Jason Silver | Photo: Courtesy Jason Silver
We firmly believe in testing your product ideas and assumptions before you build anything because, more often than not, those ideas will change a few times before you land on the right thing. But once you’ve got that right thing, how do you go about demonstrating your idea to the world? You could try a prototype. Prototypes can be made with or without a designer, and here, a crop of Intuit experience designers give some tips on what it’s like to learn how to prototype and offer some ideas for tools you might use. This is a story that originally appeared on Intuit Labs, and we’re re-publishing it as part of our partnership with Intuit. – Eds.
“A prototype is an early, testable version of an idea that comes in many forms and identities,” Intuit Interaction Designer Jason Silver said. “They answer questions, validate assumptions and visualize ideas.”
The concept of creating prototypes quickly and cheaply is shared by a great deal of successful innovators around the world. To better understand prototyping tools, Silver talked about the power of interactive prototyping at Intuit’s XD Beat—an ongoing forum where XD (experience design) members share content with the broader community. Other presenters included designers Vince Teodoro and Rich Bessel and XD Prototyper Heather Daggett.
While some designers still use the prototyping-on-paper method, most designers use tools like Keynotopia, UXPin and Axure, to name a few. For more top prototyping tools for interaction designers, visit Enchant.
“For digital prototypes, don’t feel overwhelmed,” Silver said. “Try a tool, then try another. You’ll find something fluid with your design but don’t get too comfortable with just one tool. Keep learning.”
Some designers also play with real code to create high-fidelity prototypes, which bring complex interactions, data and animations to life. From a user testing point-of-view, high-fidelity prototypes are close enough to a final product to be able to examine usability questions in detail and make strong conclusions about how behavior will relate to use of the final product.
“High fidelity prototypes look and feel like real products, allowing us to get richer user feedback much earlier in the design process,” said Daggett, who works within the Consumer Tax Group to give TurboTax designs a facelift.
High-fidelity prototype designers often use tools like Framer.JS or Origami/Quartz Composer.
Another TurboTax group also began testing different prototypes with the help of a gamification guru. John Caldwell, a principal XD writer and editor, hired award-winning narrative game writer Susan O’Connor, who tried to find common ground between games and taxes.
“We want to know what customers are thinking, feeling and what’s most important to them,” Caldwell said. “And [O’Connor] already has a track record of helping companies create emotional, engaging experiences for their customers.”
Prototyping processes have dramatically progressed over the last 10 years. When Silver started his career at Nokia Corp. in 2001 he remembers designing three early prototypes for picture messaging—the hot new trend at the time. The team created three prototypes because building all three in actual code would have been too expensive.
“Using the prototypes for user research gave us the confidence to move forward with choosing the right design,” Silver said.
Today, however, prototypers use various tools to generate emotion with detailed animations at a minimal cost. “If you can evoke emotion in a customer through a prototype, that’s great,” Silver added.
Learning and failing fast allows prototypers to try new and adventurous things. Some succeed, some fail. Regardless, everyone is always learning.
How to Build Successful Prototypes:
- Don’t start with a blank canvas. Try starting your design using other people’s prototype ideas.
- Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Most companies have forms and people to assist and answer questions.
- The more you use a program, the more complex it may become. Designer or not, programs are available that are user friendly and don’t require code. But most easy-to-use programs also have more advanced capabilities.
- Don’t spend too much time on one prototype. Unless you can capture your idea within a few days and create something compelling that people understand, start over. Do give yourself extra time if you’re using a new prototyping tool.
- Never get too comfortable. Keep learning how to use new tools. This allows you to stay ahead of the game. Different business units use diverse prototyping tools.
Nicole Baptista is the Managing Editor at Intuit Labs, where this story originally appeared. We’re re-publishing it as part of our partnership with Intuit.