Prototyping for Designers: Developing the Best Digital and Physical Products

✍ Scribed by Kathryn McElroy

• Publisher: O’Reilly Media
• Year: 2016
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 326
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Prototyping and user testing is the best way to create successful products, but many designers skip this important step and use gut instinct instead. By explaining the goals and methodologies behind prototyping—and demonstrating how to prototype for both physical and digital products—this practical guide helps beginning and intermediate designers become more comfortable with creating and testing prototypes early and often in the process.

Author Kathryn McElroy explains various prototyping methods, from fast and dirty to high fidelity and refined, and reveals ways to test your prototypes with users. You’ll gain valuable insights for improving your product, whether it’s a smartphone app or a new electronic gadget.

• Learn similarities and differences between prototyping for physical and digital products
• Know what fidelity level is needed for different prototypes
• Get best practices for prototyping in a variety of mediums, and choose which prototyping software or components to use
• Learn electronics prototyping basics and resources for getting started
• Write basic pseudocode and translate it into usable code for Arduino
• Conduct user tests to gain insights from prototypes

✦ Table of Contents

[ Foreword ]......Page 12
[ Preface ]......Page 16
Everything Is a Prototype......Page 24
Prototyping as a Mindset......Page 28
Prototype Examples......Page 29
Prototyping for Products......Page 35
Summary......Page 39
To Understand......Page 40
To Communicate......Page 49
To Test and Improve......Page 54
To Advocate......Page 57
Summary......Page 59
Chapter 3: Fidelity for Prototypes......Page 62
Low Fidelity......Page 63
Mid-Fidelity......Page 66
High Fidelity......Page 71
The Five Dimensions of Fidelity......Page 74
Summary......Page 83
Chapter 4: The Process of Prototyping......Page 84
Minimum Viable Prototype......Page 85
Exploration-Centric......Page 92
Audience-Centric......Page 100
Assumption-Centric......Page 105
Process in Action—An Etsy Case Study......Page 113
Summary......Page 121
Getting Started with Digital......Page 122
What’s Unique for Digital......Page 125
Preparation......Page 141
Low-Fidelity Digital Prototypes......Page 145
Mid-Fidelity Digital Prototypes......Page 162
High-Fidelity Digital Prototypes......Page 174
They Got It Right—IBM MIL......Page 184
Summary......Page 192
Getting Started with Electronics......Page 194
What’s Unique for Physical Products......Page 197
Preparation......Page 206
Low-Fidelity Physical Prototypes......Page 213
Mid-Fidelity Physical Prototypes......Page 229
High-Fidelity Physical Prototypes......Page 248
Troubleshooting......Page 253
They Got It Right—Richard Clarkson......Page 254
Summary......Page 265
Planning the Research......Page 266
Conducting the Research......Page 271
Synthesizing the Research......Page 278
Summary......Page 280
Chapter 8: Pulling It All Together—SXSW Tasting Experience......Page 282
Research......Page 283
User Flow......Page 284
The Physical Side......Page 285
The Digital Side......Page 287
Bringing It Together......Page 290
The Final Experience......Page 292
Summary......Page 293
Chapter 9: What Have We Learned......Page 296
Appendix A: Resources and Links......Page 298
Appendix B: Glossary......Page 306
[ Index ]......Page 312