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Breaking the fidelity barrier: an examination of our current characterization of prototypes and an example of a mixed-fidelity success
Abstract
This paper presents a summary of the space of commonly- used HCI prototyping methods (low-fidelity to high- fidelity) and asserts that with a better understanding of this space, HCI practitioners will be better equipped to direct scarce prototyping resources toward an effort likely to yield specific results. It presents a set of five dimensions along which prototypes can be planned and characterized. The paper then describes an analysis of this space performed by members of the NASA Ames Human-Computer Interaction Group when considering prototyping approaches for a new set of tools for Mars mission planning and scheduling tools. A description is presented of a prototype that demonstrates design solutions that would have been particularly difficult to test given conventional low- or mid- fidelity prototyping methods. The prototype created was "mixed-fidelity," that is, high-fidelity on some dimensions and low-fidelity on others. The prototype is compared to a preexisting tool being redesigned and to a tool that has been developed using the prototype. Experimental data are presented that show the prototype to be a good predictor of eventual user performance with the final application. Given the relative cost of developing prototypes, it is critical to better characterize the space of fidelity in order to more precisely allocate design and development resources.
... In order to reduce the risk of product failure, companies often rely on prototyping strategies to identify which concepts to move forward with or to "kill" [3]. This is because prototyping has been shown to be an effective means of representing and communicating early phase concepts [4,[5][6][7], gathering user feedback [8,9], identifying problems [10], aiding in decision making [10,11], and improving design outcomes and functionality [13]. However, prototyping also accounts for the largest sunk cost during product development [1,2]. ...
... In order to reduce the risk of product failure, companies often rely on prototyping strategies to identify which concepts to move forward with or to "kill" [3]. This is because prototyping has been shown to be an effective means of representing and communicating early phase concepts [4,[5][6][7], gathering user feedback [8,9], identifying problems [10], aiding in decision making [10,11], and improving design outcomes and functionality [13]. However, prototyping also accounts for the largest sunk cost during product development [1,2]. ...
... The prototype fidelity literature has focused extensively on which level of prototype (i.e. low-, medium-or high-fidelity prototype) yields higher quality user feedback [4,10,15,23,26,34]. Specifically, low fidelity prototypes have been found to generate the equivalent amount of user feedback as highfidelity prototypes [10,35,36] while leading to more efficient processes and outcomes [4]. ...
Building prototypes is an important part of the concept selection phase of the design process, where fuzzy ideas get represented to support communication and decision making. However, previous studies have shown that prototypes generate different levels of user feedback based on their fidelity and aesthetics. Furthermore, prior research on concept selection has shown that individual risk attitude effects how individuals select ideas, as creative ideas are perceived to be riskier in comparison to less creative ideas. While the role of risk has been investigated in concept selection, there is lack of research on how risk is related to the selection of prototypes at various levels of fidelity. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of prototype fidelity, concept creativity, and risk aversion, on perceived riskiness and concept selection through a between-subjects study with 72 engineering students. The results revealed that there was a “goldilocks” effect in which students choose concepts with “just the right amount” of novelty, not too much and not too little, as long as quality was adequate. In addition, the prototype fidelity of a concept had an interaction with uniqueness, indicating that unique concepts are more likely to be perceived as less risky if presented at higher levels of fidelity.
... Hence, it is vital to make clear what parts of the system that should be considered for the evaluation. McCurdy et al. (2006) refer to the stages of the design, that is if it is high or low fidelity, as the level of visual refinement of a prototype. Additionally, they refer to the part of the IT system being evaluated, that is how large part of the proposed final system is evaluated in the current evaluation, as the breath of functionality. ...
... Studies have shown that the stage of the design of the software system (Lim et. al. 2006;McCurdy et al. 2006) and the portion of the system covered during the evaluation (Hertzum and Jacobsen 2001;McCurdy et al. 2006) affects the outcome of the evaluation. Hence, it is necessary to explicitly describe the system used during the evaluation. ...
... Studies have shown that the stage of the design of the software system (Lim et. al. 2006;McCurdy et al. 2006) and the portion of the system covered during the evaluation (Hertzum and Jacobsen 2001;McCurdy et al. 2006) affects the outcome of the evaluation. Hence, it is necessary to explicitly describe the system used during the evaluation. ...
One way to ensure good user experience of IT systems is to conduct user centred evaluation, aimed to provide feedback to IT professionals on their IT systems from the user perspective. The objective of this paper is to explore a conceptual framework, named RAMES that supports evaluators when planning, comparing and documenting user centred evaluations in a structured way. The framework structures the elements of an evaluation into five categories: Roles, Activities, Materials, Environments, and System. The framework was developed based on a theoretical analysis. Two explorative studies with 92 participants in total show that two thirds of the participants found it easy or rather easy to use the framework, and 33% find it likely that they would use the framework again. The conclusion of the studies is that frameworks such as RAMES enhance the implementation of user centred evaluations.
... rough and/or partial approximation of the final solution) should be preferred (Isa et al., 2015;Mathias et al., 2018;Ranscombe et al., 2017). In addition, it has been observed that Fidelity of prototypes should be carefully selected according to the audience to which they are destined (Elverum et al., 2016;McCurdy et al., 2006). Unfortunately, although "Fidelity" is a very important parameter for prototypes, it is still a quite ambiguous term. ...
... Although the performed literature review is not representative for all the disciplines, it provides a first overview about how many different interpretations may be hidden behind the concept of closeness. McCurdy et al. (2006) made a similar work, but limited to the identification of five "dimensions" of Fidelity and of an intermediate level (mixed fidelity). We extended their work, by identifying a total of eight Fidelity dimensions (Table 1). ...
... Performance "To what level of detail is any one feature or sequence represented?" (McCurdy et al., 2006) 8 Environment " The fidelity of the testing situation may differ from the future usage situation on four dimensions. First, the participant in a usability test may be different from…" (Sauer et al., 2010) McCurdy et al. (2006) split the functionality dimension it in two parts, i.e. "breadth of functionality" (how many functions) and "depth of functionality" (detail at which a function is implemented). ...
Fidelity is one of the most important parameters to consider when dealing with prototypes, which affect the related costs and performances. Current literature contributions often rely on generic definitions of Fidelity based on the concept of closeness. However, the review performed in this paper revealed that Fidelity is a more complex concept, which considers (at least) eight main dimensions, mutually interrelated, and potentially characterized by many other potential sub-dimensions. The identified set has been applied to an industrial case study were a real engineering prototype has been assessed in terms of Fidelity. In particular, the case study application shows how the different dimensions can be interrelated each other. Furthermore, some important research hints have been highlighted in this paper, where the identified set of Fidelity dimensions paves the way for the related future activities.
... profitability and ability to fit within time and budget constraints [44], and can be used to support decision making [9]. Market desirability concerns the customer perspective regarding the value of the product and likeliness of purchase [28,44]. Prototyping can be used to test market desirability by investigating customer needs, and validating and clarifying customer requirements and tasks [6,9]. ...
... The scope of a prototype describe the extent to which a prototype resembles the final product and is, in our model, represented by the dimensions of breadth and depth of the prototype's functionality [5,6,15,18,26,28,38], and the dimension of refinement for this functionality w.r.t. the facets of visual appearance [6,15,18,20,21,[26][27][28]43], interactive & haptic behaviour [6,15,18,20,[26][27][28] and data realism [26,28]. The dimension of breadth represents the extent to which a prototype covers a product's full functionality, e.g., all or only one product features. ...
... The scope of a prototype describe the extent to which a prototype resembles the final product and is, in our model, represented by the dimensions of breadth and depth of the prototype's functionality [5,6,15,18,26,28,38], and the dimension of refinement for this functionality w.r.t. the facets of visual appearance [6,15,18,20,21,[26][27][28]43], interactive & haptic behaviour [6,15,18,20,[26][27][28] and data realism [26,28]. The dimension of breadth represents the extent to which a prototype covers a product's full functionality, e.g., all or only one product features. ...
