Prototyping in Design

Prototyping in the Design Process

• Prototyping is a key part of the Develop phase of the double diamond of design, where solutions or concepts are created, prototyped, tested, and iterated.

• Design has two aspects: conceptual and concrete. Prototyping facilitates the iterative process of both aspects.

• Prototypes allow users to evaluate the design of an interactive product effectively and are essential for designers to prototype their ideas.

• A prototype is a manifestation of a design that allows stakeholders to interact with it and explore its suitability. It can take many forms, from a paper-based outline to a complex piece of software.

• Prototypes are useful when discussing or evaluating ideas with stakeholders and serve multiple purposes, such as testing technical feasibility, clarifying requirements, and checking design compatibility.

• Low-fidelity prototyping is simple, cheap, and quick to produce, making it suitable for exploring alternative designs and ideas in the early stages of development.

• Low-fidelity prototypes can take the form of storyboards, hand-drawn sketches, or index cards, and are useful for investigating scenarios of use and deciding whether design elements are appropriate.

• High-fidelity prototyping looks more like the final product and usually provides more functionality than low-fidelity prototypes. They can be developed by modifying and integrating existing components.

• Prototypes involve compromises, and the intention is to produce something quickly to test an aspect of the product. The kind of questions that any one prototype can answer is limited, and the prototype must be built with the key issues in mind.

• The Wizard of Oz technique is a low-fidelity prototyping method where the user interacts with the software as though interacting with the product, but a human operator simulates the software’s response to the user.

• Prototyping AI systems also draws on the Wizard of Oz style of prototyping, where the designer sketches the AI for themselves, and as the design matures, implementations of the AI can take its place.

• Advances in 3D printer technologies have increased their use in design, where 3D models from software packages can be printed as prototypes.The Anatomy of Prototyping: Filters and Manifestations

• The article proposes a view of prototypes as filters and manifestations of designs.

• Three key principles are suggested: fundamental prototyping principle, economic principle of prototyping, and anatomy of prototypes.

• Filtering dimensions include appearance, data, functionality, interactivity, and spatial structure.

• Manifestation dimensions include material, resolution, and scope.

• High-fidelity prototypes offer polished functional prototypes, while low-fidelity prototypes allow for exploration of initial ideas.

• Both high- and low-fidelity prototypes can provide useful feedback during evaluation and design iterations.

• Two common properties that are often traded off against each other are breadth of functionality versus depth, and level of robustness versus degree of changeability.

• High-fidelity prototypes may appear to be good enough to be the final product, and users may be less prepared to critique something if they perceive it as a finished product.

• Prototypes will have undergone extensive user evaluation, but may not have been built with good engineering principles or subjected to rigorous quality testing.

• Building a final product requires a different construction and testing regime than producing a quick prototype.

• Evolutionary prototyping involves the prototype evolving into the final product, while throwaway prototyping uses the prototypes as stepping stones toward the final design.

• In evolutionary prototyping, each stage is subjected to rigorous testing, while in throwaway prototyping, such testing is not necessary.

Prototyping in the Design Process

• Prototyping is a key part of the Develop phase of the double diamond of design, where solutions or concepts are created, prototyped, tested, and iterated.

• Design has two aspects: conceptual and concrete. Prototyping facilitates the iterative process of both aspects.

• Prototypes allow users to evaluate the design of an interactive product effectively and are essential for designers to prototype their ideas.

• A prototype is a manifestation of a design that allows stakeholders to interact with it and explore its suitability. It can take many forms, from a paper-based outline to a complex piece of software.

• Prototypes are useful when discussing or evaluating ideas with stakeholders and serve multiple purposes, such as testing technical feasibility, clarifying requirements, and checking design compatibility.

• Low-fidelity prototyping is simple, cheap, and quick to produce, making it suitable for exploring alternative designs and ideas in the early stages of development.

• Low-fidelity prototypes can take the form of storyboards, hand-drawn sketches, or index cards, and are useful for investigating scenarios of use and deciding whether design elements are appropriate.

• High-fidelity prototyping looks more like the final product and usually provides more functionality than low-fidelity prototypes. They can be developed by modifying and integrating existing components.

• Prototypes involve compromises, and the intention is to produce something quickly to test an aspect of the product. The kind of questions that any one prototype can answer is limited, and the prototype must be built with the key issues in mind.

• The Wizard of Oz technique is a low-fidelity prototyping method where the user interacts with the software as though interacting with the product, but a human operator simulates the software’s response to the user.

