What is Paper Prototyping?

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What is a Paper Prototype

Paper prototype is a very powerful and effective usability technique to design and test

user interfaces. In this phase, the usability expert designs the wireframes of the

complete application/website in a PPT. Each screen is then printed on paper. This is

not translated to HTML pages yet at this phase.

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How is it Done

These wireframes are tested in a usability lab with a sample size of the target users.

In this session, the users are asked to perform tasks as they would on the website,

using the paper prototypes. They are encouraged to think aloud and the moderator

supplies the relevant paper for every action, like click, dropdown, navigation to other

pages or a simple scroll.

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Why is it Important

Paper prototyping helps test the information architecture and design of the website at a

very early stage. This saves time and money since it enables developers to test

interfaces before they write code or begin development. This also allows for easy and

inexpensive modification to existing designs. Iterative usability testing of prototypes

leads designers and developers to a progressively bug-free interface, which they can

then develop with a fair amount of confidence.

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When Should it be Done?

This test should be conducted after designing the wireframes on paper and before the

development of the application

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Kern CommunicationsUsability Testing in India

User Research in India

User Interface Design

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