... This section reviews five conceptual frameworks of prototyping in existing literature to enable this research to theoretically argue about prototyping (McCurdy et al., 2006;Beaudouin-Lafon & Mackay, 2007;Lim et al., 2008;Blomkvist & Holmlid, 2011;Jensen et al., 2015). As various frameworks coexist, there are also various ways to selecting and synthesising the key dimensions of prototyping. ...
... Human-computer interaction (HCI) researchers, McCurdy et al. (2006) assert that measuring prototypes only by whether they are low fidelity or high fidelity is too simple, and propose five dimensions of prototypes: the level of visual refinement, the breadth of functionality, the depth of functionality, the richness of interactivity and the richness of data models. As their main concern is interaction between computer and the users, the dimensions are set up for how prototypes can be interactive. ...
... Also, in the argument of social service development, NESTA (2011) defines "Prototyping is an approach to developing and testing ideas at an early stage before large-scale resources are committed to implementation" (p. 6). It is believed that benefits of prototyping in an early stage are saving costs and time of product and service development (Houde & Hill, 1997;McCurdy et al., 2006;Coughlan et al., 2007). These arguments suggest that while prototyping is located in a late stage of design process in normative frameworks of design and business model innovation processes, some literature recognises the importance of embodying ideas in 'an early stage' of the process. ...
This research proposes a prototyping perspective in design for business model innovation to facilitate disruption. The value of design-led approach for managing innovation has been recognised under the concept of ‘design thinking’. In the research on innovation, the concept of business model innovation has been discussed as business models started to be acknowledged as a key aspect of managing innovation. Although experimentation for business model innovation is argued to be of importance, how to apply prototyping of design thinking to business model innovation has been limitedly theorised. This research is based on a literature review to articulate theoretically the concept of prototyping in business model innovation. Through the literature review, this research identifies four key dimensions of prototyping in business model innovation: purpose, process, context and engagement. This paper focuses on the Process dimension to interrogate the existing argument.
... In contrast, high-delity prototypes focus on interactivity and functionality. They are usually digital and contain a realistic representation of the visual design concept [86]. Since these prototypes are similar in look and feel to the nal product, they are especially useful for a detailed evaluation of core design artifacts [8]. ...
... High-delity prototypes often re ne and substantiate existing low-delity prototypes [112]. Mixed-delity prototyping (e.g., video prototyping) is a hybrid version of the other two [86]. ...
Augmented reality changes the way we perceive reality and how we interact with computers. However, we argue that to create augmented reality solutions, we need to rethink the way we develop software. In this paper, we review the state of the art in software engineering for augmented reality applications, derive open questions, and define a research agenda. For this purpose, we consider different engineering phases and evaluate conventional techniques regarding their applicability for AR development. In requirements engineering, we found the integration of AR experts and the associated collaboration between actors to be of key aspect in the development process. Additionally, requirements about the physical world must be considered, which in turn has a huge impact on UI design. The relevance of the physical environment is not yet sufficiently addressed in applicable techniques, which also applies to current implementation frameworks and tools, complicating the AR development process. When evaluating AR software iterations, we found interaction testing and test automation to have great potential, although they have not yet been sufficiently researched. Our paper contributes to AR research by revealing current core challenges within the AR development process and formulating explicit research questions that should be considered by future research.
... The TLR allowed us to identified 59 relevant references documenting UX methods, UX techniques and UX artifacts (Table 3). hi-fi prototyping coded prototype [3,22,58] visual design visual techniques [85] guidelines and standards design principles; standards; style guide [57,69] ...
... The Cameleon Reference Framework [9] recommends modeling the user interface incrementally according to three levels of abstraction (abstract, concrete and final) which correspond to similar levels recommended in the Usability Engineering Lifecycle (conceptual model design, screen design standards and detailed UI) [57]. Another approach consists in reasoning according to the level of fidelity (low, medium and high) of prototypes [48,58,89]. The outcomes of the design process such as conceptual models or screen design standards directly feed into the URS, while the product representation (e.g. ...
We propose a process reference model for UX (UXPRM), which includes a description of the primary UX lifecycle processes within a UX lifecycle and a set of supporting UX methods. The primary UX lifecycle processes are refined into objectives, outcomes and base practices. The supporting UX methods are refined into related techniques, specific objectives and references to the related documentation available in the literature. The contribution of the proposed UXPRM is three-fold: conceptual, as it draws an accurate picture of the UX base practices; practical, as it is intended for both researchers and practitioners and customizable for different organizational settings; methodological, as it supports researchers and practitioners to make informed decisions while selecting UX methods and techniques. This is a first step towards the strategic planning of UX activities.
... Calvary et al. (2003) recommend modeling the UI incrementally according to three levels of abstraction (abstract, concrete and final), which correspond to similar levels recommended by Mayhew (1999) (conceptual model design, screen design standards and detailed UI). Another approach consists of reasoning according to the level of fidelity (low, medium and high) of prototypes (Lim et al., 2008;McCurdy et al., 2006;Walker et al., 2002). At the end of the design process, work products such as conceptual models or screen design standards directly feed into UR, while testable prototypes become inputs of evaluation. ...
... The UR typically include the following sections: the specification of the context of use, the specification of UX goals, the general design principles, the screen design standards and strategies for the prevention of user errors. (Crandall et al., 2006;Fowler Jr, 2013;Hutton et al., 1997;Lavrakas, 2008) (Cooke, 1994;Trull and Ebner-Priemer, 2013) HCI (Albert and Tullis, 2013;Arnowitz et al., 2010;Bailey et al., 2006;Card et al., 1983;Carter and Mankoff, 2005;Ghaoui, 2005;Holtzblatt et al., 2004;Mayhew, 1999;McCurdy et al., 2006;Nielsen, 1993;Theofanos, 2007) (Calvary et al., 2003;Grandi et al., 2017;Khan et al., 2008;Lim et al., 2008;Mackay et al., 2000;Maguire, 2001;Maguire and Bevan, 2002;Markopoulos, 1992;Rieman, 1993;Tsai, 1996;Vanderdonckt, 2008Vanderdonckt, , 2014Walker et al., 2002) UX (Law et al., 2008(Law et al., , 2007 (Bargas-Avila and Hornbaek, 2011; Bevan, 2008;Law et al., 2014;Vermeeren et al., 2010) ...
In this conceptual paper, we present a UX process reference model (UXPRM), explain how it builds on the related work and report our experience using it. The UXPRM includes a description of primary UX lifecycle processes, and a classification of UX methods and artifacts. This work draws an accurate picture of UX base practices and allows the reader to compare and select methods for different purposes. Building on that basis, our future work consists of developing a UX Capability/Maturity Model (UXCMM) intended for UX activity planning according to the organization's UX capabilities. Ultimately, the UXCMM aims to facilitate the integration of UX processes in software engineering, which should contribute to reducing the gap between UX research and UX practice.
... A prototype is the representation of a computer system, characterized by means of five dimensions: visual refinement, interactivity, data model and breadth and width of functionality (Table 1) (McCurdy et al., 2006). The level of fidelity varies across each dimension, supporting mixed-fidelity prototyping. ...
... Mixedfidelity prototyping allows for tailored prototypes to meet specific goals of UX evaluations. For example, the evaluation of the interaction with a prototype requires a rich data model, but the level of visual refinement can be kept low ( McCurdy et al., 2006). The level of fidelity of prototypes (low versus high) influences the outcomes of UX evaluations: differences in Table 1: Independent variables related to the prototype. ...
This paper presents the set of experimental cues involved in the UX experiments that define the characteristics of signals, objects, individuals and prototypes in the lab setting. The contribution of this paper is threefold. First, methodological, as the method employed for creating the questionnaire is reproducible in other domain-applications. Second, practical, as the questionnaire itself can serve as a tool for capturing the experimental cues relevant to the UX evaluation of similar applications. Third, conceptual, as this paper renders a first account of how the questionnaire-collected data can inform other activities ranging from the selection of evaluation methods to the specification of independent variables, UX measures, experimental tasks and apparatus.
