Prototyping for Designers

Kathryn McElroy is a Design Lead and UX Designer for IBM Watson, designing with the world's most advanced cognitive system in Austin, Texas. She is an award-winning designer and has published tutorials and articles about her projects in Make Magazine, Fast Company, Timeout New York, and in multiple books including Make: The Best of Volume 2 and Making Simple Robots. She regularly speaks about Design Thinking, Digital Prototyping, and User Experience Design. In her spare time, Kathryn volunteers to get girls involved in STEM fields through participating in career panels, facilitating workshops, and speaking.

Chapter 1What Is a Prototype?
Everything Is a Prototype
Prototyping as a Mindset
Prototype Examples
Prototyping for Products
Summary
Chapter 2Why We Prototype
To Understand
To Communicate
To Test and Improve
To Advocate
Summary
Chapter 3Fidelity for Prototypes
Low Fidelity
Mid-Fidelity
High Fidelity
The Five Dimensions of Fidelity
Summary
Chapter 4The Process of Prototyping
Minimum Viable Prototype
Exploration-Centric
Audience-Centric
Assumption-Centric
Process in Action—An Etsy Case Study
Summary
Chapter 5Prototyping for Digital Products
Getting Started with Digital
What’s Unique for Digital
Preparation
Low-Fidelity Digital Prototypes
Mid-Fidelity Digital Prototypes
High-Fidelity Digital Prototypes
They Got It Right—IBM MIL
Summary
Chapter 6Prototyping for Physical Products
Getting Started with Electronics
What’s Unique for Physical Products
Preparation
Low-Fidelity Physical Prototypes
Mid-Fidelity Physical Prototypes
High-Fidelity Physical Prototypes
Troubleshooting
They Got It Right—Richard Clarkson
Summary
Chapter 7Testing Prototypes with Users
Planning the Research
Conducting the Research
Synthesizing the Research
Summary
Chapter 8Pulling It All Together—SXSW Tasting Experience
Research
User Flow
The Physical Side
The Digital Side
Bringing It Together
The Final Experience
Summary
Chapter 9What Have We Learned
Appendix Resources and Links
Appendix Glossary