Design prototyping: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 11:04, 19 October 2021

Revision as of 20:28, 9 January 2022

Line 9:

However, one of the first documented uses of the term ''prototyping'' linked to a design process appears in 1983 in ''A systematic look at prototyping'' <ref name="Floyd" /> in the field of information systems and software development. The work of Floyd was inspired by the discussions among the scholars who were preparing the ''Working Conference on Prototyping.'' It focuses on ''prototype'' as a process, rather than the artefact and how prototyping could be applied to the full solution (or product) or parts of it seeking to improve the final output. Although this work was not developed within the design discipline, it provides a comprehensive characterisation of prototyping by defining its steps, purposes and strategies. Moreover, it serves as a referent to further studies of design prototyping.

[[File:3D printing functional prototypes.jpg|thumb|Example of a rapid prototyping technique: 3D printing of prototypes]]

Later, around the year of 1990, the availability of methods for rapidly manufacturing models and prototypes stimulated the publication of a great body of literature dedicated to [[rapid prototyping]] techniques and technologies (e.g., [[3D printing]]). Technologies for [[3D printing|additive manufacturing]] (i.e., adding material) or [[Machining|substractive manufacturing]] (i.e., removing material) together with the use of software for [[computer-aided design]] (CAD), leveraged prototype building but also the fabrication of products in limited numbers.

Along the years, further efforts have been dedicated to characterising prototyping in design disciplines in the fields of [[interaction design]], [[User experience design|experience design]],<ref name="Buchenau">{{Cite journal|last1=Buchenau|first1=Marion|last2=Suri|first2=Jane Fulton|date=2000|title=Experience prototyping|url=https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/347642.347802?casa_token=aJCXf4G3Ze8AAAAA:ts_focl2ekhyxQwk9e5X22FX0BUq1TtuehKRpI9hsJmtY6KdT937jKOKpN1C3vtdLv_cYCTLmUA|journal=Proceedings of the 3rd Conference on Designing Interactive Systems: Processes, Practices, Methods, and Techniques|series=Dis '00|pages=424–433|doi=10.1145/347642.347802|isbn=1581132190|s2cid=6481095}}</ref> [[product design]]<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hallgrimssom|first=Bjarki|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1145028866|title=Prototyping and modelmaking for product design|publisher=Laurence King Publishing|year=2012|isbn=978-1-78067-446-9|oclc=1145028866}}</ref> and [[service design]],<ref name="Blom_Holm" /><ref name="Blom">{{Cite book|last=Blomkvist|first=Johan|url=https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A712357&dswid=-1860|title=Representing future situations of service: prototyping in service design|work=Doctoral dissertation|publisher=Linköping University Electronic Press|year=2014}}</ref><ref name="Stickdorn" /> as well as in product-design-related fields such as engineering/mechanical design.<ref name="Stowe">{{Cite book|last=Stowe|first=David|title=Investigating the Role of Prototyping in Mechanical Design Using Case Study Validation|work=Master Thesis|publisher=Clemson University|year=2008}}</ref><ref name="Camburn">{{Cite journal|last1=Camburn|first1=Bradley|last2=Viswanathan|first2=Vimal|last3=Linsey|first3=Julie|last4=Anderson|first4=David|last5=Jensen|first5=Daniel|last6=Crawford|first6=Richard|last7=Otto|first7=Kevin|last8=Wood|first8=Kristin|date=2017|title=Design prototyping methods: state of the art in strategies, techniques, and guidelines|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2053470117000105/type/journal_article|journal=Design Science|language=en|volume=3|pages=e13|doi=10.1017/dsj.2017.10|s2cid=116507313|issn=2053-4701}}</ref> In 2000, designers from [[IDEO]] described ''experience prototyping,'' introducing types of design representations and methods that allow to simulate aspects of an interaction that people experience by themselves.<ref name="Buchenau" /> Experience prototyping can combine various types of prototypes such as spaces, products and interfaces to resemble what the real experience could be like. Around the year of 2010, studies were developed to examine the prototyping of services theorising from the growing practice of service design,<ref name="Blom" /> which later in 2018 were also used as a reference for service design practitioners.<ref name="Stickdorn" />

Line 18:

# 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}}</ref> employing an appropriate{{what?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]]

Line 30:

=== 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}}</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.