... Prototyping in order to guide the re-design process has been examined for various fields such as commercial UIs [1] and UIs for young users [9]. Practitioners' understanding of fidelity in prototyping methods was addressed by McCurdy et al. [6]. User-centered prototyping and design was examined by Kiris [5]. ...
... Walker [11] found that low-and high-fidelity prototypes are equally good at uncovering usability issues. This finding relates to the reported success of mixed-fidelity prototypes [6]. Our Visio model would probably have been more effective in a high-fidelity approach e.g. as the graphical basis for a simulation using PowerPoint or Flash. ...
... Computer-based sketch tools make it possible to transform, automatically and incrementally, a diagram from handdrawn to hi-fidelity. This process of increasing fidelity has been called 'beautification' and has been investigated previously [6,16]. However, our study is the first to define a taxonomy of visual fidelity and to isolate presentation medium from fidelity. ...
... Other experiments have compared computer-based sketch tools with high-fidelity computer-based tools and lowfidelity tools (paper or whiteboard) [1,16,22,29]. These computer-based sketch tools have included functional support for 'executing' the low-fidelity prototype providing support that is not available on paper. ...
... Prototypes can be defined in terms of their level of fidelity. At the lowest end of fidelity, prototypes may be equivalent to sketches (Buxton, 2007), and they can represent different aspects of an artefact to different, or mixed levels of fidelity (McCurdy et al. 2006). My approach was to represent the flow of interaction at the highest level of fidelity, with individual interactions being represented as rougher prototypes. ...
... Prototyping is a very common design approach, and is described by Buxton as being at the end of a continuum that starts with sketches, prototypes being more refined and definitive, and produced later in design processes. Prototypes involve reproducing some aspects -for example, the aesthetics, the physical structure, or the interaction mechanics -of the final product at given levels of fidelity -which may involve mixed-fidelity prototypes (McCurdy et al., 2006). ...
One major challenge for the academic Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research community is the adoption of its findings and theoretical output by the interaction design practitioners whose work they are meant to support. To address this “research-practice gap”, this thesis takes the example of trajectories, a HCI conceptual framework derived from studies of mixed-reality performances spanning complex spaces, timeframes, participant roles, and interface ecologies. Trajectories’ authors have called for their work to be used to inform the design of a broader variety of experiences. This thesis explores what is required to fulfil this ambition, with a specific focus on using the framework to improve the experience of live events, and on professional design practitioners as the users of the framework. This exploration follows multiple approaches, led both by researchers and practitioners. This thesis starts by reviewing past uses of the trajectories framework – including for design purposes – and by discussing work that has previously tried to bridge the research-practice gap. In a first series of studies, the thesis identifies live events – such as music festivals and running races – as a rich setting where trajectories may be used both to study existing experiences and to design new ones. This leads to a series of design guidelines grounded both in knowledge about the setting and in trajectories. The thesis then discusses multiple approaches through which HCI researchers and practitioners at a large media company have joined forces to try to use trajectories in industrial design and production processes. Finally, the last strand of work returns to live events, with a two-year long Research through Design study in which trajectories have been used to improve the experience of a local music festival and to develop a mobile app to support it. This last study provides first-hand insight into the integration of theoretical concerns into design. This thesis provides three major classes of contributions. First, extensions to the original trajectories framework, which include refined definitions for the set of concepts that the framework comprises, as well as considerations for open-ended experiences where control is shared between stakeholders and participants. Secondly, a model describing the use of trajectories throughout design and production processes offers a blueprint for practitioners willing to use the framework. Finally, a discussion on the different ways trajectories have been translated into practice leads to proposing a model for locating translations of HCI knowledge with regards to the gap between academic research and design practice, and the gap between theoretical knowledge and design artefacts.
... Consequently, several attempts have been made to define and classify them. A prominent yet controversial approach is to distinguish between low-fidelity, high-fidelity [38,39], and mixed-fidelity prototypes [30]. Low-fidelity prototypes are described as being limited in function, explorative, and easy to create, in contrast to highfidelity prototypes, which take more effort to create and deliver more refined results close to the final product [38,39]. ...
... Low-fidelity prototypes are described as being limited in function, explorative, and easy to create, in contrast to highfidelity prototypes, which take more effort to create and deliver more refined results close to the final product [38,39]. Mixed-fidelity describes how prototypes can have aspects of varying fidelity and therefore do not match the definition of low-or high-fidelity [30]. In the context of prototyping, fidelity is also associated with methods [28,47] used for creating prototypes, such as paper prototyping [38] as a low-fidelity method. ...
Current research in augmented, virtual, and mixed reality (XR) reveals a lack of tool support for designing and, in particular, prototyping XR applications. While recent tools research is often motivated by studying the requirements of non-technical designers and end-user developers, the perspective of industry practitioners is less well understood.
In an interview study with 17 practitioners from different industry sectors working on professional XR projects, we establish the design practices in industry, from early project stages to the final product. To better understand XR design challenges, we characterize the different methods and tools used for prototyping and describe the role and use of key prototypes in the context of the different projects. We extract common elements of XR prototyping, elaborating on both the tools and materials used for prototyping and establishing different views on the notion of fidelity. Finally, we highlight key issues for future XR tools research.
... The prototype quality and fidelity played an important role in how stakeholders perceived the design [9]. The current range of prototyping methodologies are generally described within a spectrum of fidelity [12]. Typically, highly finished, colored 3D prints, for example, are high fidelity prototypes and require significant effort to produce and are used to demonstrate and communicate designs. ...
Prototyping is a critical and essential activity in the product development process and can be described as the activity of engaging with the product-to-be, instantiating the design process. A computer simulation approach has been used to investigate combining of low-cost 3D printing and Meccano® construction kit bricks as hybrid design prototyping method in a looks-like prototypes of user-driven products. The two key benefits metrics hypothesized are reduced fabrication time and increased reconfigurability. It is a deterministic problem with a large number of variations to consider. As a result, no variance in simulation results can occur from repetition, and each simulation need only be run once. Three models of a dynamic toy car have been prototyped as single solid 3D printing, single 3D printing with meshed interiors, and hybrid 3D printing and Meccano® construction kit. The comparison of three type of prototypes as the results shows a reduction in fabrication time of 30%, reduced material (filament) of 25% and reduced weight of 25%. Time and material costs reduction, accelerating the product development process may be concluded.
... McCurdy, Connors, Pyrzak, Kanefsky, and Vera (2006) state that the "the current range of prototyping methodologies are generally described within a spectrum of fidelity." Typically, low fidelity prototypes (such as sketches or junk models) are low-cost and created quickly to help inform and learn about the design, while high fidelity prototypes (such as highly finished, detailed foam models, or coloured 3D prints) require significant effort to produce and are used to demonstrate and communicate designs. ...
This paper introduces Hybrid Prototyping as a way to couple different prototyping methods; combining their complementary affordances and mitigating their limitations. To characterise and investigate this approach, a simulation-based study was conducted into the coupling of low-cost 3D printing and LEGO®. Key benefits hypothesised are reduced fabrication time and increased reconfigurability. Six primitive 3D shapes are simulated using a continuum of hypothetical brick sizes. Results show a reduction in fabrication time of 45% and a reconfigurability of 57% at the optimum. A case study highlights the compounded improvements over 3D printing for an iterative prototyping process. These findings mean that increases in prototyping iterations can be made due to reduced time and material costs, accelerating the product development process.
... The concept of fidelity indicates how closely the prototypes resemble the finished product in terms of interaction, visual appearance, data model and level of detail [13]. Prototypes are usually classified as low-fidelity or high fidelity, but to better describe more recent prototyping approaches, two other classifications has been proposed: mixed-fidelity [14] and multi-fidelity [15]. ...
