Prototype for Specific Problems
I preface this blog post by saying that I advocate the importance of holistic design. Creating fully functional prototypes to test with end users before production is essential, but today we’ll be looking at early stage prototyping and why breaking your concept down into segments can speed up your process and deliver a better end product.
The design process can be messy, and that’s ok. At AK Studios we try to constantly hone our process and understand what works best for our team and our partners. During early prototyping we’ve found that prototyping with the intent to answer specific unknowns about the design helps move the process along more efficiently. Don’t burn budget, or waste time making complete or polished prototypes early on. Prototype with an intent to answer questions, solve problems and figure out the details along the way. Don’t worry about producing high fidelity prototypes until you’re able to make decisions from observations and interactions with your concept. It’ll help you move faster, save money and have a better product in the end!
Making and interacting with models helps you think through things in a different way when compared to sketching around an idea. By creating models early on, we can make observations and design changes that encourages users to interact with our designs the way we intend. The problem is many inventors, designers, and creatives don’t like sharing their work or ideas until it feels finished, polished, and clean. It’s important during this process to focus on the problems you’re trying to solve. Be comfortable with your ideas, and staying rough early on. Remember it’s ok to show users rough prototypes, and I mean really rough. You’ll know right away if your prototype is clear enough to get the point across, and even if it’s not you’ll often receive some great ideas from your testers anyway.
Companies big and small use this idea because it works. Start with low-fidelity prototypes, mock things up in cardboard, get a real feel for your concept.
Companies like Nintendo use low-fidelity prototyping all the time. Designer Kazuyuki Motoyama put together this cardboard model so he and his team could feel and interact with their concept.
Low-fidelity doesn’t mean low value!
You can mock things up with paper, foam core, cardboard. What ever will get your idea across! You can quickly work out your general form factor, interaction points, functionality all with cardboard. Try to always keep in mind that these early models and designs are going to be discarded or refined, we’re making to learn and nothing more! Even if you think you know what works make a quick model anyways. It’s like checking a math calculation on paper, you might be confident in your answer but it’s always good to double check and it’s much easier to show someone else how you got to your solution.
As you move further down your product development timeline, you can try making prototypes with interchangeable components. Swap different ideas in and out of your design on the fly, see how things work together congruently. Work through prototypes, think about what configurations are working best and why. Keep progressing your ideas and prototypes until things start to work they way you’d like them to. When you get to this point you can continually increase the fidelity of the models you’re making, but don’t be afraid to drop the fidelity if you have more questions. This is the fun and messy part of design, appreciate the mistakes we all make during this process and enjoy it!
