Module 4: Prototype

Prototyping is where theory meets practice, where we turn our abstract ideas into tangible reality. A prototype is a low fidelity model of your idea. The key is to build something as quickly and cheaply as possible and get it into the hands of your end user. 

Prototyping takes the risk out of innovation allowing you to fail fast. This keeps you from spending time and money on an idea which may not work in practice. It validates that you’re on the right path and reveals how your users think and feel about your solution. 

Prototyping isn’t about proving whether something works or doesn’t. It’s a chance to have a conversation, to understand your end users better and to allow them to guide the development process. By making your idea tangible, you allow others to move your prototype forward and help you see things differently.

During this phase, embrace failure. You may need to completely abandon some things. This is the whole point of prototyping –  iterating and refining. You may discover things that will take you back to previous phases. Even at the prototype phase, you can refine your challenge, learn more about your end users and come up with new ideas.

Test each iteration of your prototype for ease of use, functionality, and does it really solve the user’s problem as planned. Record, observe and measure user performance.

There are many different methods for prototyping – storyboarding, wireframe, paper, Lo-fidelity, hi-fidelity – select a method suitable for your application.

Approach this phase with a mindset of playfulness, trial and error, build to think, experiment your way forward, until you are confident that you have arrived at a solution that works.