Design prototyping: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Creation and testing of prototypes}}

<!-- EDIT BELOW THIS LINE -->'''Design prototyping''' in its broader definition comprises the actions to make, test and analyse a [[prototype]], a [[Physical model|model]] or a [[mockup]] according to one or various purposes in different stages <ref name="Blom_Holm">{{Cite journal|last1=Blomkvist|first1=Johan|last2=Holmlid|first2=Stefan|date=2011|title=Existing prototyping perspectives: Considerations for service design|journal=Nordes 4}}</ref> of the [[design|design process]].<ref name="Floyd">{{Cite book|last=Floyd|first=Christiane|title=A systematic look at prototyping|work=In Approaches to prototyping|publisher=Springer|year=1984|___location=Berlin, Heidelberg|pages=1–18}}</ref><ref name="Stickdorn">{{Cite book|last1=Stickdorn|first1=Marc|url=|title=This is service design doing : applying service design thinking in the real world : a practitioner's handbook|last2=Hormess|first2=Markus Edgar|last3=Lawrence|first3=Adam|last4=Schneider|first4=Jakob|publisher=O'Reilly Media, Inc.|others=Markus Hormess, Adam Lawrence, Jakob Schneider|year=2018|isbn=978-1-4919-2718-2|edition=1st|___location=Sebastopol, CA|oclc=922913141}}</ref> Other definitions consider ''prototyping'' as the methods or techniques for making a prototype (e.g., [[Rapid prototyping|rapid prototyping techniques]]),<ref name=":0" /> or a stage in the design process (prototype development, prototype or prototyping).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Archer|first=L. Bruce|title=The structure of the design process|work=Design methods in architecture|publisher=Lund Humphries, Bradford and London|year=1969|pages=76–102}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Hasso Plattner Institute of Design|url=https://web.stanford.edu/~mshanks/MichaelShanks/files/509554.pdf|title=An introduction to design thinking: process guide|year=2010}}</ref><ref name="Stickdorn" /><ref>{{Cite web|last1=Friis Dam|first1=Rikke|last2=Yu Siang|first2=Teo|year=2019|title=Stage 4 in the Design Thinking Process: Prototype|url=https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/stage-4-in-the-design-thinking-process-prototype|archive-date=|access-date=|website=Interaction Design Foundation}}</ref> The concept of ''prototyping'' in design disciplines' literature is also related to the concepts of ''experimentation'' (i.e., an iterative problem-solving process of trying, failing and improving),<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Thomke|first=Stefan H.|date=1998|title=Managing Experimentation in the Design of New Products|url=http://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/mnsc.44.6.743|journal=Management Science|language=en|volume=44|issue=6|pages=743–762|doi=10.1287/mnsc.44.6.743|issn=0025-1909|url-access=subscription}}</ref> and ''Research through Design (RtD)'' (i.e., designers make a prototype with the purpose of conducting research and generating knowledge while trying it, rather than aiming to improving it to become a final product).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Frayling|first=Christopher|title=Research in art and design|publisher=Royal College of Art|year=1993|volume=1|___location=London|pages=1–5|issue=1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Stappers|first1=Pieter Jan|url=https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/book/the-encyclopedia-of-human-computer-interaction-2nd-ed/research-through-design|title=Research through design|last2=Giaccardi|first2=Elisa|work=The encyclopedia of human-computer interaction|publisher=The Interaction Design Foundation|year=2017|pages=1–94}}</ref>

== Background ==

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# Preparation: to decide the aims of prototyping, define questions and assumptions that are going to be examined, identify the participants of the prototyping sessions and the dimensions of the prototype that are going to be tested.

