Usability Testing & Prototyping

Question 1

What is prototyping?

Answer 1

A tangible representation of a design to explore usability

Question 2

Purpose of prototyping

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Low-Fidelity (Lo-Fi) prototypes

Answer 3

Sketches, wireframes, storyboards, index cards

Question 4

Pros and Cons of Lo-Fi

Answer 4

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

Question 5

High-Fidelity (Hi-Fi) prototypes

Answer 5

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

Question 6

Pros and Cons of Hi-Fi

Answer 6

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

Question 7

Other prototypes

Answer 7

• 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)

Question 8

Usability Testing

Answer 8

Observing real users performing tasks to evaluate ease of user

Question 9

Usability Testing process

Answer 9

1. Assign tasks
2. Record behaviour/feedback
3. Identify pain points