Code: Prototyping

UX designers have long promoted paper prototyping as the ideal way to quickly create and test new designs. In comparison to older methods of digital prototyping, creating paper prototypes is much quicker, easier, requires no technical skills, makes iteration easier, and focuses less on design perfection. Plus, participants feel more comfortable in criticizing sketches rather than polished designs.

But, over the last few years, many new design and prototyping tools have emerged that let UX designers create highly interactive prototypes quickly and easily, realistically simulating interactions and transitions without any coding. More tools seem to come out every day. With so many great, new prototyping tools, is doing paper prototyping still worthwhile? Have these new tools finally caught up with the advantages of paper prototypes, while transcending paper’s disadvantages? In this column, I’ll answer these questions. Read More

Because of the time, energy, and money that product-development projects require, product design and UX design carry tremendous levels of risk. Most organizations are perpetually seeking ways to innovate more quickly, while at the same time, mitigating the risk that is inherent in taking chances on new products and design solutions. The need to balance the speed and the risks of product innovation is not new. What is new is how many organizations of all sizes are embracing design thinking and prototyping to reduce the risk of product design.

By adopting a design-thinking approach—and fostering a culture that embraces prototyping and rapid iteration—you can improve time to market while reducing the capital and human costs of product development. Read More

This is the first installment of a two-part article about how intelligent UX strategies can solve certain problems that are characteristic of agile development, as well intrinsically benefit our UX design work. My starting point: a few arguments that I made in a recent UXmatters article: “(Why) Is UXD the Blocker in Your Agile UCD Environment?”

To summarize what I wrote in that article: For a variety of reasons, particularly the ever-increasing need for software development speed, agile development methods are gaining in popularity. In many ways, this is good for UX professionals because agile fits well with the philosophy of true user-centered design (UCD) and, therefore, potentially fits well with good UX design practice. For example, a great way to define the requirements for agile sprints is for the UX team to provide the development team with an initial, functional prototype for each sprint—a prototype that they’ve already subjected to stakeholder review and successful usability testing. This approach is best supported by a modern, fourth-generation prototyping tool such as Axure RP Pro, iRise, or Justinmind Prototyper.

We know that an approach that integrates UCD, user experience, and agile can work very well. However, this approach does not mitigate a fundamental problem with agile development methods. Read More