Design prototyping

Prototyping involves an iterative cycle of making, testing and analysing which allows the examination of various aspects of a solution before its future implementation, the anticipation of possible issues,, and the making of improvements earlier in the process. This cycle can be portrayed as comprising the following steps: Whilst sketches were previously another category of visual design representations, today they could also be considered as paper prototypes. A low fidelity prototype can be developed with less time and resources than a high-fidelity prototype, with iterations of the former often being developed in the early stages of the making phase. • Steps for creating low-fidelity prototypes in software development may include: • Flowcharts • User behaviour simulation • Wireframing • Creating high-fidelity prototypes 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 future prototypes == Characteristics ==

To prepare for prototyping, some aspects need to be decided. For this purpose, it is useful to individualise and consider various characteristics that will allow identifying how prototyping should be developed according to the design needs. 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. 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: {{bulleted list Stakeholder A prototyping session can involve a variety of people related to the solution. Internal to the organisation, the participants could range from the members of the design team to colleagues from other departments and managers. External to the organisation, prototyping could involve future users and clients, and representatives from other organisations. The selection of the participants would depend on the purposes of prototyping. Lim, Stolterman and Tenenberg propose a classification of prototypes according to “filtering dimensions: functionality, interactivity, and spatial structure"; and “manifestation dimensions:materials, resolution, and scope". They suggest these dimensions can be pondered in order to decide how the prototype should be. == Background ==

Initial references to the concept of prototyping in design could be traced to the proceedings of the Conference on Design Methods in 1962: In 1968, Bruce Archer, a figure in the design methods movement describes the design process as comprising multiple stages, including "Prototype development". From a design methods' perspective, prototyping recalls a process in which a prototype is built, tried out and tested. Additional references to prototyping can be found in later editions of the Design Research Society's Conferences. One of the first documented uses of the term prototyping, as being linked to a design process, appears in the 1983 software development article, A systematic look at prototyping. product design and service design, 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. Around the year 2010, studies were developed to examine the prototyping of services theorising from the growing practice of service design, which later in 2018 were also used as a reference for service design practitioners. == See also ==