How to get the most out of your prototypes

If a picture is worth a thousand words, a prototype is worth a thousand meetings. But how do you get the most from your prototype?

In this talk, Mark gives examples of how prototypes have been used to change the direction of an organisation, challenge assumptions and persuade people of things they would never have believed to be true. He shows how to use a prototype to get to the heart of your problem and offers his top tips for choosing the right prototype for any given problem.

Transcript

1. How to get the most
   out of your prototypes
   Mark Skinner
   @MarkSkinner_
   

   View Slide

2. Story about how Nick Swinmurn looked to
   answer the ‘will people buy shoes online’
   question before getting buy-in in his online
   shoe website, later sold as Zappos to Amazon
   for $1.2 Billion
   

   View Slide

3. Goals of the talk:
   Get more people prototyping

   Reframe how people talk about prototypes

   Give tips and tricks for prototypes
   

   View Slide

4. What is a prototype?
   So…
   What is a prototype?!
   

   View Slide

5. Standard, high fidelity click throughs
   Look like apps / websites 

   Work like apps / websites
   

   View Slide

6. Invision
   Sketch
   Figma
   HTML & CSS
   Atomic
   Flinto
   Fluid
   UXPin
   Framer
   Marvel
   Justinmind
   Keynote
   Adobe XD
   etc. etc.
   Some of the tools that allow us to prototype in
   this way…
   

   View Slide

7. Lower fidelity wireframe style prototypes
   Some with real content, others with lorem
   ipsum content

   Looking to understand structure and goals of
   the website, rather than full working
   

   View Slide

8. Axure
   Omnigraffle
   Balsamiq
   Mockingbird
   wireframe.cc
   Mockflow
   Canvas
   Excel
   Tools for these types of prototypes
   

   View Slide

9. Paper prototypes
   Even lower fidelity

   Roughness of ideas
   

   View Slide

10. Paper
    Post-its
    Sharpies
    Scissors
    Glue
    Cellotape
    Stencils
    Device frames
    The tools for paper prototyping…
    

    View Slide

11. Medium articles back up that most of the
    conversation around prototyping is relating to
    this…
    This is a problem. This needs reframing
    

    View Slide

12. A prototype is a tool to explore,
    evaluate, or communicate a future
    idea and assess if it’s worth
    pursuing…
    My definition of a prototype…
    Not exactly pithy or rolls of the tongue
    

    View Slide

13. Prototyping = 

    Time travel +
    learning tool
    Better, shorter definition
    A way to see something that doesn’t exist

    and learn about it
    Use it to make better decisions, and reduce
    risk
    

    View Slide

14. This meets the definition
    

    View Slide

15. So does this
    

    View Slide

16. And this
    

    View Slide

17. But also this…
    Service prototypes, in the field, to understand
    implementations of touch points in locations
    

    View Slide

18. Or these…
    Toys to mock up services - including human to
    human interactions, and journeys through a
    service
    Rather than just digital touch points
    

    View Slide

19. And this…
    Rough prototypes to understand if the palm
    pilot being designed was the right size!
    “Is this too big…”
    

    View Slide

20. Dropbox’s video
    “Are people interested in this service before
    we build it”
    

    View Slide

21. And another…
    James Dyson making 5,127 prototypes before
    he made the version he wanted to launch!
    

    View Slide

22. A story prototype
    (Angus Lowe champions this)
    Letting people edit the story to match the
    wording to their model of the world
    

    View Slide

23. Airbus building a plane interior!
    

    View Slide

24. A prototype is a tool to explore,
    evaluate, or communicate a future
    idea and assess if it’s worth
    pursuing…
    Diving into this a bit more…
    Prototypes are tools that let us 

    Explore, Evaluate, or communicate ideas

    AND

    Help us make decisions if we should move
    forward, pivot, or leave behind
    

    View Slide

25. Learn through 

    making
    Learn through 

    research
    Learn through 

    sharing
    Explore Evaluate Communicate
    Breaking down explore, evaluate, and
    communicate.. 

    All 3 methods are valid uses of prototypes,
    not just one of them!
    

    View Slide

26. Case study - Co-op bank
    Using prototype to reduce risk and alleviate
    fears around specific solutions
    

    View Slide

27. Volunteer
    Listener
    Participant
    Caller
    Case study - Samaritans
    Having a conversational prototype to test the
    questions we need to answer
    

    View Slide

28. Case study - American insurer
    Changing the direction of a project, through
    the use of prototypes
    

    View Slide

29. When to prototype
    So, when to prototype?
    What time in a project

    AND

    What’s the value / business case
    

    View Slide

30. Choose the 

    right solution to 

    fix it
    Identify the 

    right problem to 

    solve
    Deliver the 

    solution 

    in the right way
    Good for choosing right solution

    and

    Good for delivering solutions
    There are better methods to identifying right
    problem to solve
    

    View Slide

31. Products
    Services Tools
    And more…
    Processes
    Useful for all types of design work.
    Not just products!
    

    View Slide

32. You can use an eraser on the
    drafting table or a sledge hammer
    on the construction site.
    FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT
    Cost of change increases as you get further
    into a project.
    Answer the big questions up front using throw
    away prototypes!
    

    View Slide

33. REDUCE RISK
    Prototypes help reduce risk.
    Risk of misunderstanding, risk of lack of
    engagement, risk of building it wrong etc.
    

    View Slide

34. Questions before 

    you begin
    The questions to ask before a prototype or
    question needs answering
    

    View Slide

35. What?
    How?
    Why?
    • What are you looking to
    learn?
    • Can you learn it using a
    prototype?
    • Are there secondary uses for
    it?
    • What are you not looking to
    learn?
    Start with why
    Ask these questions to understand WHY you
    should prototype
    

    View Slide

36. What?
    How?
    Why?
    • How will it be used?
    • Is it for exploring,
    evaluating, or
    communicating an idea?
    • What skills do the team
    have?
    • When is it needed by?
    • How realistic does it need
    to be?
    • Do you know enough to
    make it efficiently?
    Answer how you will be doing it next…
    

    View Slide

37. What?
    How?
    Why?
    • What is the best prototype
    for the situation?
    • What is the best tool to
    make that prototype?
    • What will give us the best
    return for the smallest
    effort?
    Based on Why and How…
    THEN what you’ll be doing
    

    View Slide

38. Thanks!
    mark.skinner@cxpartners.co.uk
    @MarkSkinner_
    If a picture is worth a thousand words — A
    prototype is worth a thousand meetings.
    If there are no other reasons… prototypes
    help reduce the number of meetings you
    need to have!
    

    View Slide