autumn 2007

CS147: Introduction to Human-Computer Interaction Design

Assignment 5: Paper Prototype — Grade Value: 7.5%
Due by 11am on Thursday, October 25 (Submitted Online)

brief

As Carolyn Snyder writes, "Paper prototyping is a variation of usability testing where the representative users perform realistic tasks by interacting with a paper version of the interface that is manipulated by a person 'playing computer' who doesn't explain how the interface is intended to work." In this assignment, your group will construct a paper prototype, test the prototype on someone else, and write up the results.

assignment

You have already formed small project teams of three or four people. This will be your project team for the rest of the quarter. You should design your paper prototype with specific STUs – situation, task, and user – in mind. For example, your prototype might address how a kid (user) buys a "snow cone" (task) from a ice cream truck (situation) with PayPal mobile.

Working as a group, you will create a paper prototype that illustrates 3 major tasks for your interface / interaction design, perhaps based on your storyboards. The prototype should be complete enough to "run" a new user through each task. Use paper prototyping techniques covered in lecture, the Snyder reading, and optionally http://paperprototyping.com/references.html to guide your process.

Before you come to section, your group will find one appropriate user who is not in your group and run them through the major tasks in the prototype to make sure that you have something that works. Be sure to iteratively refine your prototype until you feel satisfied that it works.

(Note: every group member should play the part of "Wizard" or "computer" at least once, and all major tasks should be tested. You should also observe your teammates enacting a paper prototyping session.)

Bring your full paper prototype to section and have one person in your group ready to "run" the prototype with the three major tasks. Your prototype will be run by a "user" at section.

(Target time: This exercise should take you about 4 hours as a group.)

Your group will submit a single write-up which will contain:

• A short prototyping plan  -- What do you want to get out of prototyping and how will you do so? Justify your choice of prototyping techniques, methods and materials. (One paragraph)
• Description of the major tasks (No more than 80 words.)
• Relevant digital photos of the assembled prototype (the photos will most likely look like what you had drawn in your storyboard) and the prototyping session
• A 1/2 page summary of the process used when you ran the prototype with your participant(s). Include a "critical incident" report (see readings).
• Discussion of the revisions you made to the paper prototype through the testing (less than a page)
• One paragraph that explaining and synthesizes your learnings / observations into implications for future design (interactive prototype)

design goals and evaluation criteria

• Does the paper prototype work for the Paper Prototyping phase?
• Can the prototype be used to run the major interface tasks?
• Analysis of the test and the critical incident report
• Clarity of the paper prototype and a concise, lucid write-up (including implications for design)

in studio

As a group, you will describe and motivate the STU(s) chosen. Each group member will tell a 30-second story about what they learned. Each group will run a single user test on another classmate, if time permits.

grading rubric

The assignment was graded out of 75 points. The points were broken down as follows:

• 10 points for presentation: Did the student present? Were all required items in the presentation?

(Paper prototype)

• 10 points for clarity: were the interface details clear? (i.e., buttons labeled, text readable)
• 15 points for execution: could a user actually interact with the interface? (use of post-its or transparency as appropriate, swapping bits in and out)
• 10 points for completeness: were all the three tasks actually supported? Could a user do more than one thing at a time?

(Writeup)

• 5 points for plan/tasks/photos
• 15 points for summary and revisions: did the group describe revisions (more than one) made to the paper prototype through testing?
• 10 points for clarity and implications for design

student examples

• Gillum et al.'s paper prototype
• Lee et al.'s paper prototype