A Comparison of Prototyping on Paper (POP) Software and Traditional Paper Prototyping for Developing Mobile Products with Optimal User Experience

Prototyping is a quick and effective way to facilitate iterative conceptual design, and allows user experience researchers to test the user experience of early conceptual designs. The current study compared usability testing that was supported by traditional paper prototyping methods with testing that was supported by a new iPhone software application called Prototyping on Paper (POP). POP supports testing and development by allowing uploaded images to be linked together to form virtual interactive prototypes. Usability testing was carried out on an actual smartphone product that is currently under development called ‘Fleet,’ a product that provides travelers with crowd-sourced information about commercial air travel. Data from the user testing showed that participants slightly preferred interacting with POP in comparison with traditional paper prototyping, but no reliable differences were found in terms of user performance. Test facilitators also showed no reliable preference between the two techniques. The increased level of interactivity POP offers and its ability to better model actual interactions on a mobile device makes it a novel prototyping technique for smartphone applications that should be considered by usability experts.