Hi Janna, Just to say that I created and tested (very informally) my very first paper prototype on Friday - for rostering and callout software. I only tested a simple operation just to see how it would go. I had read about the "sketchy" look but completely forgot about it when I created my prototype and I have to say that not a single person made any comment whatsoever about look and feel. I simply went around the office asking anyone who was willing to test it - as I started quite late in the afternoon this amounted to only five people. I was stunned by all that I learnt just from five people and one operation and at how much fun I had (and the testers seemed to really enjoy it too - there's just something fun about pressing your finger down on paper and having another piece "magically" appear as opposed to boring old mouse-clicking).
The first thing I learnt was simply by myself where I went to stick something down after the tester had "clicked" a button and realised that it wasn't logical. Other things I learnt were from testers asking what if scenarios, saying that things confused them and just generally questioning. I'm not sure why the testers seemed uninterested in look and feel but I posit two possibilities: one is that they were completely absorbed by the testing task and the other is that the look and feel was, if not graphic design quality, perfectly acceptable and easy on the eye and therefore not something they particularly noticed. I'm not sure if the "sketchy" look is recommended for paper prototypes but rather for mockups. I think there's a very big difference from looking at mockups passively, say, in a presentation and interacting with a paper prototype. In the latter you're focused on an activity and probably much less inclined to have silly opinions on look and feel. My recommendation is that whatever font you choose should blend with the rest of the look and feel so that it's unobtrusive. I'm not sure if it was Jakob Nielsen but someone talks about how the "hallway usability test" (that is, grabbing someone walking past in the hallway) can be very useful and I certainly felt this was verified on Friday. Three of the people who tested the prototype knew absolutely nothing about what it was supposed to do and I got much more useful feedback from two of them than the two people who will be users - not that I think that will always be the case - it just so happened on this occasion. >From this experience I also think that it might not be a bad idea to test one operation at a time or at least start with one operation because I think you can learn so much just from the first operation you test. I'm not sure if this is helpful to you but I realised that it was useful to have a Tester's Page for sticking on all the bits they use, a Facilitator's Page for all the bits they use and a blank sheet for blocking things out. Initially, I went off a bit half-cocked without all my bits. I used the sticky part of Post It notes for sticking paper because sticky tape is too sticky (I used sticky tape to stick the Post It notes to the pieces of paper - hope this makes sense). Perhaps Blutac would work too. But perhaps you have your own wonderful method in any case. Whatever font you use I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun! Regards, Petra Liverani -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Janna Sent: Sunday, 7 September 2008 9:33 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [IxDA Discuss] Fonts and paper prototyping A colleague and I had an interesting discussion yesterday and I was wondering if anyone on this list has relevant experience to share or has seen publications on this topic. We are creating paper prototypes for a change in software. We want to keep them "sketchy" looking for obvious reasons. My colleague felt we should use a font such as chalkboard or comic sans to keep the loose and sketchy feeling and won't look like a finished interface. My response is to use something like Arial or Myriad since it no longer has any particular connotations and people won't have any reaction to it positively or negatively. Any experience with this or thoughts on the subject? Thanks! -- Janna C. Kimel, JK Consulting Career: Design Research/User Experience Volunteer: Co Vice-Chair OR-IDSA Blogging: http://seenheardnoticed.blogspot.com/ Motto: Be the change you want to see in the world. -Gandhi ________________________________________________________________ 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 -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Janna Sent: Sunday, 7 September 2008 9:33 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [IxDA Discuss] Fonts and paper prototyping A colleague and I had an interesting discussion yesterday and I was wondering if anyone on this list has relevant experience to share or has seen publications on this topic. We are creating paper prototypes for a change in software. We want to keep them "sketchy" looking for obvious reasons. My colleague felt we should use a font such as chalkboard or comic sans to keep the loose and sketchy feeling and won't look like a finished interface. My response is to use something like Arial or Myriad since it no longer has any particular connotations and people won't have any reaction to it positively or negatively. Any experience with this or thoughts on the subject? Thanks! -- Janna C. Kimel, JK Consulting Career: Design Research/User Experience Volunteer: Co Vice-Chair OR-IDSA Blogging: http://seenheardnoticed.blogspot.com/ Motto: Be the change you want to see in the world. -Gandhi ________________________________________________________________ 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 ________________________________________________________________ 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
