Let's take a look at how to use Balsamiq, to prototype our ideas. We've got a user story, maybe we've got some comparables, but hopefully we have some definite ideas about the patterns we think our user is expecting to see for a given user story. This is a great way to bring those to life, and also, as you'll see in a second, make them interactive and get right to exploratory and assessment testing right away. Anybody can use this tool, it's really easy to use. Here we are, I'm on the Google Drive version, kind of the way it works, is there's this drag and drop thing where you take elements from these toolbars and they have set of menus, and then the search works pretty well. For instance, if I say drop-down, they see they call a combo box, but they have an index is dropped down as well. I take these, I put them and then as you click these items, they have these various properties over here on the right. So only once this item is selected, you see the properties. So for example, here on the drop-down, I can link to other items, and if I want to change what the selection is, I can get combo box, and then if I want to edit this directly, I opened it up and I can add items here. I can change the state that this is in, I can make it close now and so forth. So all the items here have different properties. Then as you click and you kind of see what affordances they have available to get where you want to go. What I like about this tool, there are a lot of good prototyping tools, but there are also some uses of prototyping tools that I think are not so great. What I like about Balsamiq is that, it has this kind of rough sketchy looking appearance, because the idea is that we're not trying to create something perfect and finished and beautiful, we're really just trying to look at, basically what patterns do we want to explore here? Believe me, these are perfectly adequate for testing with users. Secondly, I just like how easy and accessible it is, and that you can create interactive prototypes. I'm going to pop over to one of the sample files that are in the course resources to show you how you can actually make these prototypes interactive, and that will allow for you to have an asset you can use for exploratory testing. So I'm going to pop over here, this is the sample file. The thing about this though, is that, I'm going to show you how to make these interactive. The interaction is very static, you're just linking from one static image to the next. So it's really important to have a good script and to be kind of making your prototype based on your usability test plan, and not letting your prototype drive, your user stories, or your test plan. As you get into this and you see some of these demos, you'll see what I mean. That all said, the way that you make these interactive is, you simply take an item like, let's say this drop-down, and this has link property, I'm linking it to another panel down here that's called filter make pull, which is right here. So the idea is that, the user will click and then they'll see this drop-down. That is happening statically. Let me show you how that actually works. We go here, we're on this, and if we click play up here over in the upper right, then we get a menu. This is really important, this is a nice improvement they've recently made. We have different ways that we can show the disposition of the live prototype. User test hides some of the signifiers that pop up when something is clickable. So for instance, with review, when you're just trying to show your collaborators what you did and guide them, through the clickability. If the user puts their cursor over an item that is clickable, a big huge hand pops up. But obviously that's leading, we don't want to show our test subject that. So if we do user test, we're going to get the settings we want, close settings. Now, I'm on the first page and see if I click this, then it brings me to that other page. If I click carrier, it shows me carrier, but that again happen through me having a third panel that said carrier. So it's interactive, but it's very static. So have a good script and make sure you're creating your prototypes in tandem with your usability test plan. But this is a great way to, A, bring your ideas to life and show your collaborators what you mean quickly and easily, and B, enable yourself and your team to do exploratory testing right away, early and often, which is key to iterating on your usability hypothesis and the testing of it.
