Prototyping: Learning Through Doing

Prototyping: Learning Through Doing

1. What is prototyping?

   • Prototyping is a way to generate new and better ideas…to help us move from abstract to concrete… a way to improve an idea before implementation…a method that enables us to fail earlier and often, but to succeed sooner
   • Helps us to unlock creativity, manage risk, generate new ideas

2. What can we prototype?

   • We can prototype things such as relationships, journeys and pathways, communications, objects and evironments

3. Defining your prototype

   • Why use this tool?
     • This will help you to decide whether you might do a storyboard, paper prototype, desktop prototype, role play or experience prototype

4. Prototype planning

   • Why use this tool?
     • This tool will help you with planning the practicalities of doing your chosen prototyping activity.
     • prototype map is a great way to visually plot the prototyping activities and journey of your ideas testing
   • Allows you to ask
     • Who needs to be involved?, When should it happen?, Who should be responsible, What resource are needed?

5. Prototype monitoring and iteration

   • Why use this tool?
     • Is a way to help you synthesise your learnings from your prototyping activities.
     • Is designed to keep you focused on your learning goal and not get carried away with the process.
   • Use this tool with your team after you have completed your first prototyping activity in order to: • focus on learning from prototypes • explore your principles • seek out interesting risks • iterate

6. Prototype tools

   • Paper prototyping
     • can be an opportunity to involve other groups including users who can give you fresh insight
     • Paper prototypes are best used in the early stages of your prototyping phase.
     • Mock up: information or communications,physical spaces,etc.
   • Desktop prototyping
     • enables you to create an overview of the processes or physical spaces you wish to explore and helps to bring to light new opportunities and areas in which more detailed work is needed to create more robust ideas.
   • Personas
     • are characters created to represent key types of users or staff members who are important to your idea or service.
     • help us to segment our users and staff and ensure that our prototypes are being examined and tested from different perspectives.
   • Storyboarding
     • Is a process that helps us to map out the different ways we wish our idea or service to respond to different scenarios or situations.
   • Roleplay and freeze frame
     • Roleplay
       • Is a great way to explore specific relationships or interactions that are important to your service or idea.
       • Roleplay is best done when you have some people actively participating and others observing, raising questions, and setting challenges
     • Freeze frame
       • Simply call out ‘freeze frame’ at key moments in a roleplay (or experience prototype) and ask each person involved or observing to describe what they currently see, feel and think.
   • Touchpoint prototyping
     • are the experiential interfaces between users and a service or a brand.
       • For example, airlines’ touchpoints include their website and correspondence, printed materials, check-in desks, staff, uniforms, in-flight features and physical environment, call-centre advisors, etc.
     • Prototyping touchpoints can bring an idea to life and generate energy and excitement in a way that goes beyond just talking about it.
   • Experience prototyping
     • involves modelling as close to a real version of your idea or service as possible, and then enabling people to go through an experience of that service or idea.

7. Links

   • "A prototype is the first full-scale and functional form of a new product design. It is used for investor demonstrations, user testing, and gives your audience a product to visualize and interact with. Prototypes are not production quality and should not be held to the same standards of the final product. Prototypes help you learn what features need improvement, so you can quickly perfect your product and get it to market." (Nectarpd, 2018)
     • https://nectarpd.com/what-are-the-benefits-of-prototyping/
       • nectar. (2018). What are the Benefits of Prototyping?. 7/10/18, de nectar Sitio web: https://nectarpd.com/what-are-the-benefits-of-prototyping/
   • "Benefits of Prototyping Prototyping: helps to eliminate ambiguities and improve accuracy in interpretation of system requirements and functionality. Prototyping helps to ensure that the solution does what it is supposed to do - not what the developer thinks it ought to do, or how. Prototyping helps to identify and address problems early on (eg missing, confusing or misunderstood features)"
     • https://www.sqa.org.uk/e-learning/IMAuthoring01CD/page_06.htm
       • SQA. (2007). Benefits of Prototyping. 7/10/2018, de HN Computing Sitio web: https://www.sqa.org.uk/e-learning/IMAuthoring01CD/page_06.htm

Images and files in the map