CMIC approached OpenCraft to design the user experience for one such technology, to help them convert a raw technical idea into a product prototype that would be user-centric. CMIC is Cairo's Microsoft Innovation Center , where technologies that are created by Microsoft Research labs worldwide are recycled into applied proofs of concept and demos for eventual productization.
The requested service consisted of two main parts: designing a suitable user experience for the product prototype, and implementing the design using .NET technologies. Even though OpenCraft does not possess .NET skills, we were still able to win the contract by proposing a solution whereby OpenCraft would perform the UX work, and outsource the .NET development to a partner. We agreed to conduct the project over several 6-months iterations, progressively refining the prototype each time.
In order to ensure proper information flow among the three parties (CMIC, OpenCraft and our .NET partner quTIP, we built a project management information system that would serve as team communication and collaboration tool, using Drupal CMS.
Based on meetings with CMIC, we designed a first draft of the user experience. We then conducted a special type of usability study called Pluralistic Walkthrough whereby random representatives from the target user groups would evaluate a paper-based simulation of the system. Their feedback allowed us to refine the user interface and desired features to a point where we were confident of building a system that would be desirable. We then converted the designs into richly-annotated wireframes that were used by quTIP as requirements to build the actual prototype.
