Effective Prototyping with Excel

Chapter 3. Basics

The Excel Prototyping Canvas

In this chapter you will learn how to create a prototyping canvas.

Creating a Prototyping Canvas

To use Excel for prototyping, you will fundamentally change the way you use Excel. When you first open Excel, you see an empty traditional spreadsheet ready for you to begin entering data. To create prototypes, you will transform the traditional spreadsheet of delineated rows and columns into a blank canvas.

The metaphor of the painter's canvas is useful here because it has a great deal in common with what you are trying to accomplish: A blank canvas is the starting point for a creative person to visually express his or her ideas.

The parameters that you will use to format your canvas include

▪ Worksheet cell ...