... These tests, like most activities in PD processes, can be seen as risk-reduction tasks (Keizer & Halman, 2009;Unger & Eppinger, 2011). Prototypes can also be categorised by how closely they resemble the final product, i.e. their fidelity (Mccurdy et al., 2006). Another important distinction of different categories of prototypes is between virtual and physical prototypes, and while the use of virtual prototypes, or simulations, has increasingly gained importance in the past decades (Tahera et al., 2014), this paper is focused on the testing of physical prototypes, as opposed to "the solution of analytical models and numerical approximations�� (Boës et al., 2017). ...
Urban sanitation in growing cities of the Global South presents particular challenges. This led to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Reinvent The Toilet Challenge, which sparked the development of various non-sewered sanitation technologies like the Nano Membrane Toilet. Complex disruptive technologies like this entail an extensive product development process, including various types of prototype tests. While there is an abundance of literature discussing how to build prototypes, and the optimal number of tests, there has been little focus on how to plan and conduct tests, especially in a development endeavour of this complexity. Four approaches to testing are reviewed, and their strengths and weaknesses compared. A visualised testing strategy is proposed that encompasses the entire product development process and can be used to plan and communicate prototype tests for the Nano Membrane Toilet to ultimately achieve compliance with international standards.
... When referring to prototyping activities (i.e. still the most diffused use of AT [5]), a series of questions concerning the perceived meaning of the term "prototype", its role within the design process and the main "fidelity" dimensions [21] have been used to elicit detailed information. Indeed, it is expected that by comparing the AT variants selected by respondents with the answers of Question 23 ( Figure 1), it would be possible to evaluate possible links between the needed fidelity level of the prototype, and the specific AT variant. ...
Although the wide diffusion and technological development of Additive Technologies, it is still unclear to what extent the related potentialities are actually exploited. The work described in this paper aims at developing an on-line survey to be administered to industrial practitioners from different types of firm to elicit the information required to better understand the role of additive technologies and/or prototypes. In particular, we developed a preliminary version of the survey, and tested it with a limited sample of academic participants. The followed procedure, which includes the administration of a NASA Task Load Index questionnaire to participants, allowed to rapidly receive important feedbacks to support the development of a robust survey. Once administered to the expected final participants, the survey is expected to provide information about which are the main technologies used by different industrial sectors, how firms currently select 3D printers, and how they are currently used for design purposes.
... To efficiently evaluate the design concept of Step-by-Step, we carried out a user study and a session of design expert review based on a set of prototypes at different levels of fidelity, following the research suggestion from [6]. We developed two prototypes to demonstrate Step-by-Step's functions and outlook respectively. ...
This paper presents an exploratory study of a social exergame, called Step-by-Step, to help office workers initiate physical movements and social interactions in the work routine. In this project, we developed a mobile system for exploring a new mechanism of office vitality, through which the fitness task can be relayed from one to another co-worker in a workplace. Based on our prototypes, we evaluated the feasibility of Step-by-Step through a user study with five office workers and an expert interview with three senior designers. We discuss implications for the future development of the Step-by-Step system based on our qualitative findings.
... As suggested by [20], for the user study we developed the prototypes that could demonstrate the design concept and realize user system interactions based on manual controls of the light by researchers ( Figure 7).The study was conducted in an approximately 60 m 2 room. As shown in Figure 7(c), for each Wizard-of-Oz experiment we located the two participants in opposite corners of the room respectively. ...
... There are also a few studies that devise the different types of low fidelity prototyping techniques and applications [13] or high-fidelity prototypes techniques and applications [14]. Some researchers tried to categorize and differentiate prototyping techniques into low and high-fidelity prototypes [15] but it is lacking a holistic view because it only focuses on one aspect of a prototype. It might be problematic to only differentiate between service prototypes as vertical and horizontal prototypes [16] or even by trying to distinguish between them through categorization into horizontal, vertical, task-oriented, and scenario-based service prototypes [17] might not be sufficient to evaluate due to the kind of feedback that will be generated [18]. ...
Product prototyping, through the use of immersive technologies, has demonstrated its huge potential enabling co-creative exploration of different usage scenarios and evaluation of the User eXperience. It is already an extremely relevant and valuable activity in many industries and revealed as an essential element of experience design. Service prototyping is a new prominent progressive process used within service innovation intended to improve the service experience and quality while accelerating the service development process. Different types of service prototypes can be used to encompass all the different service elements throughout the service design and engineering processes. This paper presents a comparative study between the conventional and immersive service prototyping This comparison encompasses application, advantages and disadvantages of these different service prototyping. Several use cases of immersive service prototyping, either based on Virtual, Augmented or Mixed Reality technologies, are presented. This study aims to improve the body of knowledge on the use of immersive service prototyping. This is intended to help service designer understand what can be done with immersive service prototyping, and increase awareness on service prototyping. The main objective is to provide a guidance to service designers for selecting the most appropriate immersive service prototyping techniques per each case specificity.
... However, a simple binary distinction between low and high fidelity of prototypes can be problematic (Lim et al., 2008), e.g. McCurdy et al. (2006) infer that more complex combination of the two levels can be observed along five dimensions. ...
Purpose
This paper aims to argue about the involvement of additive technologies (ATs) in the prototyping issues of designing. More precisely, it reviews the literature contributions focused on the different perspectives of prototyping activities for design purposes, searching for both available knowledge and research needs concerning the correct exploitation of ATs.
Design/methodology/approach
A two-step literature review has been performed. In the first step, general information has been retrieved about prototyping issues related to design. In the second step, the literature searches were focused on retrieving more detailed information about ATs, concerning each of the main issues identified in the previous step. Extracted information has been analyzed and discussed for understanding the actual coverage of the arguments and for identifying possible research needs.
Findings
Four generally valid prototyping issues have been identified in the first step of the literature review. For each of them, available information and current lacks have been identified and discussed about the involvement of AT, allowing to extract six different research hints for future works.
Originality/value
This is the first literature review concerning AT-focused contributions that cover the complex and inter-disciplinary issues characterizing prototyping activities in design contexts
... We ran an initial feedback session, refined the design to a high-fidelity prototype, and ran a second feedback session. Acknowledging that prototyping can focus on different dimensions of fidelity [16], we focused on understanding functionality and interaction experiences rather than aesthetic and detailed visual refinement. Our low-fidelity prototype had fewer functional features compared to the later refined high-fidelity prototype. ...
Listening to podcasts is a popular way for people to spend their time. However, little focus has been given to how accessible pod-cast platforms are for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (DHH) people. We present a DHH-centered accessible podcast platform prototype developed with user-centered design. Our proposed design was constructed through semi-structured interviews (n=7) and prototype design feedback sessions (n=8) with DHH users. We encourage podcast platform designers to adopt our design recommendations to make podcasts more inclusive for DHH people and recommend how podcast hosts can make their shows more accessible. CCS CONCEPTS • Human-centered computing → Accessibility.
... On the other hand, other solutions implement completely different principles, but are sometimes implemented at a very rough level. It is acknowledged in the literature that the way in which a prototype is presented (also called the "fidelity" level) can actually influence the opinion of the audience (in this case, of the stakeholders involved in the development of new ventilators) [58][59][60]. Therefore, poorly implemented original ideas often risk being discarded because they are "not convincing", if compared to other (maybe older) ideas developed in greater detail. ...
The high concentration and rapid increase in lung diseases caused by COVID-19 has suddenly led medical staff to face a lack of ventilators in emergency situations. In this context, many enthusiasts and/or designers all over the world have started to think about low cost and open-source solutions for emergency ventilators, with the aim of providing concrete aid. In a small amount of time, many different solutions have been proposed, most of which are based on the automatic compression of the auxiliary manual breathing unit (AMBU) bag. In particular, many different designs have been conceived for the AMBU compression mechanism, which contains the most critical parts to be designed. Here arises the aim of this work, i.e., to propose a methodological approach to support the creativity of designers involved in inventing increasingly sustainable and reliable low-cost compression mechanisms for AMBU-based ventilators. Accordingly, a conceptual framework is proposed, capable of collecting existing ideas and organizing the underpinning concepts, to provide stimuli for new idea generation and to keep track of (and possibly to share) the explored design space. Illustrative examples are provided in order to show how the proposal can be used in practice. In particular, a set of currently available solutions is schematically shown through the proposed graphical tools, and the generation of new illustrative solutions is presented. Additionally, it is shown how to represent further ideas (e.g., those coming from other teams) in the framework.
