From the Dogbox

Here’s a follow-up on my previous, “Talking about Wireframes”, post. I presented the initial prototype to my boss as a pro-active project – unfortunately she never had the time to look at it and it’s now gathering dust somewhere, sigh. I just left it. I achieved what I wanted in my research on the subject though.

Later that week

A client-service manager at the agency had a problem conveying a new concept to one of our top clients and I thought that we could use something similar to help them out.I must be honest, the initial concept of an 2nd Life type of Sims interface combined with large amounts of in-depth content did not enthuse me much. The IA in me wanted to challenge the concept but the project went beyond that point. We had to work with what we had.

I disappeared for three days with the lead designer, Nick Mugford, to plot out the project scope and build a presentation to “sell” client on the idea for a new online campaign.

Putting it together

We scoped out the project for just over two days – the result was this wall full of scope notes and drawings.

I proposed to Nick that we build a paper prototype to show client what we intended for the web site and user interaction within the Sims-like interface. Nick was hesitant at first but was sold on the idea after the scoping exercise realizing that we had too many concepts to convey effectively through a mere verbal presentation.

In the past we would have gone into the meeting with a PowerPoint presentation with reference and static photo-shop mock-ups of the interface. The design team was no-where close to a creative execution and I did not want the team to spend valuable time on mock-ups before we have clients’ buy-in on the concept.

The Storyboard

I used a digital camera to shoot stills in the first prototype but Nick wanted to film the process with a digital camcorder this time around. We followed the same basic procedure as in the first prototype and ended up with a whole bunch of movie-clips.

We popped the video into flash and inserted stop actions at pre-determined points – unlike the video I’m attaching to the blog.

The Flash movie of the prototype allowed us to pause the sequence at pre-determined points. Before playing each sub-sequence we would explain to client what they were about to see.

Our Presentation

We presented client with a,

• Hybrid Navigational Taxonomy (IMAGE)
• The prototype 
• Online reference of similar web-based 3D interfaces

The original prototype video formed part of a two-hour presentation.

We had some trouble with the camcorder. The Sony we used has a built-in auto focus function and our tripod wasn’t as sturdy as we thought. We also shot the video in natural light and it had a direct effect on the overall consistency of the shots. Nick had to play around with the levels to get an overall consistent look – I suggest using a fixed light source for the next one.

We’re still waiting to hear what client’s final decision is as it reaches for beyond the web with several components coming together. Judging by the spontaneous applause we receive after we conclude out part of the presentation I think it went relatively well.