CS2003 - Week 22 - Usability Testing and Prototyping

Prototyping

A tangible representation of a design to explore usability

Purpose of prototyping

Test ideas/early/cheaply, Gather user feedback, Fail fast to refine designs

Low-Fidelity (Lo-Fi) prototypes

Sketches, wireframes, storyboards, index cards

Pros and Cons of Lo-Fi

Pros: fast, cheap, iterative; Cons: hard to test/visualise fine details

High-Fidelity (Hi-Fi) prototypes

Interactive Digital Prototypes (Figma, Adobe), Physical Kits (Arduino)

Pros and Cons of Hi-Fi

Pros: near-final look/feel (realistic); Cons: costly, users may hesitate to critique

Other prototypes

Rapid prototyping: 3D-printed models (expensive but functional), Vertical: Deep dive into few features (database proof-of-concept), Horizontal: Broad but shallow (full UI mock up), Chauffeured: Designer manually demonstrates paper interface, Wizard of Oz: Human simulates system responses (chatbots)

Usability Testing

Observing real users performing tasks to evaluate ease of user

Usability Testing process

Assign tasks, Record behaviour/feedback, Identify pain points