... Although this generic definition has been successfully used in many research works, some scholars felt the need to provide more focused meanings. For example, MC Curdy et al. [21] identified five "dimensions" of Fidelity, together with an intermediate level (mixed fidelity). More precisely, the identified dimensions concern the fidelity of data, functionality, interactivity, form/visualization, and performance. ...
Planning prototyping strategies for conceptual design purposes is a crucial activity, which needs a clear understanding of the potentialities of the different typologies of prototype. Therefore, to prepare future designers, it is very important to provide the required information in design-related academic courses. However, prototypes and prototyping activities are often taught in specific courses with a major emphasis on the underpinning technologies, but with limited attention on design implications, especially about the fuzzy-front-end of the design process. The work presented in this paper aims at investigating about how students perceive the usefulness of prototypes during conceptual design activities, in order to provide first indications about the gap to be filled. To this purpose, two classes of students participated to an experimental session, and were asked to perform a conceptual design task individually. Subsequently, they participated to an on-line survey developed to gather information about the perceived usefulness of prototypes, in relation to the performed conceptual design activity. Several findings have been obtained from this work, but maybe the most impacting one concerns the different consideration that the two samples of students had about the fidelity of prototypes. Indeed, differently from what recently highlighted in current literature, it emerged that engineering students preferred low-fidelity prototypes. However, other unexpected evidences have been found, which highlight that at least for the considered institution, students still lack a comprehensive understanding of the design-related potentialities of prototypes.
... low-fidelity, hi-fidelity, executable, etc.) prototypes feature a concrete (yet partial) representation of an interactive system and they can be used to explore many design alternatives before implementing the final product [2]. In early phases of the development process, drawings and wire frames are useful and desirable [3] to support ideation of the product but as the process advances, they are replaced by interactive specifications and by executable prototypes [4]. Prototypes are useful and necessary but they are not sufficient to fully describe an interactive system. ...
Along the design process of interactive system multiple intermediate artefacts (such as user interface prototypes, task models, dialog models?) are created, tested, revised, and improved until the development team produces a full-fledged system. However, relevant information for describing the design solution and/or supporting design decisions (such as rational about the design, decisions made, recommendations, etc.) are not explicitly captured in the models/artefacts, hence the need for annotations. Many approaches argue against information duplication to increase maintainability of the artefacts. Nonetheless, annotations created on one artefact are usually relevant to other artefacts/models. So that, there is a need for tools and techniques to coordinate annotations across artefacts/models which is the contribution of the present work. In this paper, we propose a model-based approach that was conceived to handle annotations in a systematic way along the development process of interactive systems. As part of the solution, we propose an annotation model built upon the W3C's Web Annotation Data Model. The feasibility of the approach is demonstrated by means of a tool suite featuring a plugin, which has been deployed and tested over the multi-artefacts. The overall approach is illustrated on the design of an interactive cockpit application performing two design iterations. The contribution brings two main benefits for interactive systems engineering: i) it presents a generic pattern for integrating information in multiple usually heterogenous artefacts throughout the design process of interactive systems; and ii) it highlights the need for tools helping to rationalize and to document the various artefacts and the related decisions made during interactive systems design.
... low-fidelity, hi-fidelity, executable, etc.) prototypes feature a concrete (yet partial) representation of an interactive system and they can be used to explore many design alternatives before implementing the final product [2]. In early phases of the development process, drawings and wire frames are useful and desirable [3] to support ideation of the product but as the process advances, they are replaced by interactive specifications and by executable prototypes [4]. Prototypes are useful and necessary but they are not sufficient to fully describe an interactive system. ...
Along the design process of interactive system many intermediate artefacts (such as user interface prototypes, task models describing user work and activities, dialog models specifying system behavior, interaction models describing user interactions {\ldots}) are created, tested, revised and improved until the development team produces a validated version of the full-fledged system. Indeed, to build interactive systems there is a need to use multiple artefacts/models (as they provide a complementary view). However, relevant information for describing the design solution and/or supporting design decisions (such as rational about the design, decisions made, recommendations, etc.) is not explicitly capturable in the models/artefacts, hence the need for annotations. Multi-artefacts approaches usually argue that a given information should only be present in one artefact to avoid duplication and increase maintainability of the artefacts. Nonetheless, annotations created on one artefact are usually relevant to other artefacts/models. So that, there is a need for tools and techniques to coordinate annotations across artefacts/models which is the contribution of the present work. In this paper, we propose a model-based approach that was conceived to handle annotations in a systematic way along the development process of interactive systems. As part of the solution, we propose an annotation model built upon the W3C's Web Annotation Data Model. The feasibility of the approach is demonstrated by means of a tool suite featuring a plugin, which has been deployed and tested over the multi-artefacts. The overall approach is illustrated on the design of an interactive cockpit application performing two design iterations. The contribution brings two main benefits for interactive systems engineering: i) it presents a generic pattern for integrating information in multiple usually heterogenous artefacts throughout the design process of interactive systems; and ii) it highlights the need for tools helping to rationalize and to document the various artefacts and the related decisions made during interactive systems design. CCS CONCEPTS $\bullet$ Human-centered computing $\bullet$ Human computer interaction (HCI)
... Prototypes support the visualization of ideas and serve as boundary objects [74], enhancing learning and collaboration in the co-design projects of interdisciplinary teams with different stakeholders, such as designers and end-users [15,21,32,37,68]. Often, prototypes and their methods are differentiated regarding their fidelity and the effort necessary to create them, as well as tools applied during the creation process [56,62]. While this alone might not be sufficient to describe the usage and application fields of prototypes as valuable communication artifacts [29,44,58], one might argue that detail about the characteristics and roles the prototypes play in the design phases is lacking. ...
Augmented/Virtual Reality (AR/VR) is still a fragmented space to design for due to the rapidly evolving hardware, the interdisciplinarity of teams, and a lack of standards and best practices. We interviewed 26 professional AR/VR designers and developers to shed light on their tasks, approaches, tools, and challenges. Based on their work and the artifacts they generated, we found that AR/VR application creators fulfill four roles: concept developers, interaction designers , content authors, and technical developers. One person often incorporates multiple roles and faces a variety of challenges during the design process from the initial contextual analysis to the deployment. From analysis of their tool sets, methods, and artifacts, we describe critical key challenges. Finally, we discuss the importance of prototyping for the communication in AR/VR development teams and highlight design implications for future tools to create a more usable AR/VR tool chain. CCS CONCEPTS • Software and its engineering → Collaboration in software development; • Human-centered computing → Human computer interaction (HCI); Interaction techniques.
... Prototyping is an integral part of the UCD process [1], as prototypes instantiate user interfaces for testing with users to elicit feedback and refine designs [7]. In human-computer interaction (HCI), prototypes range from low-fidelity to interactive high-fidelity manifestations of design ideas [22], involving mixed-levels of fidelity on different dimensions [23]. Low-fidelity prototypes are low resource strategies used to obtain user feedback in the early stages of the design process, and help designers to evaluate alternatives and assess current design to improve usability [19,34,42]. ...
