Sofia Carlander Kinoshita Laboratory 2004/2005 High-Fidelity or Low-Fidelity when prototyping for Human-Computer Interaction Sofia Carlander Kinoshita Laboratory 2004/2005 My name is Sofia Carlander My research project is about prototyping methods for Human-Computer Interaction Design.

Interaction Design Interactive products in everyday use Supporting people in their everyday and working lives Cell phones, computer, ATM, laundry machine, VCR... Are they easy, effortless and enjoyable to use? You meet Interaction Design and products allover in everyday life. They are supposed to support people in their working and everyday life. It can be cell phones, computers, ATM machines, laundry, VCR But the question is: are they really easy and enjoyable to use? Ask yourself how many times have you had trouble recording the correct TV program on your VCR?

Key points Interaction Design involves taking into account a number of interdependent factors including context of use, type of task and kind of user Need to strive for usability and user experience goals Interaction design means that the designer is considering further variables than only the product. Who are the future users, how and when will they use the product. And why will they use it? Of course there are some guidelines and usability principles that are very useful for these kind of designs.

Conceptual Model USER USER’S MODEL DESIGNER DESIGN SYSTEM IMAGE The DESIGNER has model of how the system should work. The USER creates a model of how he/she thinks the system works. The SYSTEM has an image of how it actually works. In an ideal world, all three should map into each other and the user’s mental model of the system should be equal to the designer’s mental model. That would provide good usability and effective interaction. It works as following. The designer has this idea, a mental model of how the products system is supposed to work. From this model the designer makes his/hers version of the products image. The system’s look, behavior and abilities creates the systems image. When the user meets this image the user will create a user mental model of how the product works. If the designer model and the user model is equal then the product will have high usability.

The Interaction Design Process Identify needs/establish requirements (Re) Design Evaluate This is a simple model for how the process of interaction designing looks like. The main thing is that it is a iterative process. First gather data about needs, users, requirements and so on. Then Design, then build a interactive version of the design ideas to try it. Evaluate and make further design proposals and get more data. Iterate! Iterate! Iterate! Build an interactive version Final product

Prototyping goals While a usable product is a system where the image of it provides a user mental model which is equal to the designer mental model, it natural to compare these models. That can be done using prototyping. Depending on the product that is developing the designer first have to create a brief idea what kind of feedback that is desired from the prototyping process. Prototyping process – 2 parts – physical/conceptual design testing. I mentioned earlier that for good usability the user’s mental model and the designer’s mental model should be equal. To compare these prototyping is good. Depending on the product type prototyping has deferent goals. Software – 3D ineffective. Rather feedback about information processing, aesthetic and information usability. Personal computer for ex. – outer design and tactility is more important than in the previous case, so a 3D prototype makes sence.

Low-Fidelity Does not look very much like the final product. Material, behavior etc. Material such as paper & cardboard rather than electronic screens, metal and detailed code. Simple, cheap & quick to produce and redesign. Encourage further exploration of alternative designs and ideas. Early stage of development – prototyping for the conceptual design.

High-Fidelity Looks very much like the final product. If the prototype is for software system, a software tool, such as Macromedia Director or Flash, Visual Basic or Smalltalk, might be needed. Software prototype tools are also often qualified development environments. More time-consuming to produce than low-fidelity prototyping.

Advantages & Disadvantages Low-Fidelity Low-fidelity representations, such as sketches, differ from the final product in interaction design, visual appearance, and/or level of details. The method is quick & cheap which encourage iterative design idea tryouts between/during usability tests. Quick Low-fidelity tests allows designers and users to focus on high-level interaction design and information architecture, rather than on details or visual style. Users might judge a low-fidelity prototype as unprofessional. While Low-fidelity prototypes allow spontaneous changes for exploring interactions, they also sacrifice some realism. Limitations in navigation and flow while a control person has to “make the interaction”. Low-Fi prototypes : differs from final prod. In interaction, visual appearance, level of details. And while the method id quick and easy it encourage to try alternative designs. Allows designers to focus on high-level interaction design and information architecture rather than on details or visual style. …

Advantages & Disadvantages High-Fidelity High-fidelity prototypes offer more realistic interactions than low-fidelity. Better at conveying the range of design possibilities. User-driven. High-fidelity prototyping may make designers reluctant to change designs and less likely to fully explore the design space. Take a long to build and requires skill. Reviewers and testers tend to comment on surface aspects rather than content.

Conclusion Low-fidelity prototypes have big advantages in cost and ease of iteration, and allow designers to focus on interaction design and information architecture rather than aesthetic details. Prototyping on paper eases testing of alternative design and enables testing in a more exploratory, dynamic way. Computer prototypes allow automatic recording of user tests, can be distributed electronically, and can help document the design process. What kind of prototype method to choose is not a simple decision. Do combine and apply several techniques might be a good idea.

Individual Research Training I have learned about prototyping in the design process for interactive Human-Computer design. I have also learned about the Japanese education system. Japanese students have more individual education while research is included already before graduating. Difficult but very useful to work by my self so much as I have this year. Will bring this experience with me in future education and work.

References Institute for Personalized Information Environment. 1995. FRIEND21 Human Interface Architecture Guidelines. Norman, D.A. 1988. The Psychology of everyday things. Basic Books. Snyder C. 2003. Paper prototyping. Morgan Kaufmann. Preece, Rogers, Sharp. 2002. Interaction Design beyond human-computer interaction.