Rapid Paper Prototyping has already been known to be the solution to get a web-project started.
For the people who are into interface design, Rapid Paper Prototyping is an old hat! But ever considered doing screen design on screen?
With pidoco’s web-based wireframe tool, interaction designers and web developers can save valuable time, enhance the creative process and build better websites for the internet.
Rapid Paper Prototyping has already been known to be the solution to get a web-project started. The basic concepts of the layout will be put on paper and discussed within the team. This basic screen concept will then go through an iterative design process by incorporating feedback from other stake holder. This paper prototype will at last act as a guideline for the whole project – from beginning to the end (but is there a real end?). Some interface designers even use these paper sketches for performing usability tests. Retrieving usability errors before programming can save a lot of time and budget, since later changes in the so called ‘finished’ website are minimized.
Anyway, there are some drawbacks to Rapid Paper Prototyping. Prototypes are only scanned to add to the project documentation and also difficult to collaborate on in larger teams. Scanning paper prototypes and making them ‘clickable’ for testing use cases is also a time consuming task as we all know!
That is why many companies create their wireframes directly in MS PowerPoint or MS Visio and have them distributed to the relevant sources. True, that way one can share the screens more effectively but it is not really more interactive than copying a piece of paper handing it to other stake holders. The Visio-type static wireframes still do not show the real capabilities for test user excitement: links, dynamic menus and combo-boxes etc. cannot be reproduced effectively and need to be explained individually in long paragraphs. Again, more time and effort has to be invested to get the message across.
A small company from Berlin, Germany has spotted this problem and made it their task to tackle it by providing a simple web-based interface design software.
February 17, 2010 No Comments
Digital beats Pen and Paper
Our conclusion of interface design software: It’s got the look and feel of handmade scribble prototyping, but adds interactivity (making wireframes animated) and enhances developing speed through re-usable elements and layers. Many (real-time) collaboration modules enable interface designers to new ways to work with much better time allocation, leaving more time for the creative process that really counts.
February 13, 2010 No Comments
