Week 9 - Yau Fen Nie

Prototype

Prototyping is the process of building a model of a system. In terms of an information system, prototypes are employed to help system designers build an information system that intuitive and easy to manipulate for end users. Prototyping is an iterative process that is part of the analysis phase of the systems development life cycle. Prototype allows stakeholders to interact with an envisioned product, gain experience in realistic setting and explore imagined uses. Besides, prototype aid when discussing ideas with stakeholders, communication device among team members and consist of effective way to test ideas.

Low-fidelity and high-fidelity prototype
There are two difference of prototyping which is low-fidelity prototyping and high-fidelity prototyping. A low-fidelity prototyping is one that does not look very much like the final product. A final production designs often require extensive effort to capture high volume manufacturing detail. Such detail is generally unwarranted for prototypes as some refinement to the design is to be expected. Often prototypes are built using very limited engineering detail as compared to final production intent, which often uses statistical process controls and rigorous testing. On the other hand, the high-fidelity uses materials that you would expect to be in the final product and produces a prototype that looks much more like the final thing. A common prototyping tools which is Flash, Visual Basic and smalltalk . The uses with high-fidelity prototyping are they take too long to build, reviewers and testers tend to comment on superficial aspects rather than content. Furthermore, developers are reluctant to change something they have crafted for hours. A software prototype can set expectations to high.


The advantages of low-fidelity prototype:
- Low-fidelity representations, such as sketches, differ from the final product in interaction design, visual appearance, and level of details. The method is quick and cheap which encourage iterative design idea tryouts between usability tests.
- Quick low -fidelity tests allows designers and users to focus on high-level interaction design and information architecture, rather than on details or visual style.

The disadvantages of low-fidelity prototype:
- Users might judge a low-fidelity prototype as unprofessional.
- While low-fidelity prototypes allow spontaneous changes for exploring interactions, they also sacrifice some realism.
- Limitations in navigation flow while a control person has to "make the interaction".

The advantages of high-fidelity prototype:
- High-fidelity prototypes offer more realistic interactions than low-fidelity.
- Better at conveying the range of design possibilities.
- User-driven.

The disadvantages of high-fidelity prototype:
- High-fidelity prototyping may make designers reluctant to change designs and less likely to fully explore the design space.
- Take a long to build and requires skill.
- Reviewers and testers tend to comment on surface aspects rather than content.