# Making: some or various dimensions will be represented in a prototype (e.g., material, form or function) <ref name="Lim">{{Cite journal|last1=Lim|first1=Youn-Kyung|last2=Stolterman|first2=Erik|last3=Tenenberg|first3=Josh|date=2008|title=The anatomy of prototypes: Prototypes as filters, prototypes as manifestations of design ideas|url=https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1375761.1375762|journal=ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction|language=en|volume=15|issue=2|pages=1–27|doi=10.1145/1375761.1375762|s2cid=9985664|issn=1073-0516|url-access=subscription}}</ref> employing an appropriate{{clarify|date=October 2021}} depending on the purpose. The relevance on making on design has been increasing in the last years and transforming while new design disciplines emerge. For instance, whilst [[Sketch (drawing)|sketches]] were previously another category of visual design representations,<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Pei|first1=Eujin|last2=Campbell|first2=Ian|last3=Evans|first3=Mark|date=2011|title=A taxonomic classification of visual design representations used by industrial designers and engineering designers|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2752/175630610X12877385838803|journal=The Design Journal|volume=14|issue=1|pages=64–91|doi=10.2752/175630610X12877385838803|s2cid=108653894}}</ref> today they could also be considered prototypes in service design.<ref name="Stickdorn"/>

# Testing: the prototyping session develops in a defined setup with certain characteristics of space and environment and will follow a method to gather feedback.

# Analysing: the results of the testing will be integrated into the solution and updated in the following prototype versions.[[File:UX prototyping 4.jpg|thumb|User experience (UX) prototyping: testing of a mobile application]]

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=== Position in the process ===

[[File:Double-diamond-process.jpg|thumb|Double Diamond inspired in the [[Design Council|Design Council's]] model of the design process.]]

Whilst for some scholars prototyping was happening in a particular stage of the design process, the importance of prototyping has been gaining relevance as a continuous activity since the early stages of the process.<ref name="Blom_Holm" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Sanders|first1=Elizabeth B.-N.|last2=Stappers|first2=Pieter Jan|date=2014-01-02|title=Probes, toolkits and prototypes: three approaches to making in codesigning|url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15710882.2014.888183|journal=CoDesign|language=en|volume=10|issue=1|pages=5–14|doi=10.1080/15710882.2014.888183|s2cid=108955372|issn=1571-0882|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Considering in which moment of the process prototyping is going to be developed will guide decisions on its purpose and further characteristics of prototyping.

=== Purpose ===

Prototyping can be developed according to different aims of the design process that influence decisions such as what variables of the prototype are going to be examined and who is going to be involved in the testing session. Prototyping is and should be purposeful to avoid overspending or overtrusting the prototypes that are created and used. Research on prototyping by early-stage entrepreneurs demonstrates that the purposes behind prototyping come in different forms. As noted in the study by [https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11187-024-00922-2 Paust, Korsgaard, and Thrane (2024)], "Some [purposes, red.] were narrowly focused on gathering knowledge on some predefined measure or element, while others were more open-endedly seeking to incite creativity. This suggests that entrepreneurs set purposes that either structure or guide their prototyping, depending on the specific situation in the venture development process."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Paust |first=Steffen |last2=Korsgaard |first2=Steffen |last3=Thrane |first3=Claus |date=2024-04-11 |title=Entrepreneurial prototyping: the role of purpose, prototype recycling, and skills bricolage |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-024-00922-2 |journal=Small Business Economics |language=en |doi=10.1007/s11187-024-00922-2 |issn=1573-0913}}</ref> Moreover, a recent review by [https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4776238 Paust, Korsgaard, and Thrane (2024)] of the concept of prototyping in management research and its subfields has described many purposes of prototyping, spanning meta-cognitive purposes of visualization and reification, active-level purposes of testing, boundary-spanning, and exploring, to organizational-level purposes of learning and coordinating<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Paust |first=Steffen |last2=Korsgaard |first2=Steffen |last3=Thrane |first3=Claus |year=2024 |title=Prototyping in Management Research: An Integrative Literature Review and Research Agenda |url=https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4776238 |journal=SSRN |pages=1-53 |doi=10.2139/ssrn.4776238 |ssrn=https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4776238}}</ref>. For example, in the early stages of the process, the need could be to explore various ideas within the design team and prototypes may be created fast and with little resources, while at the end of the process the functionality of the solution may be evaluated with future users so the prototype would largely resemble its final version.

Some of the purposes of prototyping identified by different authors are:

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* [[Product design]]

* [[Service design]]

* [[Software prototyping]]

* [[Participatory design|Participatory design - co-design]]