Assignment #2: Low Fidelity Prototype
Assigned: February 5th, 2009
Due: March 2nd, 2009 at 11:59PM
Objective: In this assignment, you will be build upon your contextual inquiry to start visualizing solutions to the problems that you observed. You will begin by refining your personas. Using these personas as "actors", you will create three storyboards or scenarios, each depicting a task that your system will support. Finally, you will build at least three low-fidelity prototypes of possible solutions you could develop.
What to Do:
1) Schedule a group meeting. Most of the tasks described below should be completed during one or two collaborative brainstorming sessions including the entire design team.
2) Starting with the list you made for the last assignment, decide the user personas that you are aiming to satisfy. Define each of their primary goals in using your system. Further refine each persona, by providing additional details and/or pictures. By the end, they should be full-featured descriptions that can be used as a reference by the design team. Aim for providing additional detail about 3-5 personas, further identifying 1 (or 2) of them as the primary focus of your efforts.
3) Starting with this persona's goals, decide three key tasks that your system will support. Tasks are specific sets of actions that will allow users to achieve their goals. These tasks should address a broad set of important user priorities. Using your personas as actors, depict in a scenario how your system would be used to achieve each of these tasks, preferably using a storyboard representation. (Creative use of graphics is encouraged, even if you can't draw or sketch!)
4) Using paper, index cards, post-its, cardboard, tape, glue and anything else you can imagine, build at least three paper prototype alternatives that can be used to mock "perform" the tasks depicted above. Use the reading for motivation, and again, be creative!
What To Turn In:
The preferred method of turn-in is to create a dedicated page for your group project on the course Wiki, including each of the following components. To avoid a late penalty, e-mail a link to your group's project page to the professor and TA before 11:59 PM on Monday, March 2nd:
1) Cover sheet including yourself and your partners' names, and your chosen focus. Note the time, duration and attendance of each brainstorming session. Include a paragraph about what each person contributed to the assignment [1 page].
2) A list of core user personas. Include pictures, demographic details, and any other details that you feel are necessary to make the persona come to life and serve as a useful resource for the design team. [2-3 pages].
3) At least three storyboards depicting the tasks that your proposed system will support. These can either be scanned in, or composed electronically [2-3 pages].
4) Pictures of your low-fidelity prototypes. These pictures should include enough detail and supporting text so that we can understand how the eventual system is intended to work. During class, bring the physical prototype to show during show and tell [2-3 pages].
5) Reflect on the experience of prototyping. What was easy? What was hard? Was it fun? [1/2 page]
The total length of your report should be less than 10 pages. Brevity, clarity and focus on the goals of the assignment will be rewarded. Illustrative graphics are welcome and encouraged!
Please contact the professor or the class TA using the course mailing list if you have any questions with this assignment.