role of prototypes in Contextual Design

Creating and using prototypes is a key activity in Contextual Design. Prototypes help make sense of user experience data and provide an opportunity to try out and test ideas for what is likely to work in a real world context.

A number of important principles guide the use of prototypes in the Contextual Design process. The first is the recognition that useful design data can be hidden in seemingly mundane details of everyday work practice. Many systems fail to meet their goals because they miss opportunities to leverage such data. The second principle is the need to create a partnership with users in the design process. This is an essential element in the Contextual Design approach, which relies on observing and talking with users as they carry out their jobs. The third principle is the recognition that designing a product or system is an iterative process, and that a prototype is one of the tools that support iteration. Prototypes allow a team to quickly try out different possibilities and to see how they will work in the context of users’ work practices.

Prototypes also provide a way to bring a user’s feedback to life. This can be difficult for a user to convey in written feedback or through a focus group discussion, but when they can touch and hold a physical representation of the design they are more able to understand the pros and cons of the concept. This can help a design team to avoid wasting resources on unfeasible or unworkable ideas.

What is the role of prototypes in Contextual Design?

The final principle is the need for a structured design process. The translation of any research on user needs into a design response is inherently messy, but Contextual Design provides a structure that helps to minimize the messiness. The consolidated user needs data drive the visioning phase of the design process, which defines the high level design response to the users’ issues. This design solution is captured through the User Environment Design and in paper prototypes, usually at a rough wireframe level. The designs then serve as the foundation for defining detailed function and behavior and ensuring that the user interface is well-integrated with the rest of the system.

Whether in Agile development or in Contextual Design, prototyping is essential to bringing customers and teams together around a common understanding of what to build. Providing the opportunity to see and interact with prototypes brings the users’ feedback into the design process in a much more effective manner and provides the team with the confidence to prioritize features, to know which ones will be easy or difficult to implement, and to keep their eye on the user’s overall work flow.

The iterative nature of prototyping also helps the design team to identify unanticipated physical or technical constraints and adapt the design accordingly. This is critical for any product development project. In addition, the ability to rapidly produce and change prototypes makes it easy to incorporate the users’ feedback into the design process, which enables the team to stay on track with their project timeline.