• Prototyping AI systems also draws on the Wizard of Oz style of prototyping, where the designer sketches the AI for themselves, and as the design matures, implementations of the AI can take its place.

• Advances in 3D printer technologies have increased their use in design, where 3D models from software packages can be printed as prototypes.The Anatomy of Prototyping: Filters and Manifestations

• The article proposes a view of prototypes as filters and manifestations of designs.

• Three key principles are suggested: fundamental prototyping principle, economic principle of prototyping, and anatomy of prototypes.

• Filtering dimensions include appearance, data, functionality, interactivity, and spatial structure.

• Manifestation dimensions include material, resolution, and scope.

• High-fidelity prototypes offer polished functional prototypes, while low-fidelity prototypes allow for exploration of initial ideas.

• Both high- and low-fidelity prototypes can provide useful feedback during evaluation and design iterations.

• Two common properties that are often traded off against each other are breadth of functionality versus depth, and level of robustness versus degree of changeability.

• High-fidelity prototypes may appear to be good enough to be the final product, and users may be less prepared to critique something if they perceive it as a finished product.

• Prototypes will have undergone extensive user evaluation, but may not have been built with good engineering principles or subjected to rigorous quality testing.

• Building a final product requires a different construction and testing regime than producing a quick prototype.

• Evolutionary prototyping involves the prototype evolving into the final product, while throwaway prototyping uses the prototypes as stepping stones toward the final design.

• In evolutionary prototyping, each stage is subjected to rigorous testing, while in throwaway prototyping, such testing is not necessary.

Prototyping in the Design Process

• Prototyping is a key part of the Develop phase of the double diamond of design, where solutions or concepts are created, prototyped, tested, and iterated.

• Design has two aspects: conceptual and concrete. Prototyping facilitates the iterative process of both aspects.

• Prototypes allow users to evaluate the design of an interactive product effectively and are essential for designers to prototype their ideas.

• A prototype is a manifestation of a design that allows stakeholders to interact with it and explore its suitability. It can take many forms, from a paper-based outline to a complex piece of software.

• Prototypes are useful when discussing or evaluating ideas with stakeholders and serve multiple purposes, such as testing technical feasibility, clarifying requirements, and checking design compatibility.

• Low-fidelity prototyping is simple, cheap, and quick to produce, making it suitable for exploring alternative designs and ideas in the early stages of development.

• Low-fidelity prototypes can take the form of storyboards, hand-drawn sketches, or index cards, and are useful for investigating scenarios of use and deciding whether design elements are appropriate.

• High-fidelity prototyping looks more like the final product and usually provides more functionality than low-fidelity prototypes. They can be developed by modifying and integrating existing components.

• Prototypes involve compromises, and the intention is to produce something quickly to test an aspect of the product. The kind of questions that any one prototype can answer is limited, and the prototype must be built with the key issues in mind.

• The Wizard of Oz technique is a low-fidelity prototyping method where the user interacts with the software as though interacting with the product, but a human operator simulates the software’s response to the user.

• Prototyping AI systems also draws on the Wizard of Oz style of prototyping, where the designer sketches the AI for themselves, and as the design matures, implementations of the AI can take its place.

• Advances in 3D printer technologies have increased their use in design, where 3D models from software packages can be printed as prototypes.The Anatomy of Prototyping: Filters and Manifestations

• The article proposes a view of prototypes as filters and manifestations of designs.

• Three key principles are suggested: fundamental prototyping principle, economic principle of prototyping, and anatomy of prototypes.

• Filtering dimensions include appearance, data, functionality, interactivity, and spatial structure.

• Manifestation dimensions include material, resolution, and scope.

• High-fidelity prototypes offer polished functional prototypes, while low-fidelity prototypes allow for exploration of initial ideas.

• Both high- and low-fidelity prototypes can provide useful feedback during evaluation and design iterations.

• Two common properties that are often traded off against each other are breadth of functionality versus depth, and level of robustness versus degree of changeability.

• High-fidelity prototypes may appear to be good enough to be the final product, and users may be less prepared to critique something if they perceive it as a finished product.

• Prototypes will have undergone extensive user evaluation, but may not have been built with good engineering principles or subjected to rigorous quality testing.

• Building a final product requires a different construction and testing regime than producing a quick prototype.

• Evolutionary prototyping involves the prototype evolving into the final product, while throwaway prototyping uses the prototypes as stepping stones toward the final design.

• In evolutionary prototyping, each stage is subjected to rigorous testing, while in throwaway prototyping, such testing is not necessary.