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

[Fred Beecher]

On Nov 7, 2007 5:57 PM, Andrei Herasimchuk <andrei at involutionstudios.com>
wrote:

>
> Too many people in our field use Visio as a replacement for
> production level drawing tools, like FreeHand, Fireworks r
> Illustrator. In doing so, they stop themselves from learning the
> skills they need to actually do more design at the production level,
> which in turn are skills that help in dealing with richer prototypes.
>

How many of us *want* to do design at the production level? I certainly
don't. Hell, I can't be trusted with much color of any sort in my wardrobe,
let alone on a client's Web site.

I don't have "production design skills," but what I do have is almost 10
years of IA, IxD, usability, & user research experience. Understanding users
and designing for their needs & behaviors is what I'm good at, and
prototyping... that is to say *lo-fi* prototyping... is a *key* component of
my ability to deliver quality work. Lo-fi prototyping is crucial to
understanding whether basic structures (from simple navigation to fancy Web
2.0 gew-gaws) of interaction make sense to their intended audience. If they
do, great, I can move forward. If they don't, it's back to the drawing board
for me.

I am also a big proponent of hi-fi prototyping. But I really feel that it
should only take place after at least one round of lo-fi prototyping and
revisions. To me, the purpose of hi-fi prototyping is to determine whether
the design (and possibly code) that the original IxD has been translated
into has gotten in the user's way. Just like in lo-fi prototyping, there's
bound to be some revisions required.

(There are other situations in which *only* hi-fi prototypes make sense, but
I see them as the exception rather than the rule.)

To get somewhat back on the thread of this conversation, for me, tools like
Axure are what allow me (someone with no design and only basic HTML
experience) to use prototyping as part of my practice. Axure I definitely
consider a prototyping tool. Visio, however, is a tool that can produce
prototypes. If I know going into a project that prototyping is required, I
will definitely start that project using Axure rather than Visio.

(This is a great discussion, btw... as the Web matures, prototyping skills,
I think, are critical for IxDs to be considered competent at what we do)

- Fred