Better testing and prototyping

Nowadays, many projects are done using an iterative design processes, but the prototyping phase is often done wrong. Sometimes the prototyping phase is even skipped as a whole. But even if I find somebody prototyping, it is sometimes hard for them to answer some very important and simple questions: who are the users? What is challenging about them? If you cannot answer these, you cannot create a good prototype or product at all.

When you create a good prototype and evaluation plan, you can gather very valuable information to create the best possible 'minimal viable product' (MVP). That saves a lot of effort and costs later in the process. I would like to share some experiences and my vision on this subject. Hopefully it can give some practical insight to start evaluating and testing your prototypes better and to use a more user-centered approach.

Get to know the user and end-user

Who is the user and end-user?

It should be clear who your users and end-users are. A practical tool could be to create a persona. Next to that, you can make user journeys. If your user is an organisation or company, it is also good to know the culture, company rules, their vision and some key-people who will buy and use the product. This information can have a positive impact on the development of the prototype.

Possible impact of the users on your prototype

When you identified the users of the product, you must identify the challenges they bring on testing your prototype. During a workshop I gave with healthcare professionals we tried to identify the challenges that other healthcare professionals would bring to the testing phase of a product. Some of the challenges included:

• Lack of time (to test);
• Always on the go (no possibility for a physical meeting);
• They did not visit the intranet enough to read information;
• Stuck in old routines.

By identifying these different challenges, you can try to think of solutions. Possible ways to find solutions is by organising a brainstorm within the organisation (preferably with your users and end-users) and interviewing the users to ask them for solutions. The prototype should fit with the needs of these people.

Keep identifying challenges in your entire design process and brainstorm for solutions.

Different challenges for users and end-users

Sometimes the users and end-users are different. In that case, it is also necessary to identify the difference between them as well. An example I can give is with a project I am doing called 'PlaygroundVR'. In this project, we are trying to let children experience the feeling of an outdoor playing field from their hospital bed. The user is the hospital who will buy it, the end-users are the children who will use it. The user is challenging because they are protective of the children and you need to earn trust that the product works well. The end-user is challenging, because they are ill and tied to their hospital room and bed. The prototype should therefore already have a solution for that, otherwise testing it is impossible.

Testing phase

Then it is time to start testing your prototype. From an academic and personal standpoint, here are some of my views on this.

Create a plan

Before evaluating your prototype, create a test-plan. Find out what kind of research methodology you want to use, what kind of interview techniques (if you plan on using that) and what questions you may want to ask.

By carefully thinking about this, you have prepared your evaluation like a researcher would do. That will help you, because you will look more critically to your project and might even communicate it differently. For example, I wrote a research paper about the results of the tests with a prototype I made. This was not meant for a university project, but for myself. It helped me clear things up, because a research project needs to be specific and combines literature with results.

Handle your prototype like a research project.

Test phase

I would like to give an example of how I tested a physical prototype before. It might help you understand how to do this yourself.

The methodology I chose was to interview participants who tested the prototype with a semi-structured interview. I recorded the interviews. That helps, because you can focus on the interview itself, not on taking notes. I interviewed the participants before and after testing the prototype, to discover differences like attitude.

Evaluate

After the testing was done, I listened to the recordings and made notes and observations. However, this is often not enough. I learnt from a researcher at Efteling to look with a 'helicopter view' at the observations. Which means: see the bigger picture and try to identify global conclusions. This can take some time, but will give you insight that will help you creating your MVP.

And then, it can be necessary to do this whole process again with a different prototype. Cyclical prototyping 'sprints' where you build, validate and then build again, can help to prototype and evaluate fast within a couple of days. However, time and budget constraints might limit this unfortunately.

Final words

The prototyping phase is one of the most crucial parts in a design process. If done correctly, the chance of success increases a lot. Prepare yourself, act like a researcher and think through a design plan.

When you stumble upon challenges or problems, it is a good idea to brainstorm about them. We are developing a new tool called the '15 minute brainstorm' that will make brainstorming faster, easier and more efficient. By signing up, you will be updated about the tool and release dates.

When you need help with your (physical) prototypes, you can get in contact with us from Freaks and Beards. In our vision, every company will need to innovate in this fast changing world. We have experience with innovation and have been academically trained to prototype anything. Visit our website for contact details.