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Prototype development is a central activity for many design teams.
The role of human factors engineers in prototyping is to ensure
the prototypes include functionality sufficient to understand how
users will experience the system and then provide rapid feedback
to the design team regarding how to improve the users’ experience.

Y Paper prototypes are more
of a tool to understand user
needs than an initial design
solution.

Early prototypes for software development are created by drawing
dialog boxes and other interface elements to create a paper prototype
as shown in the sidebar (Table 2.4). Paper prototypes of software
systems are useful because screen designs can be sketched,
thenmodified with little effort, making it possible to try outmany
design alternatives. For this reason, they are useful early in the
design process. Because paper prototypes are sketchy versions
of the system, users feel more open to identifying flaws. Paper
prototypes can even be created during the interviews and used as
props to clarify conversations with users. The main purpose of
paper prototypes is to guide interaction design and ensure that the
structure of the systemmeets the users’ needs.

After paper prototypes, wireframes are created, which are simple
layouts that show grouping and location of content, but which
omit graphics and detailed functionality. Wireframes are primarily
used to communicate with the design team (see Chapter 10 for
more details), and are helpful in documenting decisions and communicating
the essential interactions people might have with the
product. Wireframes lack details for the look and feel of the interface
or product; these are elements that are the focus ofmockups.
Mockups focus on the look and feel, and include color, font, layout,
and choices of the final product. Wireframes are limited to software
systems, but mockups are often created for hardware systems.
Wireframes communicate the system’s functional characteristics
to the design team, and mockups are used to communicate the system’s
physical features to the design teamand other stakeholders,
such as users and managers.

Building on wireframes andmockups, we create high-fidelity
prototypes so that users can experience elements of the final design.
Collecting information from these experiences leads to redesigning
the prototype. One analysis showed that user performance
improved 12% with each redesign iteration and that the average
time to performsoftware-based tasks decreased 35% from the first
to the final design iteration [51], while another analysis showed 20-
40% improvement per iteration [52]. This redesign and evaluation
continues for many iterations, sometimes as many as 10 or 20, or
more for complex products.

Rough, easily created and easily
changed paper prototypes invite
changes.
A refined, high-fidelity prototype
provides an experience that more
precisely matches that of the final
product.
Source: X. Lu and X.Mei. 4

Table 2.4 Paper prototype and highfidelity
prototype

To summarize, using paper prototypes, wireframes, mockups,
and prototypes in the design process has a number of advantages:

• Paper prototypes help understand user needs and if the early
design concepts meet those needs

• Wireframes communicate and document ideas for the design
team

• Mockups make ideas concrete to stakeholders and sponsors

• Prototypes support heuristic evaluation

• Prototypes support evaluation by giving users something to
react to and use

Beyond these specific uses, prototypes help build empathy
for the user by allowing designers to directly experience the use
of their system. However, simply using the prototype is often insufficient
for the designer to have the same experience as the actual
user because designers are often very different from the users.
One method for designers to have an experience thatmore closely
matches that of actual users is to use empathy suits. Empathy suits
can help a 30-year old feel what it might be like to be an 85-year old
to get into car, or what it is like to get into a car when nine months
pregnant.

Although this discussion has focused on software prototypes,
prototypes of hardware are equally important, as are prototypes of
new work processes. Important elements of the overall system design
that the prototyping process might neglect include the support
systems, such as instruction manuals, and the broader organizational
design. Human factors professionals can help design these
with a prototyping mindset, where they develop initial designs
based on a task analysis and understanding of human capabilities
and then evaluate and improve the designs in an iterativemanner
before a final version is delivered. Prototypes of support material,
such as manuals and help systems, and of the team and organizational
design are sometimes neglected if the team is too focused
on the physical and software elements of the system.

Dieter Rams (1932–) Highly inuential designer
who asked and answered the question,
What is good design [10]?
His answers to this question remains an important
touchstone for design thinking.
Source: Vitsoe, CC BY-SA 3.0. 5
Good design is innovative: The possibilities
for innovation are not, by any means, exhausted.
Technological development is always
oering new opportunities for innovative design.
But innovative design always develops in
tandem with innovative technology, and can
never be an end in itself.
Good design makes a product useful: A
product is bought to be used. It has to satisfy
certain criteria, not only functional, but also
psychological and aesthetic. Good design
emphasizes the usefulness of a product whilst
disregarding anything that could possibly
detract from it.
Good design is aesthetic: The aesthetic
quality of a product is integral to its usefulness
because products we use every day aect
our person and our well-being. But only wellexecuted
objects can be beautiful.
Good design makes a product understandable:
It claries the product’s structure. Better
still, it can make the product talk. At best, it is
self-explanatory.
Good design is unobtrusive: Products fullling
a purpose are like tools. They are neither
decorative objects nor works of art. Their
design should therefore be both neutral and
restrained, to leave room for the userâ€s
self-expression.
Good design is honest: It does not make a
product more innovative, powerful or valuable
than it really is. It does not attempt to manipulate
the consumer with promises that cannot
be kept.
Good design is long-lasting: It avoids being
fashionable and therefore never appears
antiquated. Unlike fashionable design, it lasts
many years—even in today’s throwaway
society.
Good design is down to the last detail:
Nothing must be arbitrary or le€ to chance.
Care and accuracy in the design process show
respect towards the user.
Good design is environmentally-friendly:
Design makes an important contribution
to the preservation of the environment. It
conserves resources and minimizes physical
and visual pollution throughout the lifecycle of
the product.
Good design is as little as possible: Less,
but better—because it concentrates on the
essential aspects, and the products are not
burdened with non-essentials.
Back to purity, back to simplicity.

2.4.3 Supporting Materials and Organizational Design

Support materials include warning labels, instructions, and help
systems. Their development accelerates when the product specifications
become more complete. Frequently, thesematerials are
developed only after the system design is complete. This is unfortunate.
The design of the support materials should begin as
part of the system specifications that begin with the front-end
analyses. Products are often accompanied by manuals, assembly
instructions, owner’s manuals, training programs, and so forth. A
large responsibility for the human factors member of the design
teamis to make sure that thesematerials are compatible with the
characteristics and limitations of the human user. For example, the
owner’s manual accompanying a table saw contains very important
information on safety and correct procedures. This information
must be presented in a way so that users will read it, understand it,
and comply with it.

Organization design reflects the need to consider user experience
most broadly. This means going beyond just the characteristics
or interface of a single product or piece of equipment. Organizational
design elements include team structure, training, and selection
process (see Chapter 17). Often an entire re-engineering of
the organization, including the beliefs and attitudes of employees,
must be addressed to achieve the promised benefits of equipment
redesign. This global approach to systemredesign is often termed
macroergonomics. We discuss macroergonomics in Chapter 18,
which deals with social factors. New technology often changes roles
of the users considerably, and ignoring the social and organization
implications of these changes can undermine system success.