Prototyping Blog

Still working through all the data from the survey I ran a month ago and came across an interesting term: slap-and-map.

Slap-and-map: slapping images together with HTML to create a prototype.

Last month, I ran a survey investigating a number of things related to prototyping. One of these was a question of the type of prototypes people are often creating.

In order of most common to least common, here they are:

• Paper — 81%
• Hand coded html — 58%
• Auto generated (e.g. Axure, iRise, Visio, Fireworks or similar) — 39%
• Clickable Screenshots (using HTML) — 34%
• Interactive Flash, Flex, AIR, Blend, or similar — 27%
• Keynote or PowerPoint — 24%
• Clickable PDFs — 21%
• Production Environment (e.g. Rails, PHP, .Net, Java, Xcode, C) — 9%
• 3D Models (e.g. Cardboard, Foam Core, Circuit-boards) — 1.2%

Participants were allowed to select any and all methods they used. Close to 200 participants responded, representing a mix of researchers, designers, developers, product managers, and business analysts.

I’ll be posting more findings in the future.

Upcoming Appearances and Presentations

• Aug 5, 2008: “Agile and Paper Prototyping”, at Agile 2008

Upcoming Appearances and Presentations

• July 24, 2008 6pm: “8 Guiding Principles of Prototyping”, at “PhillyCHI

I’ll be teaching a 1/2 day workshop on Agile and Paper Prototyping at the Agile2008 conference on Tuesday, August 5th in beautiful Toronto, Canada.

I’ll be giving a talk on the 8 guiding principles of prototyping at our great space in olde city Philadelphia this Thursday, July 24th at 6:30 pm. Get directions.

Came across a handy little to add notes to HTML prototypes the other day. I haven’t used it yet on a prototype, but am looking forward to it — Protonotes.

I’m looking for some input on different techniques and tools people are using, as well as issues they’ve run into with prototyping.

Here’s your opportunity to provide some input and have a chance at a free copy of the prototyping book, expected later this year. I’ve got a short, 5 page, survey — answer all the questions and you’ll be entered into a random drawing for a free copy of the book.

Let me at that survey!

Today marked another milestone in my book. I delivered a new chapter titled “The Eight Guiding Principles. This chapter wasn’t originally planned to be 8 guiding principles, but after my recent presentation for Refresh DC it was obvious this was very valuable to my audience. While you’ll have to wait for the book to read about the 8 guiding principles, you can see what they are right here:

1. Understand the Audience and Intent.
2. Plan a little. Prototype the rest.
3. Set expectations.
4. You can draw.
5. It’s a prototype—not the Mona Lisa.
6. If you can’t make it, fake it.
7. Prototype only what you need.
8. Reduce risk. Prototype early and often.

A few weeks ago I gave a talk at the Refresh DC group. I was really excited about this talk for a couple of reasons. First, Jackson, one of the guys on my Wif panel runs the group and asked me to speak. Second, it was their highest RSVP for an event yet. And Third, this was a new talk for me that actually influenced some change in my book. The talk was titled “7 Principles of Prototyping.”

Here are my slides.