Making a Paper Prototype - Paper Prototyping: The Fast and Easy Way to Define and Refine User Interfaces - page 66

Hand-Drawing versus Screen Shots
Of all the examples of paper prototypes in this topic so far, you may have noticed that most of them are
hand-drawn and rather messy. That's deliberate; I wanted to emphasize that you don't need much
artistic ability to create a paper prototype. Paper prototypes are very good at unearthing problems with
concepts, terminology, workflow, content, and so forth. These types of problems are often readily
apparent even without an exact visual representation of the interface. Although you may ultimately need
artistic ability to create a good interface, you don't necessarily need it to create a paper prototype.
Similarly, it's usually appropriate to draw in monochrome and to fake most of the images and
art—instead of the company logo, draw a box with the word "logo" in it, use a word instead of an icon,
and so on. The only time I recommend against faking graphical content is when it conveys information
needed for the tasks. For example, on a clothing Web site I'd use pictures of the products (perhaps cut
out of a catalog) because it's important to users to see pictures of the merchandise.
If you're wondering whether it's okay to use screen shots in a paper prototype, the answer is yes.
Chapter 7 provides more information about whether to use screen shots or hand-drawn paper
prototypes.
Note When I say that paper prototypes can be hand-drawn, messy, and monochrome, some
people get the mistaken idea that I don't believe in the value of professional graphic design.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Graphic design is both a skill and an art, and I have a
great deal of respect for people who do it well. I've found that good graphic designers often
embrace paper prototyping because it gives them valuable input for creating the layout and
look of the interface. Usability testing will show them which design elements need to be
emphasized or downplayed through the use of color, font size, white space, images, and so
on. So I'm not anti-designer—in fact, people who see graphic designers as the ones who
make an interface pretty are the ones who trivialize the skill.