#annotated wireframes

Review Prototyping ch. 12 (Zaki Warfel)

Finish refining your wireframes based on feedback you received last class.

Annotate your wireframes. You want to be clear about how each functional element of your interface behaves.

Incorporate interactive elements into your paper prototype using vellum, post-its, index cards, slits made with an X-acto, etc. See section entitled 'Progressive Paper Prototyping' in chapter 6 of Prototyping. (Zaki Warfel)

Create a usability testing plan*

Who is your audience? How are you going to capture user responses?—video? audio? photos? Be sure to take notes!

Introduce yourself to your (potential) participant and ask for his/her time.

You may want to ask the tester to share an experience related to the goal of your interface.

Introduce the interface (homescreen) and its purpose.

Bring your participant into the interface’s ‘headspace’ by painting a picture, a scenario.

Verbally walk them through each step/ screen. Make sure that you word your questions in such a way that it asks the test participant to figure out the action that will take them to the next step/ screen in your given taskflow.

Ask the participant to “think aloud” as they follow your prompts and answer your questions.

A few example prompts:

What option would enable you to do X?

What would you select to view Y?

Where would you find Z?

Refine your wireframes. The level of fidelity—both for content and how you render it—should be testable.

Complete your annotations. See here for a good example.

Create a paper prototype. Refer to the excerpt from Prototyping chapter 6 (Dropbox).

Read about usability testing at the end of chapter 23 in Designing for the Digital Age. A List Apart also has a good explanation on the value and process of usability testing here.

Write your testing plan and place it in a document:

1. Introduce yourself and the service.

2. Use the beginning of the scenario you wrote to bring your test participant into the service headspace and to introduce the user goal.

3. Guide your test participant through each step in the service process without giving them the answer.