Design and Prototyping - Essay Example

Design and Prototyping Design and Prototyping In this report, “experience prototyping” has been used as a technique of prototyping that allows members of the design team and users to gain first-hand interaction and appreciation of future or existing status through involvement in prototypes. We have used our own design projects to describe the significance of the prototypes related to three major design activities: comprehending existing experiences, discovering design concepts and communication design ideas. Introduction Increasingly, the designers and innovators of interactive systems such as products, processes and spaces for people find themselves stretching the provisions of prototyping elements to communicate and explore what it will require to integrate or understand the design concepts that are being developed. In this project, prototype has been used as a representation of the model made prior to the final artifact. It has been created to direct the design decisions and design process of the game. Generally, prototypes range from illustrations (sketches) and various kinds of models at different levels-“works like”, “behaves like” “looks like”-to find and find and inform on the propositions relating to the model and its background (Wilson, 2010). Within the modeled interactive system, prototype is key activity. Many a group of researchers and designers have been acting in extending the limits of prototyping the provisions of traditional techniques. They have also developed the understanding of the importance of different kinds of prototypes. For example, Hill and Houde discuss different purposes for archetypes as being important in the function an artifact all will achieve, its “feel and look” and how the system will be configured. Other works have described such as different degrees of reliability, archetypes for various audiences and designs for use in the setting of participatory models. Experience Prototyping Experience, in the context of prototyping, refers to the subjective, complex and dynamic phenomenon in an activity. Whether in the classroom or general environment, experience in prototype design depends on the perception of several characters of a model, interpreted via filters connected to contextual elements. With respect to the prototype used in this project, the perception of experience relates to Hill and Houde’s description of experience as the “feel and look” of a system or product. However, experience surpasses the feel and look of a system. The game designed in this project has the ability to serve an extra function in the life of the children who will be using it. Generally, factors such as environmental conditions, time pressures, and social circumstances related to the designed game are the parameters that need consideration in this context. By referring to experience prototype, the report mean to describe the experiential characteristic of representations used to successfully convey the children’s experience with the designed game. It is important to focus on the techniques and methods that embrace active participation aimed at providing relevant subjective experiences. The basic principle of using the concept of experience prototyping in the game design is that the child’s physical interaction with game will enable him or her to experience the subjectivity of the activity. Experience prototyping is more of an attitude than a set of methodologies. It allows the designer to concentrate on the design issue in terms of an integrated and designing involvement, rather than a single or group of specific artifacts. Importance of Experience Prototyping Often, we are engaged in designing dynamic and complex interactions with joining software and hardware, services and spaces-for example digital and mobile communication devices, and systems of linked interacts similar to what is seen on an internet shopping activity or a train expedition. The overall modern artifacts need new illustrations of their basic qualities such as sensitivity in the product behaviour. Effectiveness in the Design Team In the game design project, team work was a major requirement in the struggle for a successful of the task. We noted that in order to experience effectiveness in design team, it was crucial to create a common goal of what we were trying to innovate (Blythe et al. 2006; Pg. 1693). The techniques and tools which are aimed at creating a common experience included proper communication channels, and the identification of a joint point of view. Information is considered more engaging and vivid when it relates to the personal experience. Supposing that the children and designers have informative or relevant personal experiences, the overall result is it becomes easier for both parties to understand the issues express greater compassion with the individuals who will be impacted by their experiences and decisions (Hartmann, Doorley, Kim, and Vora, 2006; Pg. 86). The prototype that was used in the game design has the ability of influencing thought processes of the children. Imaginations and solutions were limited and inspired by the tools used in prototyping. Experience prototyping enables the children to involve in emerging problems in innovative ways. Evaluating Experience Prototyping in the Game Design Our design process identified three different types of activity within the modeling and development procedures: (1) comprehending existing user context and experiences, (2) exploring and analyzing (evaluating) design ideas, and (3) communicating the ideas to the children. In this part, experience prototyping will be explored while giving an example from the game design used in the practice. Role playing: a Flight experience It is fun and informative for the designers to investigate the nature of experiences for an individual