VIP-lab: A virtual lab for ICT experience prototyping (original) (raw)

User interface prototyping-concepts, tools, and experience

Proceedings of IEEE 18th International Conference on Software Engineering, 1996

In recent years the development of highly interactive software systems with graphical user interfaces has become increasingly common. The acceptance of such a system depends to a large degree on the quality of its user interface. Prototyping is an excellent means for generating ideas about how a user interface can be designed, and it helps to evaluate the quality of a solution at an early stage. In this paper we present the basic concepts behind user interface prototyping, a classification of tools supporting it and a case study of nine major industrial projects. Based on our analysis of these projects we present the following conclusions: Prototyping is used more consciously than in recent years. No project applied a traditional life-cycle approach, which is one of the reasons why most of them were successful. Prototypes are increasingly used as a vehicle for developing and demonstrating visions of innovative systems. 1

Experience prototyping: gathering rich understandings to guide design

IADIS international conference: interfaces and human computer interaction 2012, 2012

In this chapter, the authors discuss Experience Prototyping as an appropriate research tool for capturing people's stories related to physical places. It is difficult to explore subjective experiences through strict conventional prototyping methods within a lab; therefore, the authors argue the need for innovative research techniques especially when designing interactive systems where mobility, context, and people play a fundamental role. They discuss the methodology of "Experience Prototyping," which is used to gather insight in a research project, and also what advantages such method brings to a user-centered process. The authors present some reflections and themes that emerged from using experience prototypes, and how they contribute to our understanding of the relationship between spatial narrative and place, and in particular how they may be used as an interaction resource towards discovery and sharing of "place." In doing so, they offer a basis for discussion on how to co-design technologically mediated experiences together with users of such spaces. Finally, the authors discuss how this method informed the design of "The Breadcrumbs" application.

Rapid and rich prototyping

Proceedings of the 15th European conference on Cognitive ergonomics the ergonomics of cool interaction - ECCE '08, 2008

In this paper we explore a suitable prototyping technique and approach for an experience-oriented design process without the need for rich equipped labs and resources. The key solution lies in 'mixedfidelity' prototypes with interaction-enabled 'frontends' and simple 'back-ends'. We illustrate and validate this approach mainly with a student project done by the authors dealing with environmental aware mobile information.

User interface evaluation and empirically-based evolution of a prototype experience management tool

IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, 2003

Experience management refers to the capture, structuring, analysis, synthesis, and reuse of an organization's experience in the form of documents, plans, templates, processes, data, etc. The problem of managing experience effectively is not unique to software development, but the field of software engineering has had a high-level approach to this problem for some time. The Experience Factory is an organizational infrastructure whose goal is to produce, store, and reuse experiences gained in a software development organization [6], [7], [8]. This paper describes The Q-Labs Experience Management System (Q-Labs EMS), which is based on the Experience Factory concept and was developed for use in a multinational software engineering consultancy [31]. A critical aspect of the Q-Labs EMS project is its emphasis on empirical evaluation as a major driver of its development and evolution. The initial prototype requirements were grounded in the organizational needs and vision of Q-Labs, as were the goals and evaluation criteria later used to evaluate the prototype. However, the Q-Labs EMS architecture, data model, and user interface were designed to evolve, based on evolving user needs. This paper describes this approach, including the evaluation that was conducted of the initial prototype and its implications for the further development of systems to support software experience management.

QUID: a quick user-interface design method using prototyping tools

1992

Experience with prototyping tools for user interfaces indicates that just providing tools does not solve the problem of producing usefiLl interfaces. Rapid prototyping is a design method for user interface development that emphasizes usability. However, it a bottom-up approach and thus in inherent conflict with more traditional software engineering techniques, which are top-down and specification-driven. The solution is to integrate both approaches in a single method.

Tool-Supported User-Centred Prototyping of Mobile Applications

International Journal of Handheld Computing Research, 2011

There is evidence that user-centred development increases the user-friendliness of resulting products and thus the distinguishing features compared to products of competitors. However, the user-centred development requires comprehensive software and usability engineering skills to keep the process both cost-effective and time-effective. This paper covers that problem and provides insights in so-called user-centred prototyping (UCP) tools which support the production of prototypes as well as their evaluation with end-users. In particular, UCP tool called MoPeDT (Pervasive Interface Development Toolkit for Mobile Phones) is introduced. It provides assistance to interface developers of applications where mobile phones are used as interaction devices to a user’s everyday pervasive environment. Based on found tool features for UCP tools, a feature study is described between related tools and MoPeDT as well as a comparative user study between this tool and a traditional approach. A furthe...

Software Design and Media Design - Tools to Design Mobile and Sensory Interfaces and Interactive Environments.

In: Dittmar, A. and Forbrig, P. (Eds.) Proceedings of ECCE 2011, Designing Collaborative Activities, 24-26 august 2011; Rostock, Germany., 2011

Software Design and Media Design - tools to designMobile and Sensory Interfaces and Interactive EnvironmentsGeert de HaanCommunication, Media and Information TechnologySection Media Technology / Human Centered ICTRotterdam University of Applied SciencesP.O.Box 25035, 3001 HA, RotterdamThe Netherlandsg.de.haan@hr.nlABSTRACTThis paper discusses ETAG, a formal model for design representation, and ETAG-based design, a method for user interface design, and the two principal facilities they provide to accommodate different types of users in the design of user interfaces. The paper starts with an introduction of ETAG as a design representation. This is followed by a description of ETAG-based design and using the notation to represent relevant aspects of the work context. Next, we discuss the differences between computer software design and media product design, concluding that media design is a much more flexible, iterative process and prototyping-based process in which adaptation of the design of mobile applications extends into the maintenance phase. To cover further developments towards focussing on user needs and wishes by means of co-design practices, and to cover for ubiquitous computing and interaction with sensors and interactive environments, we propose to use sensory labs and to create living labs to move the usability lab into the real world

Developing UX for Collaborative Mobile Prototyping

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2014

Prototyping is an essential part of the user-centered design process (UCD). Since the emergence of touch-based mobile devices in recent years, a broad range of efforts has been taken to adapt professional prototyping tools to the mobile context. However, none of the existing mobile prototyping solutions adapts sufficiently to the needs of multidisciplinary teams or considers the experience of the users' working environments explicitly. Our goal was to develop a mobile prototyping tool that supports the users in their tasks with special attention to the context of use. We especially considered the holistic experience relating all tasks of the human-centered design process. Our approach of requirements engineering focused on UX methods to get a deep insight not only on pragmatic features but also emotional demands (i.e. hedonic qualities). Therefore we tried to strengthen the hedonic qualities to support action mode usage for leveraging creative potentials. We'd like to reveal whether and to what extent a detailed look on UX can ensure the working progress efficiency and motivation of a multidisciplinary software engineering team practicing agile methods. We will illustrate this by presenting the development process of our mobile prototyping tool Prime, especially concerning new perspectives of a design process that focuses on hedonic parameters.