Prototype Design: Initial Sketch

Here is a scan of a prototype that the group has been discussing.

The top left section deals with the main aisle view that the user will see when they navigate around the virtual supermarket, the top right is the view of a shelving unit so they can browse variations on individual products. On the bottom level we have the trolley bar handle interface device on the left that is the main control of the system, and the ring to act as a virtual hand to allow selection of items in the virtual world is on the right. Finally on the bottom at the middle is a sample of the information that might be shown when a product is selected for closer inspection on the shelf view.

The prototype is a preliminary ideas sketch which we all discussed in a group session with other ideas for prototypes.The idea is that we all bring our ideas into a melting pot and then we pick the best most concrete ones and put them into the core functionality of a group prototype that we are now working on.

Once we put together the group prototype, we will then give this to our persona's for evaluation and testing. The feedback we get from them will help us to refine the prototype and redesign parts that need it. It will also help us to know what features need to be added to flesh out the product to a more complete phase. Finally the testing should give us more insight into our persona's so they may be also developed too, to aid us further.

Here is another sketch brought to the group meeting:

This design is based on having a projector to show the virtual world, and a remote control style pointing device with a laser pointer built in to deal with navigation and selection in the system.