[IxDA Discuss] What tools do you use for prototyping?

[pauric]

apologies for the typos, long day.

I'm not entirely sure what I'm asking either, I was interested in your
process more than anything.  Maybe I should turn it around and explain
where I'm coming from.

It helps me to make a distinction between creating a design and then
communicating that design.  For me, prototyping is the sketching and
testing of possible layouts & flows. Once one or more designs become
candidates for a particular problem I then render them in to something
that is then used to explain them to a wider audience.  But, at this
point, the kernel of the interaction is captured, defined.  I then
move on to explaining that definition.  Thus the end of the
prototyping stage.  That not to say I dont take input on a given
design... but essentially.. its not really 'prototyping' anymore is
it?  Just ironing out the wrinkles as well as selling the design to
stakeholders.

Maybe 'throw-away' was a bad choice of words on my part.  I was
thinking in project specific terms.  But it does underline the
distinction for me.  The paperwork, wireframes and library elements
all fall under prototyping for me.  They are in a 'language' that only
I need to interpret. Anything thats handed over, presented.. anything
that could possibly be called a Specification, well its a mockup.

Understanding the audience for a particular doc aids me in determining
the level & type of detail needed for that doc.

Put it another way.  If a design, in omni.pdf for example, isnt really
going to change a whole lot from draft... bar some fixes & input from
the stakeholders.  Is is -really- a prototype anymore? Or just a
specification in need of a few tweaks.

Let me also say, as if the typos dont give it away, I'm a little
dyslexic.. so maybe my wrangling with documentation requires me to go
through this 'understand your audience' thing.

This smells awfully like a semantics debate, so I'll be quite now (o;

thanks for your time - pauric