TABLE OF CONTENTS These first four chapters provide an introduction to the what, why, and how of paper prototyping what it is, what it does for companies, why it's useful, and how to prototype various interface widgets.
Paper prototyping is a widely used method for designing, testing, and refining user interfaces. In the early 1990s it was a fringe technique, used by a few pockets of usability pioneers but unknown to the vast majority of product development teams (and often considered pretty darn weird by the rest). But by the mid-1990s, paper prototyping was catching on. People at well-known companies (IBM, Digital, Honeywell, and Microsoft, just to name a few) experimented with the technique, found it useful, and started using it as an integral part of their product development process. As of 2002 paper prototyping is not considered nearly so weird, and the technique is mainstream practice at many companies, both large and small. There are, however, still many people who've only heard enough about paper prototyping to be intrigued this book is for you.
For much of its history, paper prototyping has been a tool clenched firmly in the hand of the academic researcher or usability specialist. Like any useful tool, though, its greatest potential can be realized by placing it in the hands of nonspecialists along with instructions for its proper use. I believe that anyone who is involved in the...
