Brief hello, and a request for case studies
Hi everyone, I'm excited to get going on this book! I'll post a "formal" hello and introduction soon, but while I've got your attention, let me ask: have you used prototypes in some life-changing way? If so, would you (and your employer) be interested in having your experience written up in my new book? I'm always looking for good case study fodder, so comment below or contact me directly if you're interested.
Comments
Hi there. Thanks for writing this book. I am very much looking forward to the finished product.
One quick comment after reading your sample chapter....
I always appreciate when book authors separate their content regarding WHAT something is, WHY should I use it, and HOW should I use it. This means that if I am skeptical about a design tool then I can read the first chapters of the book and find out quickly whether I should read the rest of the book, or if I am already convinced of the value of a tool then I can skip to the end chapters to get what I want out of the book. A very good example of this kind of organization is Carolyn Snyders 'Paper Prototyping.' In your current sample chapter 'what and why of a prototype' these focuses are mixed together. As someone already knows WHY (i was sold on prototyping long ago :-), but would really like to hear your opinion on WHAT and HOW, I don't have the time (or don't want to spend the time I do have) wading through that other information to get to what I want.
that said, I really like the book concept and your straighforward and experience-based writing style. great :-)
best of luck!
- elizabeth
usability analyst
transporeon.com
Posted by: elizabethwhitworth | March 13, 2007 2:11 PM
Elizabeth, great comments. This is exactly the type of information I'm looking for to make this book as effective as possible. It's very important to me to make sure the book addresses the audiences' questions in an effective, efficient, and meaningful way. And your suggestion of making sure the initial part of the book answers the What, Why, and How will be taken to heart.
Posted by: Todd Zaki Warfel | March 13, 2007 2:28 PM
I don't think I can provide a full case study ( we're quite a tight-lipped company ), but I can at least share a few insights and lessons-learned from prototyping a UI for an embedded system: http://bose.com/mediasystem
-Jed
Posted by: Jed Wood | March 14, 2007 10:38 AM
The closest I've come to "life changing" was an unfortunately large, negative, emotional reaction to my use of a clickable wireframe as a prototype for testing. Certain business people at this large company wanted to pull their hair out when they discovered I had showed customers something without proper design and branding, though the prototype served its direct purposes fine.
Not sure if a book can accomplish this, but something that illustrates the use of prototypes in the overall relationship between a company (esp one with strong brands) and its customers might be useful.
Posted by: Victor Lombardi | March 15, 2007 5:29 AM
Hi Todd.
I am a big fan of prototyping and work with many early stage startups to help them visual and iterate through their ideas as quickly and affordable as possible. I have lots of possible products / case studies that could be fun for you to see from products to software. A small list of products, service and company that I have built recently
www.thedaysago.com - digital day time (recently featured on oprah and real simple product of the month)
www.thedischub.com - innovative disc storage
www.zubio.com - semiprivate chair massage stations with a unique online reservation system
There are many more in the hopper - drop me a line if you have any interest.
-- jb
Posted by: Jonathan Bruck | March 17, 2007 1:24 PM
Hi.
I worked on a mobile phone project for my masters project at UC Berkeley. The team I worked with did a series of prototypes going from various modes of paper prototyping (in lab and over time at home), to series of slight-of-hand flash lite interfaces on mobile phones. During the project the team and I learned a lot about prototyping for mobile devices. What was especially interesting was the work that needs to be done to configure our users during paper prototyping phases (we spent a considerable amount of time iterating an interface that was hard to use on a phone because although we told our users they were on a phone they still imagined a mouse-like pointing device). Would you be interested in hearing more about this type of example?
Carrie
Posted by: Carrie | March 19, 2007 2:55 PM
I did some "guerilla usability testing" using some built prototypes quite often while I was working at Seattle Children's Hospital. I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for as nothing was formally written down but if so let me know and I'd be happy to help out.
Posted by: Tom Watson | March 19, 2007 7:38 PM