Prototype
Prototypes are tangible representations of products or solutions that are being designed. As Poggenpohl [1] explains, prototypes are a “material conversation that the designer has with the User”. By seeing them as “a way to learn from the user what familiarity the object has (or lacks), what patterns of behaviour the object fits into, what intuitive responses the user brings to the object and which aspects of the prototype elicit satisfaction or delight”. She distinguishes prototyping from usability testing, “which seeks to verify the design of a product holistically at a rather late point in the development process” [2] . Prototypes can be used at any stage of the development process and can take many forms that “give everyone a real-world representation of ideas that will help engender a response from your team” [3] . Poggenpohl [4] distinguishes between four different kinds of prototypes that often overlap: conceptual (diagram, sketch), behavioural (paper model, computer simulation), procedural (space/time sequence), and appearance (refined model) prototypes.
References
- ↑ Poggenpohl, Sharon H. 2002. Design Moves: Approximating a Desired Future with Users. In Jorge Frascara, ed. Design and the Social Sciences. London and New York: Taylor & Francis Books Limited. Pp.: 66-82.
- ↑ Poggenpohl, Sharon H. 2002. Design Moves: Approximating a Desired Future with Users. In Jorge Frascara, ed. Design and the Social Sciences. London and New York: Taylor & Francis Books Limited. Pp.: 66-82.
- ↑ Merholz, Peter, Todd Wilkens, Brandon Schauer, and David Verba. 2008. Subject to Change: Creating Great Products and Services for an Uncertain World. Beijing, Cambridge: O’Reilly.
- ↑ Poggenpohl, Sharon H. 2002. Design Moves: Approximating a Desired Future with Users. In Jorge Frascara, ed. Design and the Social Sciences. London and New York: Taylor & Francis Books Limited. Pp.: 66-82.
