Tricycle Enjoying iPhone Success Tricycle has branched into the development of highly innovative mobile software applications over the last 6 months. Under the brand names of DocTOT and DelaerTOT several iPhone Apps have been launched over recent months (5 in total to date) and many more are in development and pending release.
Tricycle excels in the development of iPhone Apps because the platform requires excellence in usability, design and engineering for a successful outcome.
3. Prototyping: Tricycle create both low-fidelity and hi-fidelity prototypes, drawn from a requirements spec provided by the client or created through Tricycle Interactive own data collection and analysis. Examples Methods: Horizontal and vertical prototypes, wireframe diagrams, screen flow diagrams, 3D virtual models, 3D physical models.
4. Design Implementation: Tricycle excel in realising the end vision of a project. We build the end solution, developing both the hardware and software elements and content where required. Examples Methods: multiple programming languages, rich-media content creation, physical computing techniques, traditional craftsmanship.
5. Evaluation: Tricycle test how usable your product, service or system is. The received feedback is documented into actionable design recommendations. Examples Methods: Facilitated Usability Testing, heuristic evaluations, cognitive walkthrough, questionnaires.
Prototyping:
Prototyping is the process of quickly putting together a working model (a prototype) in order to test various aspects of a design, illustrate ideas or features and gather early user feedback. In the field of Interaction Design, low fidelity prototyping refers to quick and cost effective methods like sketching, paper mock ups generally used early on in the process whilst hi-fidelity prototypes refer to more labour intensive and costly mock ups with added functionality, created in an interactive authoring environment and reserved until later on in the process.
Horizontal prototypes provide a wide range of functions, but with little detail. Vertical prototypes provide a lot of detail for only a few functions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prototyping
Wireframe diagrams:
Wireframes are a page-by-page or screen-by-screen detail of the system, which include notes ("annotations") as to how the system will operate.They are a basic visual guide created to explore and test potential layout and placement options of fundamental design elements within the interface design.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interaction_design
Heuristic evaluations:
The use of the term is widespread in the Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and interaction design community and has become particularly visible because of Jakob Nielsen's 'Heuristic Evaluation' method (Nielsen 1994).
Heuristic evaluation is a discount usability engineering method for quick, cheap, and easy evaluation of a user interface design. Heuristic evaluation involves having a small set of evaluators examine the interface and judge its compliance with recognized usability principles (the "heuristics").
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interaction_design
Cognitive Walkthrough:
The cognitive walkthrough method is a usability inspection method used to identify usability issues in a piece of software or web site, focusing on how easy it is for new users to accomplish tasks with the system. The method is rooted in the notion that users typically prefer to learn a system by using it to accomplish tasks, rather than, for example, studying a manual. The method is prized for its ability to generate results quickly with low cost, especially when compared to usability testing, as well as the ability to apply the method early in the design phases, before coding has even begun.