High-fidelity prototyping tools are used by software designers and developers to iron out interface details without full implementation. However, the lack of visual accessibility in these tools creates a barrier for designers who may use screen readers, such as those who are vision impaired. We assessed conformance of four prototyping tools (Sketch, Adobe XD, Balsamiq, UXPin) with accessibility guidelines, using two screen readers (Narrator and VoiceOver), focusing our analysis on GUI element accessibility and critical workflows used to create prototypes. We found few tools were fully accessible, with 45.9% of GUI elements meeting accessibility criteria (34.2% partially supported accessibility, 19.9% not supporting accessibility). Accessibility issues stymied efforts to create prototypes using screen readers. Though no screen reader-tool pairs were completely accessible, the most accessible pairs were VoiceOver-Sketch, VoiceOver-Balsamiq, and Narrator-Balsamiq. We recommend prioritizing improved accessibility for input and control instruction, alternative text, focus order, canvas element properties, and keyboard operations. CCS CONCEPTS •Human-centered computing~Accessibility~Accessibility systems and tools•Human-centered computing~Accessibility~Empirical studies in accessibility Additional
... Yet how exactly can these emerging technologies enhance, not detract, from procedure training and execution? The HCI Group has been building software for space mission control and operations for more than ten years (e.g., [21][22][23]). Fundamental to our software development approach is pairing it with HCI research and methods, emphasizing usability and user experience through thoughtful and purposeful designs. ...
NASA’s human spaceflight efforts are moving towards long-duration exploration missions requiring asynchronous communication between onboard crew and an increasingly remote ground support. In current missions aboard the International Space Station, there is a near real-time communication loop between Mission Control Center and astronauts. This communication is essential today to support operations, maintenance, and science requirements onboard, without which many tasks would no longer be feasible. As NASA takes the next leap into a new era of human space exploration, new methods and tools compensating for the lack of continuous, real-time communication must be explored. The Human-Computer Interaction Group at NASA Ames Research Center has been investigating emerging technologies and their applicability to increase crew autonomy in missions beyond low Earth orbit. Interactions using augmented reality and the Internet of Things have been researched as possibilities to facilitate usability within procedure execution operations. This paper outlines four research efforts that included technology demonstrations and usability studies with prototype procedure tools implementing emerging technologies. The studies address habitat feedback integration, analogous procedure testing, task completion management, and crew training. Through these technology demonstrations and usability studies, we find that low- to medium-fidelity prototypes, evaluated early in the design process, are both effective for garnering stakeholder buy-in and developing requirements for future systems. In this paper, we present the findings of the usability studies for each project and discuss ways in which these emerging technologies can be integrated into future human spaceflight operations.
... This allows prototyping of AI interfaces from the inside-out: from the data model to UI [2]. Mixed-fidelity prototypes [49] could allow designers to incorporate high-fidelity data elements in early-stage prototypes to represent ML's dependency on data [17]. In ProtoAI we take a similar approach and allow designers to incorporate input data and ML model outputs into UI prototypes (e.g., designing password meters by mapping scores from neural networks and heuristics to a visual bar [61]). ...
When prototyping AI experiences (AIX), interface designers seek useful and usable ways to support end-user tasks through AI capabilities. However, AI poses challenges to design due to its dynamic behavior in response to training data, end-user data, and feedback. Designers must consider AI's uncertainties and offer adaptations such as explainability, error recovery, and automation vs. human task control. Unfortunately, current prototyping tools assume a black-box view of AI, forcing designers to work with separate tools to explore machine learning models, understand model performance, and align interface choices with model behavior. This introduces friction to rapid and iterative prototyping. We propose Model-Informed Prototyping (MIP), a workflow for AIX design that combines model exploration with UI prototyping tasks. Our system, ProtoAI, allows designers to directly incorporate model outputs into interface designs, evaluate design choices across different inputs, and iteratively revise designs by analyzing model breakdowns. We demonstrate how ProtoAI can readily operationalize human-AI design guidelines. Our user study finds that designers can effectively engage in MIP to create and evaluate AI-powered interfaces during AIX design
... Such 'mocks' can circumvent the need for more programming effort to creating AI material designs. Our study explores mixed-fidelity prototypes [60] that provide high-fidelity representations in some dimensions and low fidelity in others. ...
Thinking of technology as a design material is appealing. It encourages designers to explore the material's properties to understand its capabilities and limitations, a prerequisite to generative design thinking. However, as a material, AI resists this approach because its properties emerge as part of the design process itself. Therefore, designers and AI engineers must collaborate in new ways to create both the material and its application experience. We investigate the co-creation process through a design study with 10 pairs of designers and engineers. We find that design 'probes' with user data are a useful tool in defining AI materials. Through data probes, designers construct designerly representations of the envisioned AI experience (AIX) to identify desirable AI characteristics. Data probes facilitate divergent thinking, material testing, and design validation. Based on our findings, we propose a process model for co-creating AIX and offer design considerations for incorporating data probes in design tools.
... Such 'mocks' can circumvent the need for more programming effort to creating AI material designs. Our study explores mixed-fidelity prototypes [60] that provide high-fidelity representations in some dimensions and low fidelity in others. ...
... Prototype fidelity level is defined by visual refinement, breadth and depth of functionality, richness of interaction, and data model [37]. Vermeeren et al. [70] defined that prototype fidelity comprises fully functional, functional, early proof-of-concept, and non-functional. ...
... Prototyping is an integral part of the UCD process [1], as prototypes instantiate user interfaces for testing with users to elicit feedback and refne designs [7]. In human-computer interaction (HCI), prototypes range from lowfdelity to interactive high-fdelity manifestations of design ideas [22], involving mixed-levels of fdelity on diferent dimensions [23]. Low-fdelity prototypes are low resource strategies used to obtain user feedback in the early stages of the design process, and help designers to evaluate alternatives and assess current design to improve usability [19,34,42]. ...
... However, this same expressiveness can generate a "wishful thinking" mindset, making designers prototype ideas that are impossible to implement or that do not solve an actual user problem (Holmquist, 2005). Practitioners know that low and high fidelity should not be considered the only options available, and mixing different levels of fidelity in the same prototype is a common practice (McCurdy et al., 2006). ...
Prototyping is essential in any design process. During the early stages, designers rely on rapid prototyping to explore ideas. Current rapid prototyping tools and techniques focus on paper representations and their disposability. However, while these throwaway prototypes are quick to create they are difficult to iterate over. I argue that rapid prototyping tools can effectively support reusable as well as throwaway artifacts for sketching interaction in early-stage design. First, I investigate tools in the context of video prototyping. Designers experience two main barriers to use video in interaction design: the time to capture and edit the video artifacts. To aid during the capturing-phase of video prototyping I created VideoClipper. This tool embodies an integrated iterative design method that rewards discipline but permits flexibility for video prototyping. The tool provides a storyboard-style overview to organize multiple videos in story Lines. VideoClipper offers editable and reusable TitleCards, video capture for steady-state and rough stop-motion filming and the ability to recombine videos in new ways for redesign. I present informal user studies with interaction design students using VideoClipper in three design courses. Results suggest that participants spend less time capturing and editing in VideoClipper than with other video tools. However, many designers find tedious to create stop-motion videos for continuous interactions and to re-shoot clips as the design evolves. Participants continuously try to reduce re-shooting by reusing backgrounds or mixing different levels of fidelity. Inspired by this behavior, I created Montage, a prototyping tool for video prototyping that lets designers progressively augment paper prototypes with digital sketches, facilitating the creation, reuse and exploration of dynamic interactions. Montage uses chroma keying to decouple the prototyped interface from its context of use, letting designers reuse or change them independently. I describe how Montage enhances video prototyping by combining video with digital animated sketches, encourages the exploration of different contexts of use, and supports prototyping of different interaction styles. Second, I investigate how early designs start being implemented into interactive prototypes. Professional designers and developers often struggle when transitioning from the illustration of the design to the actual implementation of the system. In collaboration with Nolwenn Maudet, I conducted three studies that focused on the design and implementation of custom interactions to understand the mismatches between designers' and developers' processes, tools and representations. We find that current practices induce unnecessary rework and cause discrepancies between design and implementation and we identify three recurring types of breakdowns: omitting critical details, ignoring edge cases, and disregarding technical limitations. I propose four design principles to create tools that mitigate these problems: Provide multiple viewpoints, maintain a single source of truth, reveal the invisible and support design by enaction. We apply these principles to create Enact, an interactive live environment for prototyping touch-based interactions. We introduce two studies to assess Enact and to compare designer-developer collaboration with Enact versus current tools. Results suggest that Enact helps participants detect more edge cases, increases designers' participation and provides new opportunities for co-creation. These three prototyping tools rely on the same underlying theoretical principles: reification, polymorphism, reuse, and information substrates. Also, the presented tools outline a new prototyping approach that I call "Takeaway Prototyping". In contrast to throwaway prototypes, instead of emphasizing disposability, tools for "Takeaway Prototyping" support design by enaction and reify design artifacts to materialize the lessons learned.
