Thanks to all for the great insights. I plan to download the paper and the team has agreed to use a less obtrusive font for the testing. Janna C. Kimel, JK Consulting Career: Design Research/User Experience Volunteer: Co Vice-Chair OR-IDSA Blogging: http://seenheardnoticed.blogspot.com/ Calling: 503.200.0099 Motto: Be the change you want to see in the world. -Gandhi
On Mon, Sep 8, 2008 at 5:52 AM, Petra Liverani <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi Janna, > > [This email didn't seem to get through before] > > Just to say that I created and tested (very informally) my very first paper > prototype on Friday - for rostering and callout software. I only tested a > simple operation just to see how it would go. I had read about the > "sketchy" > look but completely forgot about it when I created my prototype and I have > to say that not a single person made any comment whatsoever about look and > feel. I simply went around the office asking anyone who was willing to test > it - as I started quite late in the afternoon this amounted to only five > people. I was stunned by all that I learnt just from five people and one > operation and at how much fun I had (and the testers seemed to really enjoy > it too - there's just something fun about pressing your finger down on > paper > and having another piece "magically" appear as opposed to boring old > mouse-clicking). > > The first thing I learnt was simply by myself where I went to stick > something down after the tester had "clicked" a button and realised that it > wasn't logical. Other things I learnt were from testers asking what if > scenarios, saying that things confused them and just generally questioning. > > I'm not sure why the testers seemed uninterested in look and feel but I > posit two possibilities: one is that they were completely absorbed by the > testing task and the other is that the look and feel was, if not graphic > design quality, perfectly acceptable and easy on the eye and therefore not > something they particularly noticed. I'm not sure if the "sketchy" look is > recommended for paper prototypes but rather for mockups. I think there's a > very big difference from looking at mockups passively, say, in a > presentation and interacting with a paper prototype. In the latter you're > focused on an activity and probably much less inclined to have silly > opinions on look and feel. > > My recommendation is that whatever font you choose should blend with the > rest of the look and feel so that it's unobtrusive. > > I'm not sure if it was Jakob Nielsen but someone talks about how the > "hallway usability test" (that is, grabbing someone walking past in the > hallway) can be very useful and I certainly felt this was verified on > Friday. Three of the people who tested the prototype knew absolutely > nothing > about what it was supposed to do and I got much more useful feedback from > two of them than the two people who will be users - not that I think that > will always be the case - it just so happened on this occasion. > > From this experience I also think that it might not be a bad idea to test > one operation at a time or at least start with one operation because I > think > you can learn so much just from the first operation you test. > > I'm not sure if this is helpful to you but I realised that it was useful to > have a Tester's Page for sticking on all the bits they use, a Facilitator's > Page for all the bits they use and a blank sheet for blocking things out. > Initially, I went off a bit half-cocked without all my bits. I used the > sticky part of Post It notes for sticking paper because sticky tape is too > sticky (I used sticky tape to stick the Post It notes to the pieces of > paper > - hope this makes sense). Perhaps Blutac would work too. But perhaps you > have your own wonderful method in any case. > > Whatever font you use I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun! > > Regards, > Petra Liverani > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Janna > Sent: Sunday, 7 September 2008 9:33 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [IxDA Discuss] Fonts and paper prototyping > > A colleague and I had an interesting discussion yesterday and I was > wondering if anyone on this list has relevant experience to share or has > seen publications on this topic. > > We are creating paper prototypes for a change in software. We want to keep > them "sketchy" looking for obvious reasons. > > My colleague felt we should use a font such as chalkboard or comic sans to > keep the loose and sketchy feeling and won't look like a finished > interface. > My response is to use something like Arial or Myriad since it no longer has > any particular connotations and people won't have any reaction to it > positively or negatively. > > Any experience with this or thoughts on the subject? Thanks! > > -- > Janna C. Kimel, JK Consulting > Career: Design Research/User Experience > Volunteer: Co Vice-Chair OR-IDSA > Blogging: http://seenheardnoticed.blogspot.com/ > Motto: Be the change you want to see in the world. -Gandhi > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > -- ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
