Class 6 (10/13-10/19)

Carolyn Snyder, Paper Prototyping

This paper introduces paper prototyping as a early, low fidelity technique to test UX design quickly and efficiently. It weighs pros and cons of a handwritten mockup. It relates to a few readings we've done in this class that advocate for sketching, but I think it was Mike Rohde, Sketching: The Visual Thinking Power Tool specifically that made the case for sketching because the vulnerability and subject-to-change nature. "Because sketches are unfinished and loose, they invite commentary.... When I’ve presented conceptual ideas in finished form, colleagues and clients often hesitate to be as honest as they are with sketches. There is something in tightly finished concept work that I think suggests significant effort was spent in production—leading colleagues and clients to hold back to avoid the additional work needed to make changes." I felt this a little bit with my affordances sculpture. I wanted to facilitate interaction, but it looked to much like an art piece, so people weren't very comfortable drawing on it.

I like that the author brought up the point about professionalism. It's something I and probably most of my classmates can relate to. It feels wrong to hand in a project of cardboard, paper, or in a sketchbook, or just generally poorly crafted. But that's the space where ideas happen.