Prototyping is a vital activity in product development. For reasons of time, cost and level of definition, low fidelity representations of products are used to advance understanding and progress design. With the advent of Mixed Reality prototyping, the ways in which abstractions of different fidelities can be created have multiplied, but there is no guidance on how best to specify this abstraction. In this paper, a taxonomy of the dimensions of product fidelity is proposed so that both designers and researchers can better understand how fidelity can be managed to maximise prototype value.
Building prototypes is an important part of the concept selection phase of the design process, where fuzzy ideas get represented to support communication and decision making. However, the previous studies have shown that prototypes generate different levels of user feedback based on their fidelity and esthetics. Furthermore, prior research on concept selection has shown that individual risk attitude effects how individuals select ideas, as creative ideas are perceived to be riskier in comparison to less creative ideas. While the role of risk has been investigated in concept selection, there is lack of research on how risk is related to the selection of prototypes at various levels of fidelity. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of prototype fidelity, concept creativity, and risk aversion on perceived riskiness and concept selection through a between-subjects study with 72 engineering students. The results revealed that there was a "goldilocks" effect in which students choose concepts with "just the right amount" of novelty, not too much and not too little, as long as quality was adequate. In addition, the prototype fidelity of a concept had an interaction with uniqueness, indicating that unique concepts are more likely to be perceived as less risky if presented at higher levels of fidelity.
In this paper we present different approaches for interdisciplinary collaborations between art and culture professionals resp. cultural institutions and the interdisciplinary XR experts of our research group. We discuss lessons learned and best practices devised from multiple years of experience in interdisciplinary collaborations. Different project settings need different solutions: With our contribution, we hope to show exemplary ways for successful interdisciplinary collaborations at the intersection of culture and computer science – and to show the potential of such projects for the development of new ways and tools of collaboration.
In diesem Kapitel geht es darum, wie nutzerzentriertes Design in verschiedenen Entwicklungskontexten funktionieren kann. Sie erfahren, welche Veränderungen notwendig sind und inwieweit bestehende Prozesse verändert oder ergänzt werden müssen. Ein Beispiel für mögliche Veränderungen im agilen Entwicklungskontext schließt das Kapitel ab.
Mixed prototyping, combining virtual and physical prototypes, is an emerging method used to aid in usability testing. This study aims to determine when to use a mixed prototype and how to choose its fidelity to validate the usability testing results and reduce the prototyping cost. A 2×2 between-subject experiment was designed to investigate the effects of the media (head-mounted display versus computer monitor) and physical interaction (using a tangible mock-up or not) on the usability evaluation results and other subjective measures. The experiment results showed that, when aesthetic and functional features are controlled, the non-functional mock-up facilitates users in finding problems regarding physical interaction and ergonomics. Media with high immersion positively influenced the users' subjective ratings. Based on the findings of this study, guidelines on how to choose the fidelity of the prototype during different stages of a usability test are suggested to help product developers find a cost-efficient way to conduct usability tests.
The researchers developed and tested a hybrid physical/digital toolset for architectural prototyping, named “Ph2D,” which allows adjustments in a physical floorplan model to be mirrored and analyzed in a digital platform. The toolset uses a modular approach based on interconnectable tiles (e.g., “wall section with exterior door”). Additional tile pieces beyond the base toolset can be 3D-printed and/or digitally defined by users, allowing for a large degree of customization. The “digital twin” approach combines the utility of hand-on experimentation with automatic digital representation, and it enables analytical tools such as connectivity analysis and energy performance simulation to be conducted simultaneously with the physical design ideation. User-testing (n = 182) indicated significant enthusiasm for the toolset's usability, and showed an association between exposure to the toolset and higher regard for physical prototyping in design. Non-designers expressed a strong interest in experimenting with the tool, indicating potentially effective roles in design education and team-communication.
Urban sanitation in growing cities of the Global South presents particular challenges, like the speed of their growth, the high population density, and, often, the lack of existing wastewater infrastructure. This led to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Reinvent The Toilet Challenge, a call to develop novel, non-sewered sanitation technologies, which sparked the development of various inventions, like the Nano Membrane Toilet. Complex technologies like this entail an extensive product development process, including various iterations of prototype tests. While there is an abundance of literature discussing how to build prototypes, and the optimal number of tests, there has been little focus on how to plan, communicate, and conduct tests, especially in a product development endeavour of this complexity. Multiple aspects of testing prototypes are reviewed. A visual test planning tool is proposed that encompasses the entire product development process and can be used to plan and communicate prototype tests for the Nano Membrane Toilet to ultimately achieve compliance with international standards.
In diesem Kapitel geht es darum, wie nutzerzentriertes Design in verschiedenen Entwicklungskontexten funktionieren kann. Sie erfahren, welche Veränderungen notwendig sind und inwieweit bestehende Prozesse verändert oder ergänzt werden müssen. Ein Beispiel für mögliche Veränderungen im agilen Entwicklungskontext schließt das Kapitel ab.
Nowadays, prototyping is widely used in the industry for exploring design alternatives by engaging all project stakeholders. This is especially true at the earlier stage of the design process during both co-creation and exploration activities. However, prototypes have different forms, such as physical forms like mock-ups, often based on 3D-printing, or virtual forms based on immersive technologies like Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) or even Mixed Reality (MR). The main advantage of prototyping has been synthesized in a simple sentence, expressed by John Meada, a former MIT professor: “If a picture is worth a thousand words, a prototype is worth a thousand meetings”, cited by Banfield et al. (2017). More recently, the service sector has started to also adopt prototyping for exploring service design alternatives (Blomkvist 2014). This involves different levels of service complexity, such as: online consultancy, machine configurators, simulators for the training of machine operators or more simply assembly and disassembly guidance. Nevertheless, the current body of knowledge on Service Prototyping is lacking comparison among Service Prototype (SP) forms - conventional versus immersive - that would help businesses in the service sector to select the most appropriate SP form. In this context of the service sector, our investigation aims to bring new knowledge about the potential impact of immersive technologies on SP. Overall, it would help service organizations to experience a service idea even before this service really exists or to foresee which SP form is the most appropriate according to their specific context and degree of service complexity.
A literature review was carried out in order to identify the potential objective and subjective impact factors. Our created theoretical SP adoption model allows comparing different forms of Service Prototypes according to their respective performance in terms of completion, errors, and user perception. This model was used to design an experiment, which involves mixed methods, allowing collecting a sufficient amount of quantitative data for running a statistical analysis formative approach for validating our SP adoption model. First of all, our empirical study has allowed validating our SP adoption model. Secondly, it has unveiled the positive impact of immersive technologies on service prototyping for getting an anticipated experience before a service is implemented. Thirdly, it has revealed the higher performance of AR- and MR-SP forms compared to VR and conventional SP forms. Finally, besides the obvious fact that only AR- and MR-SP forms allow to simultaneously learn a service operation, the VR-SP form is the one exhibiting the highest immersiveness and adoption score, especially because it allows exploring a service before it really exists.
