Design prototyping: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 14:41, 12 July 2024

Latest revision as of 07:26, 18 August 2025

(5 intermediate revisions by 5 users not shown)

Line 1:

{{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 ==

Line 18 ⟶ 19:

# 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"/> Over time, significant advancements in materials have led to the production of high-quality functional parts, which are now sometimes utilized directly on production lines. Simultaneously, the reduction in costs has made rapid prototyping processes a more economical solution.<ref>{{cite web |title=Rapid Prototyping |url=https://www.jhmay.com/rapid-prototyping/ |access-date=12 July 2024 |website=JH May}}</ref>

# 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]]

Line 31 ⟶ 32:

=== 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 ===