1 Very cool

Okay that’s a very cool idea – my paper prototypes are no where near that good! They usually just involve sketches, not multiple sheets for the same bit, wow. Very cool.

posted at 07:38 am on January 23, 2007 by David Paul

2 Behaviour

While paper may be suitable to discuss static layout, up to date websites (Web 2.0) do have a great part of behaviour in them. It’s really hard to simulate this using paper. On the other hand if you already code the pages for an HTML (or even Ajax) prototype you’re half way done and you may waste time doing the coding again and again.

So what I do is neither more sophisticated than paper, nor as time consuming as coding – I just provide some Powerpoint slides.

posted at 08:05 am on January 23, 2007 by Andreas Berg

3 Computer generated hand drawn concepts

Nice article, I completly agree that the hand drawn and paper based prototyping is a very valuable stage in a user-centred design process.

The agency I work for actually uses PowerPoint to create these initial concept designs. They have a PowerPoint library containing the standard elements of a user interface that appear as though they are hand drawn. We use this as a starting point for concept designs.

We print out the designs on A3 and then present them to users in morning sessions and then we make modifications to the designs in the afternoon and repeat the process until we are happy with the concept. We have pen and paper on hand if the users feel then want to add to the designs.

Although I hate PP it suits the purposes of quickly mocking up a concept and means we have electronic versions of the iterations for our records. Just some more food for thought. :)

posted at 10:52 am on January 23, 2007 by James Mansfield

5 Very Respectfully Disagree

Hi Shawn. Thanks for the well written article. Unfortunately, I couldn’t disagree more with the idea that paper prototypes are an effective means of communicating the content, structure and functionality of a website prior to design and coding. George Bernard Shaw said “The biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” While paper does help draw out a group and does help to a degree, it does not go far enough to avoid the critical miscommunications that can cripple a web project in the end. And because paper can create the illusion that communication has taken place, invisible problems can find their way into the project.

We used to use detailed paper prototypes but found consistently that clients just didn’t get what we were talking about—until the site was in beta mode and they could see it in a browser. Of course by then it was too late to easily change the site. We found that a browser-based, visually generic, easily modifiable, HTML prototype was the solution and the difference was dramatic. We even wrote a book about it called Client vs. Developer Wars (it’s available as a PDF on our site – http://www.newfangled.com/client_vs_developer_wars).

While I disagree with using paper I seriously respect and commend all web developers, like you, that go to great lengths to effectively communicate about the web with their clients. Thanks!

posted at 02:23 pm on January 23, 2007 by Eric Holter

6 Some Bosses Don't Get Paper

Ever since I first started being worried about usability in the mid-1990’s, I’ve used paper prototypes in a very similar fashion.

As the “usability expert,” I would usually create the paper prototype in Word (since my handwriting stinks) and then build interactive paper prototypes.

However, the reaction (and subsequently the success) has always been mixed. First I used to think my GUI designs were no good (convincing managers of mainframe AS400 systems to make the jump to Windows and then to the Web), but eventually I figured out that some people just can’t deal with computer GUIs on paper.

Sure, they may tell you that they have the best imagination in the world and that they want to see “what you got.” In the end, I find that there is a very limited audience for paper prototypes among my varied clients: It’s usually the more tech-savvy people who can really make a contribution and get something out of paper prototyping.

Unfortunately, eight out of 10 managers and bosses I deal with just don’t get paper prototypes. However, I still use paper prototyping with peers and development teams to convey a concept or a new idea before the actual building begins.

Thank you for your thoughtful article and the example illustrations.

posted at 02:49 pm on January 23, 2007 by Web Gyver

8 I love the suggestion of creating a standard set of templates..

I’d very much be interested in a open template set using SVG (maybe inkscape). If anyone else is down I’d love to collaborate.

posted at 03:00 pm on January 23, 2007 by Dan Nawara

10 Outstanding work, thanks

Thanks for this excllent work. I especially appreciate all of the spot-on links and detailed discussion. I am sure that I can apply these techniques to many things, as your article suggests. At a minimum, this will speed up and simplfy my prototyping.

Keep up the great work!

posted at 05:46 pm on January 23, 2007 by lurker LURKER