Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Hardcore DIY Invites (Part 2)

The paper is in! So I'd better get on with telling the rest of the process.

The pieces of the invitation were decided to be (in descending order of anticipated size): Directions, Menu, Accommodations, Website. The Response Card would be included as a separate card, along with its envelope. I'd originally pushed for eliminating the paper RSVP in favor of online and telephone response, but Fiance argued that we would end up having to phone the majority of our guests to get their replies, so I relented. Which is good, because while I won the battle over the invitation envelope (he wanted silver, I wanted dark blue), we still get to use silver envelopes for the response cards.



So, a mockup was created from samples of the actual materials we intended to use, real text on the invite front overlay, and placeholder text on the inserts. No response card for the mockup. We were really excited about it, and started demo-ing it to a couple of people. Unfortunately, the first two people that we handed it to almost ripped it trying to open it in ways that it wasn't meant to open rather than flipping it over to the reverse side. Clearly we had a problem.

Thus ensued "user acceptance testing." Yes. I warned you that we are project managers. Since the first prototype clearly had a problem, we devised a rather involved solution that included a ribbon pull-tab attached to the top insert that would be apparent from the front and pretty much physically lead recipients to the back of the invite.
Okay, this is not a bad plan. But first, let's try something simpler and see if it works. So we tried gluing all the edges shut, and behold: success! Rather than insisting on opening the invite greeting-card-style, users would make a cursory attempt on the long edge of the card before realizing the futility of their actions and flipping the card right over. Some even turned it over without trying the edge. And no gluing of ribbons!

Next up: Step by step how-to and a glimpse of the project plan.

Ever done a user trial before releasing a craft project into the wild?

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