In What Do Prototypes Prototype?, prototypes are described as a way to “make a little something and let the idea take shape.” While reading it, I kept thinking about those rough, almost unfinished models that still carry the marks of the hands that made them. They may look simple, but they push the discussion forward very quickly. I briefly thought about the small tests we did in our own project, but what stayed with me more was the attitude behind it—that a prototype doesn’t need to be a finished piece. It’s a probe, a way to try something out.

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Saffer’s Designing Interactions makes interaction feel more like a chain of actions rather than a single operation. The way the chapter places one action next to the next made me pay attention to the rhythm between people and systems. Those small transitions often feel more meaningful than the interface or the object itself. I notice these kinds of relationships in my daily life as well, so it was easy to slip into that observational mindset while reading.

 

Fly-on-the-Wall Observation and Questionnaires are the two research methods I used in our UX project. When reading Fly-on-the-Wall Observation, what caught me most was the idea of lowering your presence as much as possible. You stand inside the scene, but you can’t really become part of it. It feels like adjusting your breathing so the surroundings can unfold on their own. While reading, I kept recalling our fieldwork for the smoking project. Standing outside the Jay St station, I had to look like I was waiting for someone or just standing around with no purpose. When people passed by, those tiny moves—passing quickly, stepping slightly aside, glancing, or ignoring—only appeared natural when I didn’t send out any kind of signal. A few people slightly shifted their bodies when they caught the smell, but the movement was so quick that I would have missed it if I hadn’t been watching quietly.

 

Questionnaires felt completely different. They give the initiative back to the participants. The researcher can only read whatever they choose to write down. Filling out a questionnaire is a kind of filtering—some things are left out, some emotions get softened, and sometimes you can almost see the participant deciding how much they want to reveal.