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-03123918/
Nowadays, prototyping is widely used in the industry for exploring design alternatives by engaging all project stakeholders. This is especially true at the earlier stage of the design process during both co-creation and exploration activities. However, prototypes have different forms, such as: physical forms like mock-ups, often based on 3D-printing, or virtual forms based on immersive technologies like Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) or even Mixed Reality (MR). The main advantage of prototyping has been synthesized in a simple sentence, expressed by John Meada, a former MIT professor: “If a picture is worth a thousand words, a prototype is worth a thousand meetings”, cited by Banfield et al. (2017). More recently, the service sector has started to also adopt prototyping for exploring service design alternatives (Blomkvist, 2014). This involves different levels of service complexity, such as: online consultancy, machine configurators, and simulators for the training of machine operators or more simply assembly and disassembly guidance. Nevertheless, the current body of knowledge on Service Prototyping is lacking comparison among Service Prototype (SP) forms - conventional versus immersive - that would help businesses in the service sector to select the most appropriate SP form. In this context of the service sector, our investigation aims to bring new knowledge about the potential impact of immersive technologies on SP. Overall, it would help service organizations to experience a service idea even before this service really exists or to foresee which SP form is the most appropriate according to their specific context and degree of service complexity.A literature review was carried out in order to identify potential objective and subjective impact factors. Our created theoretical SP adoption model allows comparing different forms of Service Prototypes according to their respective performance in terms of completion, errors, and usage perception. This model was used to design an experiment, which involves mixed methods, allowing collecting a sufficient amount of quantitative data for running a statistical analysis formative approach for validating our SP adoption model. First of all, our empirical study has allowed validating our SP adoption model. Secondly, it has unveiled the positive impact of immersive technologies on service prototyping for getting an anticipated experience before a service is implemented. Thirdly, it has revealed the higher performance of AR- and MR-SP forms compared to VR and conventional SP forms. Finally, besides the obvious fact that only AR- and MR-SP forms allow to simultaneously learn a service operation, the VR-SP form is the one exhibiting the highest immersiveness and adoption score, especially because it allows exploring a service before it really exists.
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how can prototypes contribute to the requirements elicitation for smart services in the early development stages. Smart services are delivered to or via intelligent objects and are characterized by context awareness, connectivity, and data-driven value creation. Smart services and prototyping are emerging topics in requirements elicitation and pose challenges to existing approaches. This article creates a fundamental understanding for the requirements elicitation by characterizing smart services in a layer model that illustrates the structure, processes, and interaction of the networked components. Based on this, the strategies outline ways how prototypes for smart services can be composed in a result-oriented way and applied in requirements elicitation. The models are based on the results of a comprehensive literature review and demonstrate their relevance using case studies from the mobility sector.
Various aspects mixed-intiative activity plan generator (MAPGEN), an activity-planning tool, used in Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission are discussed. MAPGEN is a mission-critical software in the uplink process for MER surface operation. MAPGEN automatically generates plans and schedules for science and associated engineering activities, assists in hypothesis testing, supports plan editing, analyzes resource usage and performs constraint enforcement and maintenance. Lower-level activities based on the definitions in the activity dictionary are expanded by APGEN which are provided to MAPGEN along with relative and absolute timing constraints.
In two experiments, each using a different product (either a CD-ROM based eleclxonic book or an interactive voice response system), we compared the usability problems uncovered using low- and high-fidelity prototypes. One group of subjects performed a series of tasks using a paperbased low-fidelity prototype, while another performed the same tasks using either a high-fidelity prototype or the actual product. In both experiments, substantially the same sets of usability problems were found in the low- and highfidelity conditions. Moreover, there was a significant correlation between the proportion of subjects detecting particular problems in the low- and high-fidelity groups. In other words, individual problems were detected by a similar proportion of subjects in both the low- and high-fidelity conditions. We conclude that the use of low-fidelity prototypes can be effective throughout the product development cycle, not just during the initial stages of design.
This study investigated the differences between computer-based and paper-based low-fidelity prototypes. It researched whether subjects confronted with these two kinds of prototypes differ in their willingness to criticize a system and to give suggestions for its improvement. The chosen approach was an empirical study including test sessions using both kinds of prototypes. Quantitative and qualitative methods were applied to measure and to explain possible differences.
Through a study of web site design practice, we observed that web site designers design sites at different levels of refinement—site map, storyboard, and individual page—and that designers sketch at all levels during the early stages of design. However, existing web design tools do not support these tasks very well. Informed by these observations, we created DENIM, a system that helps web site designers in the early stages of design. DENIM supports sketching input, allows design at different refinement levels, and unifies the levels through zooming. We performed an informal evaluation with seven professional designers and found that they reacted positively to the concept and were interested in using such a system in their work.
Hix, who for years has been teaching courses and workshops in interface design, says that people consistently enter the first Lo-fi exercise with skepticism. Having seen other skeptics converted, I'm confident in recommending this technique.
Researchers at University of California, Berkeley and Carnegie
Mellon University have designed, implemented, and evaluated SILK
(Sketching Interfaces Like Krazy), an informal sketching tool that
combines many of the benefits of paper-based sketching with the merits
of current electronic tools. With SILK, designers can quickly sketch an
interface using an electronic pad and stylus, and SILK recognizes
widgets and other interface elements as the designer draws them. Unlike
paper-based sketching, however, designers can exercise these elements in
their sketchy state. For example, a sketched scroll-bar is likely to
contain an elevator or thumbnail, the small rectangle a user drags with
a mouse. In a paper sketch, the elevator would just sit there, but in a
SILK sketch, designers can drag it up and down, which lets them test
component or widget behavior. SILK also supports the creation of
storyboards-the arrangement of sketches to show how design elements
behave, such as how a dialog box appears when the user activates a
button. Storyboards are important because they give designers a way to
show colleagues, customers, or end users early on how an interface will
behave
This paper originates from a series of discussions between programme committee members during the preparation of the Working Conference on Prototyping. While trying to define the topic of the conference, it became clear to us that we each held our own viewpoint on the subject. Views differed as to the specific use of terminology as well as the application-oriented emphasis on particular strategies, and so did our judgements about the potential usefulness of prototyping. The views did not, however, seem contradictory but rather complementary.
This paper argues that it is possible to gain good design information from low-cost user trials of low-fidelity prototypes early in the design process, and that simple prototyping is a valuable tool in the user-centred design of new technology especially “smart” consumer products. The value of that design information depends on the stage of the design process at which user testing is carried out and the associated level of realism or fidelity of the prototype. The first stages involve testing simple prototypes which examine the cognitive, or information processing, needs of the user, followed by higher-fidelity prototypes which examine the physical (visual, auditory and tactile) needs of the user.The results of four studies are discussed to illustrate: the extent and nature of the design information gathered, the relative merits of varying the fidelity of the prototypes, and the benefits and costs associated with using different levels of fidelity of prototypes in a user-centred approach to design. Finally, and based on that discussion, an appropriate and practical design strategy is suggested.
DEMAIS is an informal design tool that we claim helps a multimedia designer explore and communicate temporal and interactive (behavioral) design ideas better than existing tools. This paper seeks to empirically validate our claim. We report on an evaluation comparing DEMAIS to pencil and paper and Authorware for the exploration and communication of behavior in early multimedia design. The main results are that (i) DEMAIS was better than Authorware for both exploring and communicating behavior, (ii) DEMAIS was better than pencil and paper for communicating behavior, and (iii) DEMAIS was able to capture most of a designer's behavioral design ideas. Our results show that DEMAIS bridges the early investment/communication gap that exists among current multimedia design tools.
The HCI discipline has long promoted the communication and collaboration between usability experts and intended users of systems. We present case studies that highlight the importance of representations in communication between not just usability experts and end users, but also graphic designers, clients, and technologists. Our case studies are used to illustrate the need to select appropriate representations for the target audience and the stage of system development. We argue that relationships can be identified between representation fidelity, target audience, and stage of development. These relationships can then be used to inform the appropriate selection of representations.
Prototypes' different purposes give them different requirements. Purposes for UI prototypes in pervasive computing systems development include communicating design ideas to diverse team members, supporting formative user tests, and providing summative evaluations of skilled user performance. CogTool is a system for rapidly building HTML storyboards as prototypes to fulfill all three purposes. It automatically produces quantitative predictions of skilled user performance time through demonstration, making human performance modeling more accessible to system designers.This article is part of a special issue on rapid prototyping.
Balancing fidelity in prototyping: Choosing the right level of graphic detail interactivity breadth and depth. The Interaction Designer's Coffee Break Issue 13
- H Olsen