1. 1
Prototyping experiences
for connected products
O’Reilly Solid 2015

2. 2
What we’ll do today
• What’s experience prototyping all about? (15 min)
• Warmup (20 min)
• What you can tackle through experience prototyping (20 min)
• Different techniques for prototyping connected products (20 min)
• Comfort break 3:00 pm
• Prototyping time (1h 15min)
• Demos and discussion (45 min)

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Hello!
Claire Rowland Elizabeth Goodman Tom Metcalfe Martin Charlier
@clurr @egoodman @tommetcalfe @marcharlier

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Designing Connected Products

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“PROTOTYPE”
An experiment designed to answer
specific questions.

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PROTOTYPE EXPERIENCE PROTOTYPE

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IBM & SPEECH-TO-TEXT
Let’s not bet the company on it…
More about this story in “Pretotype It” http://www.pretotyping.org/uploads/1/4/0/9/14099067/pretotype_it_2nd_pretotype_edition-2.pdf

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Building
the thing right.
PROTOTYPE EXPERIENCE PROTOTYPE
Building
the right thing.

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Building the thing right.
What are the tech challenges we will
face?
Can we actually make this work with
the tech we have?
Will it meet the requirements?
Building the right thing.
Would people use this?
How would it have to work to be
desirable?
Should we build this at all?
What would it feel like to use this?
PROTOTYPE EXPERIENCE PROTOTYPE

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Product development
“Product development is largely an exercise
in uncovering surprises as soon as possible.”
Susan Conant
http://radar.oreilly.com/2015/06/the-11-deadly-sins-of-product-development.html

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Product development
COST
STAGE IN YOUR DEVELOPMENT
You don’t want to be
asking big, fundamental
questions here.
Are we building the
right thing?
Are we building the
thing right?

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negligiblesignificant
Cost
hours or daysweeks
Time
many & roughfew & precise
Answers
PROTOTYPE EXPERIENCE PROTOTYPE

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ELECTRONICS PROTOTYPING
Even electronics prototyping platforms
can sometimes distract and waste time.
“Uh-oh! I’ve just spend an
entire day getting a certain
library to work.”

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STORYBOARDING
PHYSICAL MOCK UPS
VIDEO PROTOTYPING
ACTING OUT

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Warmup
Please get into teams

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10 Minutes
Pick an IKEA product and augment it
through sensing & connectivity.
Give it an IKEA style name.

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Briefing
Each team now receives their briefing.

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Exercise 1
List questions

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“PROTOTYPE”
An experiment designed to answer
specific questions.

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Areas you will learn about
Value proposition
Context of use
Interaction

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Areas you will learn about
“where is the value in this idea?”
“what are the user stories for this idea?”
“does this seem like a worthwhile idea?”

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Areas you will learn about
Value proposition
Context of use
Interaction

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Areas you will learn about
“what would this feel like in an office?”
“what would using this while cycling feel like?”
“would using this on public transport be problematic?”

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Areas you will learn about
Value proposition
Context of use
Interaction

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Areas you will learn about
“how would the interface have to work?”
“what is the right gesture for this?”
“could this work using a voice interface?”

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15 Minutes
List questions about your briefing you could answer
through experience prototyping.
Pick ONE question to prototype.

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Think about these areas:
Value proposition
Context of use
Interaction

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Exercise 2
Prototyping time

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Prototyping techniques
Media from the future
Storyboards
Physical props
Wizard of Oz
Video prototypes

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Newspaper article
Credit: Dan Hill
Press release Sketch-the-box /
sketch an advert
• Can this service, idea or
product be plausibly
conveyed?
• Are we able to convey the
idea in simple terms?
• Forces you to clearly and
simply convey the value and
why anyone should care.
• Can be iterated quickly.
• Why should people care?
• How do you persuade them?
• How can you proof your
claims?

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Prototyping techniques
Media from the future
Storyboards
Physical props
Wizard of Oz
Video prototypes

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Storyboard with script
Credit: Deb Aoki
Credit: Robert André
Composed with screenshots Collaboration with cartoonist to
explore wider human context
• How different products and
systems hang together.
• How interactions work across
space and time.
• Great foundation for video.
• Focus the reader on what is
the new part and make it clear
what you’re *not* designing.
• Sense check your ideas
through how plausible the
story feels.

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Prototyping techniques
Media from the future
Storyboards
Physical props
Wizard of Oz
Video prototypes

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Physical artefacts
Credit: Uniform Credit: Stimulant Credit: D-LABS
1:1 scale Gaining empathy through acting out
• Make it real - think through making. • Act out and pretend to use the
products.
• Work and iterate in the real
sizes and environments.

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Use existing devices you already have
Credit: UsTwo http://ustwo.com/blog/our-experience-approach-to-hmi-design/

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Iterate, iterate, iterate!
http://bergcloud.com/case-studies/cloudwash/

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Prototyping techniques
Media from the future
Storyboards
Physical props
Wizard of Oz / Mechanical Turk
Video prototypes

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What a participant experiences….
Credit: Ericsson Labs, Marcus Nyberg
… and how it’s done.

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Across multiple days and remotely.
http://www.ideo.com/images/uploads/news/pdfs/FultonSuriBuchenau-Experience_PrototypingACM_8-00.pdf

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Prototyping techniques
Media from the future
Storyboards
Physical props
Wizard of Oz
Video prototypes

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These are NOT video prototypes.
(These are concept videos…)

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30 minute prototype for a connected herb garden sensor.
this was a video…

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Connected instrument w/ play-along lessons
Credit: Alexandros Kontogeorgakopoulos and Ant Mace / From a workshop run by Tom Metcalfe
this was a video…

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Sketch-A-Move: Slightly more elaborate. Both a demonstration and an exploration.
http://www.superflux.in/work/sketch-move
this was a video…

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Sketch-A-Move: Behind the scenes
http://www.superflux.in/work/sketch-move
Capture imagination and inspire the team
Matthias Kranz, et. al http://www.eislab.fim.uni-passau.de/files/
publications/2006/SketchAMove_preprint.pdf

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Stills compositions with narration
More info: http://www.cooper.com/journal/2008/12/economizer
this was a video…

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A storyboard or video prototype can guide the tech requirements
More info: http://www.cooper.com/journal/2008/12/economizer
Technology
requirements
Technology
requirements
Technology
requirements
Technology
requirements

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1 Hour 15 Minutes
Prototyping time!
At Demo time, we want to hear your selected
question and see your prototype in action (video or
demonstration)

49. Prototype to share
(35 min)
49
Focus first on learning about the problem through prototyping -
then focus on producing a shareable prototype.
Prototype to learn
(40 min)

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Instagram hashtag for your prototypes
#SolidPrototyping

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https://instagram.com/explore/tags/solidprototyping/

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Demo time!
(+ discussion)

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kuddel
winner
Winner of the IKEA exercise

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Thank you.
designingconnectedproducts.com