3 rapid prototyping exercises to improve your UX skills
[Story originally posted on Medium]
This one quote I read from Hustle, really stuck to me:
“Almost everybody I know who does interesting, creative work went through a phase of years of where they could tell that what they were making wasn’t good as they wanted it to be… It is only by going through a volume of work will you close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions” — Ira Glass
Every month I reflect on ‘How I can be a better Designer’. I learned through my background in visual arts that you can train yourself to draw better in a shorter period of time (literally).
I experimented with this in the Summer of 2013. My goal then was to achieve realistic sketches of eyes that captured human emotion. To do this I gave myself a 30-minute time limit and these were the results…
This technique can be applied to design as well — I found that great ideas don’t always require a lot of time. We want to reduce our own tendencies to overthink, agonize and get distracted from the problem in front of us.
What is Rapid Prototyping?
I like to describe rapid prototyping as not just wireframes.
- Wireframes are the skeletal structure of user interfaces. It shows the structure, layout, content and functionality of a page.
- Rapid Prototyping is part of the design process after you have a clear grasp of the problem and your users’ needs. At this stage, the designer thinks about what needs to be done to reach the end goal and goes through a series of quick iterations and feedback sessions that could potentially solve the problem.
What you see at the end of a rapid prototyping session are wireframes that you can use to demonstrate the idea but within these ‘wireframes’ are solutions.
I was once asked by a UX Designer ‘how I show my design thinking’. He found it difficult to show employers how he thinks about design since compared to UI, design thinking can’t be physically seen.
My answer: sketches and rapid prototyping shows others how you think through problems. Your solutions should come to you through sketching, feedback and multiple design iterations.. that’s where the story is told. It just depends on how you read it. Like good UX — the true power of the UX process is hidden. This is where we can train ourselves to think fast, seek validation and refine our own design process.
Benefits of Rapid Prototyping
- Design challenges in job interviews for UX. (Hint: I did an over-the-phone 15-minute rapid prototyping exercise for my current position).
- Helps you to ‘Stop Agonizing and Start Doing’.
- Quickly test the utility of your design and make modifications.
- Shows how you think through a problem (Design thinking).
3 Rapid Prototyping Exercises to Improve your UX Skills
Example Tasks: Audio Trip, DailyUI challenges, Journal App
1) 8–6–4–2 Rapid Prototype Method
The premise of this method is to sketch for 8 minutes, 6 minutes, 4 minutes and 2 minutes with quick 2 minute feedback sessions in between.
I learned about this method in my post-grad program. I’ve only realized recently that exercises like these have made it almost natural to incorporate feedback into everything I design. Being open to feedback helps you keep your designs in check by making you aware of things you may not have thought about — the “unknown unknowns” (Donald Rumsfeld).
Task: Pick 2–3 words from different columns in the lists below and design an app using the 8–6–4–2 rapid prototype method.
Time Limit: Approximately 30 minutes
For example: Pizza and Geolocation — Pizza on the fly or geocaching for pizza slices... The idea is to practice coming up with ideas on the spot and screens based on how a potential user would navigate through the application. It’s best to have someone next to you to ask for feedback!
The 3 words I chose were:
Audio Trip — A Personalized Audio Tour
I visited the Sagrada Família in Barcelona, May of 2016. I remember waiting in the line and upon reaching the entrance I was handed this clunky device with plastic headphones — they call it the “Audioguide”.
The idea for my application was to have a Near Field Communication (NFC) sticker (1) at various historical site (2) locations. These stickers function like Android or Apple Pay where an application or website opens up on your phone in close range. When you tap your mobile device at a historical site location, you would have access to an audio tour right from your phone. The geolocation (3) feature would allow you to select historical sites nearby and generates an itinerary for you.
Feedback: To consider adding filters to the historical sites by distance, include descriptions and reviews.
2) A Twist on the #DailyUI Challenge
Maybe you’re like me and you’ve received the congratulatory email on Day 100 ?? with nothing to show for it. This was the simple twist I added to get myself started.
Task: Sketch first, complete HiFi designs for desktop and mobile, post the final deliverable online.
Time Limit : 1 hour
If you want to go one step further — set up a Skype date with a friend to make sure that the both of you would have something to show at the end of the hour. Win-win.
3) Solve a Problem you’ve encountered
Take a moment in your day-to-day to note down real world problems that you wish there were better solutions for. You might already a list or two or five. It’s time to solve that problem.
Task: Make a list of real world problems, allocate 1–2 hours of your day to reach out and conduct user research. Solve the top user pain points. Complete HiFi designs.
Time Limit : 1–2 hours
Conclusion
By practicing these rapid prototyping exercises you can train yourself to think through solutions faster and to always validate your ideas.
Thanks for reading! If you are interested in chatting, drop me a message at [email protected] or connect with me on LinkedIn.
[This article is brought to you by Elaine’s May long weekend goals.]
References:
I'm taking the #DailyUI challenge by @Daily_UI to become a better designer in 100 days!
Product Designer
5 年In section 3 “Solve a problem you’ve encountered” you mention reaching out and conducting user research. Is that colleagues, friends, family that you doing that with or do you have other networks you access?