The Power of Audio Prototypes
Sometimes, specially in the early stages of a project, when I’m trying to figure out the information architecture or some complex interaction of a digital product, I get stuck. I stare blankly at the screen of my computer for minutes on end, trying to figure out a good solution only to find out that my ideas are still quite abstract and fuzzy.
I think this is a fairly common situation for a lot of UX designers that work by themselves, either because they are the only designer in a startup or because they work remotely with their teams. Whatever the case, on your day to day work you might not enjoy the luxury of having another person with whom you can brainstorm and improve your ideas.
Enter Audio Prototypes
One way of cheating myself that I’ve found is recording my ideas and arguments as if I where presenting them to somebody else. This might be a bit counter intuitive, after all you might feel that you are already talking to yourself when you think, so what’s the point of the whole recording thing? Isn’t it just another way of procrastinating and delaying the task at hand? At least for me the answer is no; this is actually my favorite tool for getting unstuck.
Let me explain why. When we think, even if we are silently articulating words for the various things that we want to say, there are a lot of assumptions that we make but that we fail to detect because we are automatically accepting them as we enunciate them in our minds. We may only see one angle or one possible solution because these assumptions are hidden from ourselves.
Language originally evolved as a way of facilitating cooperation amongst the members of our species. Internal monologue is a way of hijacking this thinking tool and turning it inwards to explore our own emotions and internal states. There’s a lot to be said for the merits of silent soliloquy, just think of all the permutations of symbols and possibilities that go through the minds of two chess grandmasters matched in the World Chess Championship. However silent thinking is not perfect by itself.
Audio prototypes are a way of overcoming these limitations by extending your mind and leveraging the physical world outside of it. They enable you to have an asynchronous conversation with yourself. As you listen to them, the weakest links in your thinking process start to appear and new solutions start to take form.
You may, for example, have an idea for the navigation of an app. When you record it you can be an fierce advocate of this idea, but when you play the audio back you can assume the role of a critic that disagrees and tries to poke holes on it. By listening to your recordings you can start arguing with yourself and taking note of some of your improved ideas.
The first version of your audio prototype may have a lot of pauses, confusing explanations and unfinished thoughts. That is progress! You are putting your ideas out of your mind and into the world. Now pause the recorder, listen to what you just said, gather your thoughts and try recording the same explanation again. If you have a moment of insight while listening to a recording, just pause and record that bit of thought as well. By doing this you are basically forcing yourself to articulate the steps of your thinking process in a clear and logical way, while leaving an archive of all your thoughts.
When recording audio prototypes the distracting aspect of taking notes goes away, you are improvising like a jazz musician, you can shift thoughts in the middle of a sentence or add anything that comes to mind. It is an exercise in free form and it has a very stream of consciousness feel to it. But when you sit down and play your recording back there are often golden nuggets in the middle of all the rambling. Take note of everything that seems relevant or interesting.
By this point you should be in a much better position than when you started. You can start transforming these notes into diagrams or early prototypes that will help you move your ideas further, but you don’t need to stop at that. Once you have the first version of, say, a clickable prototype you might not be completely sure that the solution that you created is the best. Simple! Record another audio prototype, this time describing how everything works in your clickable prototype and the rationale behind your design decisions. New things will jump at you: some bits and pieces might be incomplete or not function at all.
Record these audio prototypes as if you where talking to somebody else, don’t feel forced to share them. These are explorations for yourself, and you want to be as candid as possible when recording them. If part of you is worrying about what other people might think about them you will be limiting the flow of your own ideas.
You want your solutions to be as strong as possible and to avoid as many pitfalls as you can. After all, as a UX designer you are expected to deliver solutions where there are only a lot of uncertainties and unanswered questions. Audio prototypes are a great way of getting unstuck and keeping the momentum in a one-man band project. Why don’t give them a try? Make sure you always have a recorder close to you. Wait, you already do! Install some good recording apps in phone (like Audio Recorder for Android or Voice Recorder for iOS) and get started!
One final tip
If you need a fresh take on your ideas go outside and take a walk, bring your recorder with you (but beware of windy days, they will ruin the recording!). Creating audio prototypes while walking has an added bonus; putting your body in motion makes you more alert and the things you see on the street might even sparkle new ideas. That old lady with headphones walking her dog could be one of your users, how would she interact with the solution that you are imagining? The guy that went out for a jog might be checking something on his Apple Watch. Oh right! Wearables! You might also need to consider those… You see where I’m going.
And guess what? You can extend this idea to other areas of your life as well. This whole post was drafted with the use of various audio notes. How might you use this tool to aid your intelectual and creative processes? Try recording a few audio prototypes and let me know how this technique works for you.
