Effective Prototyping for Software Makers |
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| Jonathan Arnowitz (Author), Michael Arent (Author), Nevin Berger (Author) |
| December 2006, Morgan Kaufmann, Paperback, 624 pages, ISBN 0120885689
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Much as we hate to admit it, most prototyping practice lacks a sophisticated understanding of the broad concepts of prototypingand its strategic position within the development process. Often we overwhelm with a high fidelity prototype that designs us into a corner. Or, we can underwhelm with a prototype with too much ambiguity and flexibility to be of much use in the software development process.
This book will help software makersdevelopers, designers, and architectsbuild effective prototypes every time: prototypes that convey enough information about the product at the appropriate time and thus set expectations appropriately.
This practical, informative book will help anyonewhether or not one has artistic talent, access to special tools, or programming abilityto use good prototyping style, methods, and tools to build prototypes and manage for effective prototyping.
Features
* A prototyping process with guidelines, templates, and worksheets;
* Overviews and step-by-step guides for 9 common prototyping techniques;
* An introduction with step-by-step guidelines to a variety of prototyping tools that do not require advanced artistic skills;
* Templates and other resources used in the book available on the Web for reuse;
* Clearly-explained concepts and guidelines;
* Full-color illustrations, and examples from a wide variety of prototyping processes, methods, and tools.
Jonathan Arnowitz is a principal user experience designer at SAP Labs and is the co-editor-in-chief of Interactions Magazine. Most recently Jonathan was a senior user experience designer at Peoplesoft. He is a member of the SIGCHI executive committee, and was a founder of DUX, the first ever joint conference of ACM SIGCHI, ACM SIGGRAPH, AIGA Experience Design Group, and STC.
Michael Arent is the manager of user experience design at SAP Labs, and has previously held positions at Peoplesoft, Inc, Adobe Systems, Inc, Sun Microsystems, and Apple Computer, Inc. He holds several U.S. patents.
Nevin Berger is design director at Ziff Davis Media. Previously he was a senior interaction designer at Oracle Corporation and Peoplesoft, Inc., and has held creative director positions at ZDNet, World Savings, and OFOTO, Inc.
* A prototyping process with guidelines, templates, and worksheets;
* Overviews and step-by-step guides for 9 common prototyping techniques;
* An introduction with step-by-step guidelines to a variety of prototyping tools that do not require advanced artistic skills;
* Templates and other resources used in the book available on the Web for reuse;
* Clearly-explained concepts and guidelines;
* Full-color illustrations, and examples from a wide variety of prototyping processes, methods, and tools. |
0: Preface: Effective Prototyping, why this book?
1: Why Prototyping
2: The effective prototyping process
3: Verify prototype assumptions and requirements
4: Develop Task Flows and Scenarios
5: Define prototype content and fidelity
6: Determine Characteristics
7: Choose a Method
8: Choose a Prototyping Tool
9: Establish the design criteria
10: Create the Design
11: Review the Design: the internal review
12: Validate and iterate the prototype
13: Deploy the design
14: Card sorting
15: Wireframe prototyping
16: Storyboard prototyping
17: Paper prototyping
18: Digital interactive prototyping
19: Blank model prototyping
20: Video prototyping
21: Wizard of Oz prototyping
22: Coded prototyping
23: Prototyping with office suite applications
24: Prototyping with Visio
25: Prototyping with Acrobat
26: Prototyping with Photoshop |
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Review-Date: 6/23/2008 Rating: 2 Summary: Two stars to the publisher
Two stars to the publisher. This book is verbose, as most American books are. It is good of course to clarify concepts and to repeat them in different chapters, but my impression after having read a part of it is that it is definitely too much, as the same concept is repeated three or four times withing two–three pages.
I am sure that this 560 pages book could have been published on 200–250 pages. Not only because the text could have been shorter. Some images are used two or three times in the book even unnecessarily, and some of them provide a little value add to the comprehension. Moreover, a large amount of space is being used for visual maps that represent steps in the process, as if designers were children who need large coloured titles repeated throughout the whole book extensively as signposts.
Quite a good reference to all different prototyping techniques, but as a professional IA and UI designer, I am sure that this stuff is obsolete compared to what one can find on the web.
Review-Date: 8/1/2007 Rating: 5 Summary: Strongly recommended
As a visual interface designer (and a reviewer of this book while in its manuscript stages), and as someone who has worked for fifteen years in software interface design, I recommend this book. The authors are experienced designers themselves, and this book is strong on both theory and practical advice. It can be read through in page order or used as a reference for just–in–time help. The text provides detailed advice about how to select and use appropriate tools for building various kinds of prototypes, how to plan for the full range of prototyping activities, and guidelines for basic visual interface design. As far as I know, there is no other text available covering this range of topics.
The authors also talk about important process issues, and talk about how prototyping is used to learn not only about product features but also about users and markets. They argue that prototypes are a risk–reducing activity, and this business case for prototyping may the best way to promote adoption of more and better prototyping practices.
The text is well organized and does a good job of identifying appropriate techniques for early, mid–term, and late development phases. This won‘t substitute for actual professional experience, but it will undoubtedly save many readers from choosing the wrong method at the wrong time. The book is a virtual template for best practices in software prototyping.
Another important aspect of the book is the author‘s attention to the value of prototyping in supporting collaborative work and building a shared sense of purpose and strategy among teams. It‘s another argument that ought to appeal to management.
This is an ideal text for software engineers and designers who have not done much prototyping as well as students in engineering, design, and human factors. I recommend it to my own clients who are still developing their capability in this area. A basic familiarity with the aspects of prototyping presented in this volume should really be considered a part of the fundamental knowledge base of anyone in the software development field.
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