Today in class Johannes introduced us to the course syllabus and as the course coordinator- how he plans to lay out the course in terms of structure. Post-lunch, Clint swept in and built upon our knowledge of prototyping in design practice.

Prior to this lecture, I understood prototyping as a basic concept used in a design process- building a physical representation of your design idea… and nothing more complex than that. It’s a handy tool to see your design come to life, even as a low-fidelity product made out of cardboard and paper. By making it three-dimensional, it’s allowing the yourself to actually interact with the product.

First up, we were introduced to Louis Valentine’s (Valentine, L. 2013) definition of Prototyping. His ornate use of metaphorical language defined prototyping as a more abstract yet extremely relevant concept. He utilized catchy metaphors to describe prototyping which really stood out to me ↓

• “The friend we turn to when we are unsure.”
• “As a teacher, she helps us to listen intently and see our mistakes, encouraging us to work through the difficulties and to achieve our best”
• “Her capacity to bring out the playful side of our nature is inspirational, and when we fail to face our responsibilities, her reprimanding is respected.”
• “Prototype has proven to be design and craft’s most loyal and trustworthy compatriot.”

Out of all these metaphorical definitions, I really liked the definition of prototyping being “A friend we turn to when we’re unsure”. I made a comparison to asking a close friend for relationship advices. The prototype itself provides feedbacks and insights based on how it performs, just like how the friend gives you feedback straightforwardly about your relationship.

In addition to the introduction to Valentine’s perspective of Prototyping, Clint provided more insights regarding Prototyping. Most of it revolving around the defining characteristics of prototyping: tenuous, material, and experienceable. That prototyping is used to understand a “situation”, with a range of methods used, prototypes seek to empathize, understand experience, and to identify requirements and constraints, It’s also vital to framing a problem. The challenges for prototyping include it being unable to articulate experience; it lacks language, power, and reflexivity to do so.

Early prototyping is important during design practice as it withholds commitment to a single concept, prototyping by sketching, lo-fi, disposable prototypes are commonly used. Multiple variations can be created and it keeps the designer “setting the problem ” rather than prematurely “solving the problem”, ultimately it leads to more innovative and quality design. In conclusion, the insights Clint provided summed prototyping up to be not a technique, but a stance or strategy, it’s doing design, and not a phase, it’s tenuous, material, and experienceable, and finally, designers primarily prototype to understand the situation, the material, and the concept.

Outcomes: 
Prototyping is extremely relevant in design practice and it surpasses the literal meaning of “prototyping” as an action. Prior to this session prototyping was simply a process which I was aware that designers and engineers go through during an innovative process in order to simulate an idea in low-fidelity without actually putting too many commitments, it helps you address potential issues of your final product before actually creating it. That being said, my assumptions were challenged as I simply saw is at a necessary and crucial part of a design process but not the reason behind its significance. This lesson solidified my understanding behind it and why every designer should take part of this process for a more successful outcome. For the upcoming projects I’ll be participating in, it would be extremely helpful to create more prototypes for a final product, analyzing it and picking out issues along the way. Instead of prototyping because “everybody does it”, from now on, my approach to it will be different, seeing as a vital strategy to creating a final product that will encounter less issues.