Anna, a marketing savvy who works at a big bank in Zurich, has an idea for an App. She gets in contact with her friend Jeremy, who runs a startup and can help her with the next steps. He tells her that she should prototype her App with the How-cards.
Jeremy explains that she should do a short session to choose what «How» question she wants to find an answer first to. Anna goes through the cards and sees the question «How does it look like?». She should build a prototype to test the design! Turning the card, she learns a few methods she could use to do it. A wireframe sounds a bit too difficult for her, but a sketch is something she could do. On the card she finds a few tips and tricks and a link to a very useful video that shows her how to do it.
Once she tests her design using the sketch she drew, she can have another short session and chooses another aspect that she wants to prototype.
How might we help non-designers understand what they should prototype and how to do it?
The method is suitable for aspiring entrepreneurs who don’t have knowledge of Design Thinking and specifically prototyping. They should use the How-cards to decide what aspect of their idea they want to test and how to do it.
Before
Anna had an idea for an App, but doesn’t know where to start. A friend tells her that she needs to prototype the App so that she can test various aspects of it.
Utilisation of the method
Anna was given the How-cards by her friend and starts with her first session. She knows she should keep the session very short and choose one card with the question that she wants to find an answer to.
She wants to know how the App should look like and chooses the correspondent card - once she turns the card, she finds two prototyping methods that she could use to test the design of her App, tips and tricks on how to do it, and references that she can learn from. She chooses the sketching so she can do it herself and doesn’t yet need to pay for it. She can now test her first draft for the design of her App and gathers feedback and advice on what can be improved.
After
Because the method was quick and accessible to her, Anna was able to do a first prototype for her idea and start testing her design.
Trying to prototype too many aspects at once leads to confusion.
