Rapid prototyping and user-centered design of interactive display-based systems

Much work on display-based ubicomp systems (and rapid prototyping in general) focus on producing proof-of-concept demonstrators, usually to gauge technical feasibility and collect initial user feedback. In our work, we´ve found that it´s often equally important to investigate factors such as use and appropriation and that in some cases, without user studies, technical feasibility can be meaningless. We used rapid prototyping combined with a phased, iterative, and user-centered design approach to develop five display-based ubicomp systems for real-world use over time. In this article, we discuss our aims, approach, and lessons learned. The ubicomp systems that we developed and deployed use rapid prototyping techniques and a user-centered design approach.