I've been creating complete implementable specs (along with implementable resources) for software of many types since the 1980s. Many projects exist at increasingly higher and higher fidelity thumbnails until complete pixel-perfect (or whatever format the deliverable will be in) specs are completed.
I've never really created interactive prototypes, preferring instead to visualize the interaction using comprehensive flows (of which there are often multiple versions to explore alternatives). I also find that these are adequately communicated to the engineers I primarily work with. Increasingly over the past 25 years I've worked with engineers to create real code, in parts, as we go. Testing among ourselves and those closeby, until the whole is completed and then we'll iterate and make adjustments to that. (this is a simplified description for what is actually complex and varies in a number of ways from project to project). In one particular complex software product, the Kensington VideoCAM software designed in the Spring of 1999, I worked with one other designer, nearly in isolation, iterating and designing quite an ambitiously interactive and nicely featured application. It supported the physical camera that was the primary product, but went pretty far beyond most bundled software of the time to include very easy-to-use features such as time-lapsed photography, a stop-motion mode, and video conferencing. In the end, the specification was a very extensive blueprint, including detailed logic rules, interactional flows, hundreds of pixel-perfect state screens, and a state and location placement table for nearly 800 resources. Nearly everything in the software had rollover states, and it was designed to be a "Play to Learn" interface. Upon completion, the spec was delivered by the client to their contract software vendor (who'd previously created software such as mouse setup utilities). In three months they had completed the software, and it was absolutely perfect in its execution of our design. And it worked exactly as intended, and was applauded in numerous industry reviews and magazine articles. It even made the Washington Post Magazine's top ten picks for Holiday Gifts in 1999, with a particular nod to the software. Some screenshots, including a photo of the spec book, can be seen at the following URLs: http://www.orbitnet.com/iasummit2005/iasummit2005-Pages/Image58.html http://www.orbitnet.com/iasummit2005/iasummit2005-Pages/Image59.html http://www.orbitnet.com/iasummit2005/iasummit2005-Pages/Image60.html http://www.orbitnet.com/iasummit2005/iasummit2005-Pages/Image61.html http://www.orbitnet.com/iasummit2005/iasummit2005-Pages/Image62.html This is just one of many projects I've done, many in conjunction with other designers, for a wide range of projects. Another project, where I directed the industrial design and engineering and designed all of the physical and visual interface was the Natus Algo3i Newborn Hearing Screener. Series of images starts here: http://www.orbitnet.com/iasummit2005/iasummit2005-Pages/Image72.html That project was unique in that it didn't even have an operating system. I worked with a programmer who programmed the interactional architecture I designed and the graphic resources I created directly onto the DSP. This was not trivial to say the least, but it yielded incredibly fast performance and lowered the Bill Of Materials substantially. It also allowed us to user simpler processing and display componentry, all of which was part of our goal of making this device as cheap as possible. We developed it from scratch in less than a year, and it was released in 22 countries and in 7 languages. The only prototypes I created were a series of foam models I made during the industrial design portion of the project. The interface was also designed to be very simple in my "Play to Learn" approach. I strongly dislike user manuals, and believe every interface should reveal its patterns through simple usage and exploration (without fear of getting lost or doing something wrong). This also went on to become a very successful product. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=37799 ________________________________________________________________ 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
