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Psychological Benefits for Users
Suppose you had a software prototyping tool that could read your mind—you simply plunk down all the
interface elements and everything would auto-magically behave the way you wanted, without any
coding, so you could test it on a computer. Even if you could do this, you still wouldn't have the
advantages of paper prototyping described in this section. It turns out that there are some interesting
psychological effects in terms of the way users respond to an unfinished design that's shown to them
on paper.
Less Intimidating Than a Computer
Many people, especially younger ones, take computers for granted—my niece was proficient with a
mouse at age 3. But there is still—and will continue to be for decades—a substantial percentage of
adults who are not yet comfortable with computers. When faced with technology they find intimidating,
there's an increased risk that users will feel foolish when they can't figure something out during a
usability test. In contrast, with a paper prototype there is no computer to contend with, just human
beings. This can help some technophobes relax, so keep this in mind if your target audience includes
people who lack confidence in working with computers. (One could make the opposite argument that
some people may be more comfortable interfacing with computers than with humans, so again it
depends on who your audience is.)
One might wonder about the opposite situation—if your users are technically savvy, does paper
prototyping seem silly to them? I've tested several paper prototypes of sophisticated scientific and
engineering applications, and in my experience the answer is no. Techie types such as network
administrators and software developers readily understand that the paper prototypes are being used to
get their feedback before the design is cast in concrete. I've yet to see one scoff at a paper prototype.
More Creative Feedback
An unfinished design seems to encourage a more creative response from reviewers. In a paper by
Schumann, Strothotte, Laser, and Raab (1996) , the researchers compared the methods used by
architects to present building concepts to their clients. The researchers found that many architects
preferred to show their clients sketches during the early stages of design, believing that this
encouraged more discussion about the building and its intended use. Most architects reserved more
accurate representations such as CAD drawings for the later stages of design. (Strangely enough, the
researchers were working on a tool that would take a CAD drawing and produce from it something that
looked like a sketch—a seeming step backward that was done deliberately for the purpose of
encouraging creative discussion.)
Unfinished designs can have a dramatic effect on how stakeholders become involved with the project,
as illustrated by the story in the From the Field box on p. 59. Instead of being a passive viewer, a
person presented with an unfinished design becomes more creatively engaged in thinking about the
concepts and functionality. I've seen this happen many times. If you show users a slick-looking
interface and ask for feedback, they may subconsciously think, "These guys have obviously put a lot of
thought into this, so I'll keep my hare-brained suggestion to myself." But with a paper prototype, it's
obvious that the design is literally still "on the drawing board" and that changes can be made very
easily, sometimes even by users themselves.
No Nitpicky Feedback
A polished-looking prototype can encourage low-level feedback about the visual aspects of the design.
When something appears to be finished, minor flaws stand out and will catch the user's attention. To
put it another way, people nitpick. Unless you're in the later stages of development or are specifically
asking for feedback on the visual design, it isn't especially useful to hear comments such as "Those
fields don't line up" or "I don't like that shade of green." I've known many developers who ran afoul of
this problem when using software prototypes in an effort to get feedback about functionality—the Of
Interest box on p. 61 is a great example. Hand-drawn paper prototypes avoid the nitpicky feedback
because it's obvious that you haven't specified the look yet. This encourages users to focus on the
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