The stage of prototyping is to create ideas receiving quick feedback, without needing to be perfect. Rapid productions of ideas to get a better understanding of the end goal, after hearing the opinions of those around us we can get a better concept on what exactly is desired. There should be aspects that are being improved because then that means the end product will be the best it could be.
The stage of prototyping is to bring insight to the problems of the product so, failing can be done quickly to lead to the best solutions. Users often in this phase uncover the parts of the product that need to be fixed because it doesn’t work. Tim Brown spoke to The Interaction Design stating about prototyping “They slow us down to speed us up. By taking the time to prototype our ideas, we avoid costly mistakes such as becoming too complex too early and sticking with a weak idea for too long.” Time is important especially in prototyping because if too much time is spent on a weak idea, an attachment can occur making it difficult to judge and critique products. So, creating fast prototypes and getting feedback as soon as possible allows for time to not be wasted avoiding the process being dragged out. Instead, the bad ideas can be thrown out and the good ones can be examined deeper to imagine and produce a greater product as the result.
When producing something it needs to make sense without frustrating the user, they need to be able to understand how to use what is in front of them quickly. If not, they’ll become confused or unsatisfied leading to the idea missing the mark. If the public can’t use and understand it then it’ll never become successful. The user face is what is important to practice with the prototype to see what works and what to reject. This gives a better understanding of where to go from there. Without prototyping, people tend to work on something, put everything into it, and miss the mark completely. This is all because while they were going through the process of creating, they didn’t stop to use the tool of prototyping to receive feedback that would impact the way they went about the project. The Ideation Design presented a saying at IDEO which states “If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a prototype is worth a thousand meetings.” Hearing other’s voices and critiques is necessary to bounce around figuring out what is mutually liked and functions well, then what needs to be changed and turned into something that can generate the product into an amazing creation.
To explore different ideas and possibilities people need to think by doing, that’s what this step provides. Engaging with the product and picking apart every aspect is how a group can experiment with propositions. Emily Stevens from career foundry spoke about prototyping stating “Prototypes allow you to iterate, refine, rework and make improvements until you have a market-ready product.” Looking into what needs to be fixed and replaced is the way to reach the goals of a product. The best way to see if an assumption is a good idea and should be further looked at and improved is by using this stage.
Creative Thinking 