Earlier this week, I was conducting an interview for my prototyping book with Jed Wood. During our conversation, we discussed the typical reasons for prototyping:
- Getting internal buy-in
- Gauging technical feasibility
And then Jed highlighted a third, and probably the most useful reason for prototyping: as a method for working through a design. Jed sees prototyping as a way to work through a design the same way a product designer uses sketching to work through product designs.
Thanks to Jed for that little insight.
Architects also regularly “sketch” in model form. By working in three dimensions you can see how forms interrelate and start to understand the experience of the design.
I agree with #3 completely. I regularly construct prototypes to experience the design myself. It lets me use Coopers’ empathy to feel the frustrations first hand – or let my brain generate new ideas by actually doing the tasks. “Oh, I just did X, now I wish I could do Y”.
It also lets me leave and come back to the prototype to re-use it. The time in-between lets me further distance myself as a designer and place myself more in the seat of a real user. Especially first thing in the morning when my mind is fresh and blank. It’s a great methodology I just couldn’t do without.