in a particular setting by employing dramatic improvisation. The improvisation might be consisted of props or without, representing modeled prototypes. In this case, we decided to investigate passenger requirements for a new airline service (Kurvinen, Koskinen, and Battarbee, 2008; Pg. 55). Our group decided to use acting methodologies such as improvisation, body-storming and role playing to attain deeper insights. The methods used in this game project were influenced by Interval Research where informative performance is referred to as “informance,” and physically located brainstorming is referred to as “bodystorming.” We used these methods to contextually enrich our explorations (Buchenau and Suri, 2000; Pg. 430). The game is shown in the diagrams below: The first turn Second turn Improvisations are most beneficial when they are acted out in a series of insightful scenes to make sure that contextual situations and appropriate activities are covered. In this aircraft flight example, our design team investigated different types of children, their preference, needs, and their response to various unforeseen occurrences during particular stages of the flight (for example, entering the airstrip, ticketing, queuing, and boarding the aircraft). Each scene in the game was characterized by the introduction of a card indicating the rules of the particular scene. In addition, goals and the roles of the children and audience were also indicated in the cards. The game’s supervising moderator was a professional actor who was familiar with the improvisational techniques. The instructions that he gave included “Purchase a return ticket for two-you and a friend”, while the second designer acted as the ticketing machine (Schwartz, 2012; Pg. 08). Additional instructions included conditions such as “The ticketing machine only accepts notes, no coins”, “It’s windy and dark”, and “Now conduct the purchase while wearing gloves (Schwartz, 2012; Pg. 08).” The learning was enhanced by ensuring that there were discussion breaks after the end of a scene. The breaks are important in the game because they give time for coming up with ideas that would not have been realized in a continuous system. There are ideas that may be expressed physically and others that are expressed verbally (Yasar, 2007; Pg. 470). For example, the improvisation phase of the ticket machine may prompt another child to create a shelf for luggage or purse. Another radical reaction may involve someone indicating that the ticketing machine has broken down (for example, the child or designer may turn away from the ‘machine’). The second task of this design activity involved the design team taking a flight for themselves. The goal of this task was to develop open minds in the design criteria and to enhance the innovation of new ideas. The designers gave out cards to each other as an exercise to bridge the gap between prototyped and real experiences. The cards that were given out had the following taglines, “Pretend that you only speak French.” “Pretend that you are hungry and find some food.” “Be hostile while talking to the crew members (Kotzé, 2009; Pg.74).” The second exercise helps in understanding the difference between prototyped and real experiences. However, the designers’ behaviour and feelings were mixed with acting and performance. We found that inclusion of role-playing in the game gave the opportunity to observe. The main idea in the role-playing simulations and experiments listed above is to enable the design team make individual discoveries. These findings are characterized by a degree of personal importance that makes it easy to discuss and understand among users and designers. References KOTZÉ, P. (2009). Creativity and HCI from experience to design in education : selected contributions from HCIEd 2007, March 29-30, 2007, Aviero, Portugal. New York, NY, Springer. WILSON, C. (2010). User experience re-mastered your guide to getting the right design. Burlington, MA, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers. SCHWARTZ, E. (2012). Axure RP 6 prototyping essentials creating highly compelling, interactive prototypes with Axure that will impress and excite decision makers. Birmingham, Packt Publishing. Buchenau, M., & Suri, J. F. (2000, August). Experience prototyping. In Proceedings of the 3rd conference on Designing interactive systems: processes, practices, methods, and techniques (pp. 424-433). ACM. Blythe, M., Wright, P., McCarthy, J., & Bertelsen, O. W. (2006, April). Theory and method for experience centered design. In CHI06 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1691-1694). ACM. Kurvinen, E., Koskinen, I., & Battarbee, K. (2008). Prototyping social interaction. Design Issues, 24(3), 46-57. Hartmann, B., Doorley, S., Kim, S., & Vora, P. (2006). Wizard of Oz sketch animation for experience prototyping. In UbiComp. Yasar, A. U. H. (2007, September). Enhancing experience prototyping by the help of mixed-fidelity prototypes. In Proceedings of the 4th international conference on mobile technology, applications, and systems and the 1st international symposium on Computer human interaction in mobile technology (pp. 468-473). ACM. Coninx, K., Haesen, M., & Bierhoff, J. (2005). VIP-lab: A virtual lab for ICT experience prototyping. In Proc. Measuring Behavior (pp. 585-586). Yasar, A. U. H. (2007, September). Enhancing experience prototyping by the help of mixed-fidelity prototypes. In Proceedings of the 4th international conference on mobile technology, applications, and systems and the 1st international symposium on Computer human interaction in mobile technology (pp. 468-473). ACM. Houde, S., Hill, C. (1997). What do prototypes prototype?, in Handbook of Human-Computer Interaction (2nd Ed.), Helander M., Landauer T., Prabhu P. (eds.). Elsevier Science B. V. Amsterdam, 1997. Read More