Editing Paper prototyping (section)

==Usage==
[[File:Diamond Trust of London - Paper Prototype zoom.jpg|thumb|A paper prototype of the 2012 videogame ''[[Diamond Trust of London]]'']]
Paper prototypes should be considered when the following is true:<ref name="sefelin">{{cite book |last1= Sefelin |first1= R. |last2= Tscheligi |first2= M.|last3=Giller |first3=V. |title= CHI '03 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems - CHI '03 |chapter= Paper prototyping - what is it good for?: A comparison of paper- and computer-based low-fidelity prototyping |date= 2003|chapter-url=http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=765986 |publisher=ACM |pages=778–779 |doi=10.1145/765891.765986 |isbn= 978-1581136371 |s2cid= 275647 }}</ref>
* The tools the designer wants to use in creating a prototype are not available.
* The designer wants to make a sincere effort to allow all members of a team, including those with limited software skills, to take part in the design process.
* Tests of a design lead to a great deal of drawings.
* The ideas need to be generated quickly and evaluated in a short period of time.
* There is a co-creation workshop needing customers and designers to generate ideas together.

The most important areas of application of paper prototypes are the following:

;Communication within a team
:One of the major applications of paper prototyping is brainstorming in the development team, to collect and visualize ideas on how an interface might look. The interface is built up step by step, meeting the expectations of all team members. To explore the applicability of the software design, typical use cases are played through and possible pitfalls are identified. The prototype can then be used as a visual specification of the software.{{Citation needed|date=November 2012}}

;Usability testing
:Paper prototypes can be used for [[usability testing]] with real users. In such a test, the user performs realistic tasks by interacting with the paper prototype. The prototype is manipulated by another person reflecting the software's reactions to the user input actions. Though seemingly unsophisticated, this method is very successful at discovering usability issues early in the design process.{{Citation needed|date=November 2012}}

:Three techniques of paper prototyping used for usability testing are compositions (comps), wireframes, and storyboards. Comps are visual representations, commonly of websites, that demonstrate various aspects of the interface, including fonts, colors, and logos. A [[website wireframe|wireframe]] is used to demonstrate the page layout of the interface. Lastly, storyboards are a series or images that are used to demonstrate how an interface works.<ref name="snyder">{{cite book|url=http://paperprototyping.com/|title=Paper Prototyping: the fast and easy way to design and refine user interfaces|last=Snyder|first=Carolyn|date=2003|publisher=[[Morgan Kaufmann]]|location=San Francisco, CA|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140628171628/http://www.paperprototyping.com/|archive-date=2014-06-28|url-status=dead}}</ref> These three techniques are useful and can be turned into paper prototypes.

;Design testing
:Especially in web design, paper prototypes can be used to examine the illegibility of a design. A high-fidelity design mock-up of a page is printed and presented to a user. Among other relevant issues, the user is asked to identify the main navigation, clickable elements, etc. Paper prototyping is also the recommended design testing technique in the [[contextual design]] process.{{Citation needed|date=November 2012}}

;Information architecture
:By applying general and wide paper prototypes, the information architecture of a piece of software or a web site can be tested. Users are asked where they would search for certain functionality or settings in software, or topics in a web site. According to the percentage of correct answers, the information architecture can be approved or further refined.

;Rapid prototyping
:Paper prototyping is often used as the first step of [[rapid prototyping]]. Rapid prototyping involves a group of designers who each create a paper prototype and test it on a single user. After this is done, the designers share their feedback and ideas, at which point each of them creates a second prototype – this time using [[presentation software]]. Functionality is similarly unimportant, but in this case, the aesthetics are closer to the final product. Again, each designer's computer prototype is tested on a single user, and the designers meet to share feedback. At this point, actual software prototypes can be created. Usually after these steps have been taken, the actual software is user-friendly the first time around, which saves programming time.{{Citation needed|date=November 2012}}