Prototyping

“Prototypes are a useful aid when discussing ideas with stakeholders; they are a communication device among team members, and an effective way for designers to explore design ideas”

Prototype is the third step in the process of implementing a product/service. A prototype might be a small-scale model that shows in smaller dimensions than the original product/service its design. Therefore, the prototype might be in 2D, made by cardboard or even plasticine. Generally they produce the prototype in an expected way in order to provide the desirable functionalities that must be showed (Rogers et. al, 2011). 

Using prototypes a designer gets feedback and evaluation, to be able to make any improvements and meet as much as possible the expectations. In addition multidisciplinary teams can communicate between each other easily. Therefore stakeholders can easily understand the main concept of the design and suggest any changes or improvements. Prototype encourages improvements and it also help designers to answer questions but even to make it easier for the designer to choose among the alternatives (Rogers et. al, 2011).

 

Figure 1: Prototype using plastiscine (Rogers et. al, 2011)

Figure 2: Prototype of a teddy (Rogers et. al, 2011)

References:

Rogers, Y., Preece, J. & Sharp, H., 2011. Interaction Design: Beyond Human - Computer Interaction. 3rd ed. s.l.:Wiley.