the eyes)? It seems to me that whenever you make an artifact and put it in front of someone and say "pretend this is the real thing", it is a prototype. Even a piece of paper. Even if the only test user is you, the designer him or her self: Just yesterday I was sliding my finger around the surface of a piece of paper with some life-size iPhone UI marker sketches on it, to simulate for myself the interaction feel of the final product. My piece of paper is, thus, a prototype. Andrei, you seem to be arguing about the degree of fidelity an artifact must possess for it to qualify as a prototype. If it's any consolation, there are some people who are *far* more strict about this than you are. For example, I've known people who think that you can't prototype a web site without actually building a robust functional back end (logic, database, content) that really works with real data. Higher fidelity is almost always better, of course, but prototypes come in all degrees of fidelity, from rough paper sketches to products that are nearly indistinguishable from the final release. And testing early, before coding stuff, can be immmensely valuable. I would hope that you are simply quibbling over words and not contending that it's useless to even show low-fidelity artifacts to potential users. -Cf Christopher Fahey ____________________________ Behavior biz: http://www.behaviordesign.com me: http://www.graphpaper.com ________________________________________________________________ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
