Several research projects have shown the value of this technique:
Bailey (1992) reported on training courses where students were given a specification and used a prototyping tool to create a simple system. After all the students completed their designs, each student used everyone else's system to complete a task. Having experienced the ideas of all the other students, each then made changes to his or her original prototype. This process was repeated two more times. The revised interfaces were always considerably better than the originals. Two important observations emerged from these classes:
A few years later, Nielsen (1993) described a development methodology in which several designers worked independently to generate as many different design ideas as possible. Once they had created different designs, they combined their different ideas and took the best features from all designers. The goal was to develop and evaluate different ideas before settling on a single approach.
Nielsen listed the following as major benefits of this approach:
A few years later, Ovaska and Raiha (1995) published an article suggesting that having designers make initial design decisions independently and then combining their results produced better user interfaces than the original design of any one person. They called this approach "parallel design."
- Seeing and trying others' designs improved final solutions
- Creating many designs produced better results
- Combining design elements resulted in better user interfaces
Bailey (1992) reported on training courses where students were given a specification and used a prototyping tool to create a simple system. After all the students completed their designs, each student used everyone else's system to complete a task. Having experienced the ideas of all the other students, each then made changes to his or her original prototype. This process was repeated two more times. The revised interfaces were always considerably better than the originals. Two important observations emerged from these classes:
- No matter how good the original interfaces were, every one was improved.
- Students were able to very quickly identify the good design ideas in the systems of others, and they effectively integrated those good ideas into their own designs.
A few years later, Nielsen (1993) described a development methodology in which several designers worked independently to generate as many different design ideas as possible. Once they had created different designs, they combined their different ideas and took the best features from all designers. The goal was to develop and evaluate different ideas before settling on a single approach.
Nielsen listed the following as major benefits of this approach:
- It allows a range of ideas to be generated quickly and cost-effectively.
- It allows several approaches to be explored at the same time, thus compressing the concept development schedule.
- The concepts generated can often be combined so that the final product benefits from all the proposed ideas.
- People with little usability expertise can use the technique.
A few years later, Ovaska and Raiha (1995) published an article suggesting that having designers make initial design decisions independently and then combining their results produced better user interfaces than the original design of any one person. They called this approach "parallel design."
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