Week 4 Using Prototypes to Accelerate

Furth week:Using Prototypes to Accelerate Learning / Design Brief

In this module you learned how to use prototyping as a means of learning more – more about the person you are designing for, and more about elements of your design that really matter to users, along with the strengths and weaknesses of your initial concepts. A key idea is to maximize your learning per unit time: the faster you learn, the faster you can iterate and improve your ideas. In this peer review assignment, expect to spend about one hour on the written portions, two hours creating prototypes, and one hour interviewing people.

You’ve now completed a good deal of discovery research and ideation in the grocery store setting. You’ve created How Might We statements and a lot of ideas. You’ve taken at least one of those ideas and developed it into a storyboard. In this module you learned how to use prototyping as a means of learning more – more about the person you are designing for, and more about the strengths and weaknesses of your concepts. A key idea is to maximize your learning per unit time: the faster you learn, the faster you can iterate and improve your ideas.

In the homework for this module, you will put it into action. Expect to spend about one hour on the written portions, two hours building prototypes, and one hour interviewing people.

Tasks:

1. Select one of the concepts that you created in your peer review assignment for Module 2 that you would like to explore further. You may want to look at the rest of the homework ahead to pick something that fits well, and is manageable within the time you have available. Write a brief (~100 word) description of the idea, including who it is for and how it will improve that person’s life (e.g., by solving a problem or creating delight).

The description might take a form like this: First, a problem statement including who, what, why: [e.g., physical therapists] need a way to [e.g. allow patients to move naturally while remaining safe] so that they can [e.g. challenge the patients] because [e.g. research has shown that more challenge leads to fuller recovery]. Next, a high-level solution description: Our solution will overcome the challenges of [e.g. natural movement and safety] because [e.g., it takes gravity (and therefore the risk of falling) out of the equation by tilting the patient back, yet it provides the freedom of natural motion]. The form is generic: try swapping out the parts in brackets to modify this for your concept.

Note that the improvement you are seeking might be something quite small, like helping a new father select baby food or making floor cleaning a little easier.A successful innovation need not be revolutionary, but it should deliver some value to the user.

2. Before prototyping, you need to decide what you want to learn from the prototype. Some questions are technical, some are aesthetic, and some are user-centric. For the purposes of this assignment, pick a user-centric question – one that speaks to the value users will find in your concept – and write it out (~50 words).

For example: How will physical therapists respond to the following aspects of the concept: naturalness of movement; patient being tilted back; access to legs; ability to get patient in/out of machine; patient safety; therapist safety; ability to challenge patient?

3. Build three simple prototypes that will help you address the question from part 2. These prototypes could be sketches, or small rough mockups from materials you have handy, or even enactments which bring a service to life. The prototypes might address just one aspect of your concept or they can be full system prototypes. They should embody your creativity, and they should be diverse enough to provoke different responses in user testing. All prototypes should be concepts you're truly eager to learn from. Be very intentional about what you're including in your test and why. Post photos and brief captions (~20 words) for each of the three prototypes. Please place all of your photos and captions into one file before you upload it. Be sure that it is clear for the reviewer which photos and captions go together.

As an example, here is a picture of three prototypes that were built to show concepts to physical therapists:

4. Write a plan for user testing. The plan should include two parts: one, a brief summary of WHO you will test with, WHAT you will present (presumably your three prototypes), and WHERE this will happen. Two, a script. Note that you do not need to follow a script slavishly, but it is important to have one so that you are well prepared. The script should anticipate three phases: meet and greet, understand current context, and reveal prototypes. Ideally, the user testing should be active – the user should be hands-on with the current and prototype products in the appropriate context. What the users do with the prototypes is just as important if not more important than what they say.

Here are some of the of the things that your script should include:

MEET AND GREET

· Meet, explain who you are and what you are doing, which is seeking this person’s feedback on some different concepts. Keep it simple. You can explain that you are a student doing this for a course.

· Ask permission to take video and/or audio recordings. Explain that these will be used for research and for your work in the class. Explain that edited versions will be posted to the course website, but not publicly.

· Ask for any questions before getting started.

CURRENT CONTEXT

· Ask the person to walk you through the way they do things today. Ideally, they actually perform the task, but realistically this may involve some pantomime. For instance, a physical therapist may not be able to show you how they do gait rehabilitation in this particular session (although that may have happened earlier in discovery research).

· Feel free to ask lots of questions during this process.

REVEAL PROTOTYPES

· The previous step should have primed the user by getting him or her into the need state. For instance, the physical therapist should have been reminded of the difficulty of ensuring that a patient doesn’t fall while he/she reaches down to help the patient move a leg.

· Show the prototypes, usually all at once. The prototypes will probably require some explanation, but keep it to a minimum and by all means do NOT say anything evaluative, such as “this prototype is the most secure”. Just be sure that the person understands what each does.

· If possible, ask the person to perform a task with each. For instance, “show me how you would go about getting the patient harnessed into this machine.” At this point, nothing that the user does is wrong! Do your best not to direct or intervene, even if you are asked for help. Instead, ask questions. For instance, if a physical therapist asks “does this strap go around the waist”, you might reply “where does it seem to you that the strap should go?” The more the user talks, the more you learn. The more you direct, the less you learn.

· Once the person has performed a task or tasks, you might ask for some more open-ended questions. For instance, “could you compare the ease of getting a patient into and out of each of these machines?” Keep in mind that you are not really looking for an answer such as “this one is best.” Instead, you are looking for details: what specifically makes that one best? The key to getting those details is to keep asking, in one way or another, “tell me more”!

Please upload both parts as a single file.

1. A brief summary of WHO you will test with, WHAT you will present (presumably your three prototypes), and WHERE this will happen.

2. A loose script which you will use to guide the conversation.

5. Test your prototypes with at least two users and collect data in the form of notes and photos. When testing, remember that you should not ask leading questions or interfere with the way that someone uses your prototypes. You should listen and answer questions that are asked, but mainly you should welcome everything your users have to say, always asking “tell me more.” Please upload at least a half page of notes and at least 2 photos. Please do not show faces in photos or identify users by their full name when writing about them. Please place all of your photos and notes into one file before you upload it. It is preferred that your notes be organized and typed out, but if you choose to upload handwritten notes that they are legible.

6. Reflect on the things you learned in user testing. What worked well? What did not work well? How did the users interact with your prototypes? Were there any surprises? Based on what you learned in this iteration, how would you change your concepts going forward? Please submit a paragraph or two (approximately 100-200 words) addressing these questions.