Paper Prototyping Grows Up  

This paper summarizes findings from several research studies that examined the validity of paper prototyping in terms of uncovering usability problems. It also discusses the question of how paper prototypes might bias a usability test, and the role of case studies in the usability literature.

Snyder, Carolyn. STC Proceedings (2004). Articles>Usability>Prototyping>Paper

Paper Prototyping: Getting User Data Before You Code

With a paper prototype, you can user test early design ideas at an extremely low cost. Doing so lets you fix usability problems before you waste money implementing something that doesn't work.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2003). Articles>Usability>Prototyping

Prototyping

Prototyping is a method used by designers to acquire feedback from users about future designs. Prototypes are similar to mock-ups (see this), but are usually not as low-fidelity as mock-ups and appear slightly later in the design process.

Soegaard, Mads. Interaction-Design.org. Articles>Usability>Prototyping

Low-Budget Prototyping Techniques

We believe user research is too important to give up. So we have to run tests quickly and cheaply for our clients to accept the cost - and we have to clearly show how it brings value. Because of this, we’ve developed a toolbox of quick, cheap UX research techniques. In this article, we’ll talk about one technique known as fast prototyping, and how we effectively used it in a recent project for Vodafone Ireland.

Barros, Belén, Colin Bentley and Elizabeth McGuane. Johnny Holland (2009). Articles>Usability>Prototyping>Testing