Presented at Currents Conference 2010, the technical communication conference of the Society for Technical Communication's Atlanta chapter.

1. Prototyping (Using Axure)
Krista Kostuch, CUA
Usability Analyst, Sr.
Synovus Financial Corporation

2. Me

4. You

5. Today’s Topics
 Prototyping in General
 Types
 Tools
 Process
 Axure
 Basic Features
 Example Projects
 Questions/Discussion

6. Why Prototype?

8. Types
of
Prototypes

9. Low Fidelity
sketchy and incomplete—has some
characteristics of the target product but is
otherwise simple, usually in order to quickly
produce the prototype and test broad
concepts.
 what you need to start with
 “quick and dirty” and “cheap”
 can help focus on the interaction, and not
the visual

10. Low Fidelity “tools”
 Pencil and paper
 Whiteboard
 Visio
 PowerPoint
 Balsamiq

12. High Fidelity
 Close to the final product
 Realistic interaction and visual design
 Prevents waterfall of designing after the
requirements
 Keeps focus on user experience
 Lets you very quickly and easily create a
realistic user experience.

13. Tools

14. Formalize into SDLC

15. Whatever way, it must be done
early and often – iteratively.

16. from Boxes and Arrows

17. Axure
 What is it?
 “Axure RP is a wireframing, prototyping and
specification tool used by user experience
designers, information architects, business
analysts and product managers to design
applications and websites.” axure.com

18. Axure
 Pros  Cons
 Allows to make quickly  Generated HTML is not
wireframe: drag and drop reusable (made up of
text boxes, form images, and absolutely
components… positioned divs)
 Numerous interactions  Price (about 589 USD)
(tabs; conditional events;  Tables integration weak
hidable panels…) easy to (can put only text in it, no
create form elements, no
 Reusable components buttons…)
 Easy to add comments
visible in the output
 Export HTML
 Export specs in doc

19. I do not work for Axure.
I just use it everyday.

20. Let’s Play

21. Basic Axure Features
 Annotated Wireframes
 Basic Interactions
 Dynamic Panels
 Masters
 Flow Diagrams
 Interactive Prototypes
 Functional Specification

22. You can download a free trial at
Axure.com
Again…I do not work for Axure.

23. A few Best Practices/Tips
 Data gathering first and foremost
 Iterative process – low to high fidelity
 Structure, Presentation, then Behavior
 Design to the/a grid
 Usability testing is a must at all stages of
the process

25. Questions