Prototyping wasn’t what I expected to be – when I think of prototyping I think of complex machinery and detailed technicality. Contrary to my thought process, prototyping is about showing the consumer experience.
For our prototype, we had narrowed our ideas down to one broad category: reusable containers. There was two parts to this, however: the container itself and the in-store redesign. At first we tried to focus on one without the other, but quickly discovered it was a complementary process and needed both parts in order for the consumer to get the full experience. In short, we designed to make a physical model of the container (a mason jar) and explain the in-store redesign through a storyboard (pictured depictions of each step of the in-store redesign as well as a quiz representing the in-store quiz consumers will interact with and take).
Tom Kelley talked a bit about this in his article “Prototyping is the shorthand of innovation,” but I found the biggest barrier in starting the prototyping process was beginning. Because we as humans have this idea of perfection we constantly strive for, we inadvertently wanted the first prototype to be perfect..but that just to us hitting a brick wall. Even though they start with the same letter, prototyping and perfection stand opposite one another. We found this in met group when we became too hesitant to just dive in because we wanted the first dive to be perfect. But the first dive is never perfect, and that’s why you dive again. The whole point is you have to take a chance and make that first jump in the water to begin. There was a lot of relevant parables in Kelley’s article, but the one I liked most was the story about the snow forts. Similarly to Kelley’s story, something I got from prototyping is sometimes it’s about first constructing the idea with any materials you have at hand, and then seeing what works, what doesn’t work, and making improvements from there. Originally we had this grand idea to use the 3D printer to model our container, but then we realized that there was no reason to do that when we could make a much simpler prototype with a mason jar and aluminum foil and test that out first.
The biggest takeaway I got from this experience is that prototyping isn’t about the specifics, it’s about the overall picture. Early in the process my group became frustrated trying to think through all the details of the prototype until we realized that we didn’t need that for a good prototype; the prototype is meant to represent the idea but that doesn’t mean all the details need to be worked out then and there. The concept of low-fidelity prototyping (mentioned in “The Skeptic’s Guide to Low-Fidelity Prototyping”) had one thing that really stuck out with me, the idea of “catching potential problems and promising insights faster and earlier in the process.” That’s why during the prototyping phase, something I kept in mind was that this was a malleable idea–I want to hear the feedback from my peers. Bringing up challenges and other insights helps my group see where there is either gaps in our product or gaps in our communication. I think this is all part of the process and I like the idea of the prototyping phase being circular. It doesn’t have to be the best prototype because I expect there to be future iterations further along.
I’ve noticed a common thread begun to emerge through all of these phases. In all of the phases so far they have been circular, meaning that the process is continuous and growing rather than linear. Every iteration made is an opportunity for growth. Like the previous phases beforehand, I see the prototype as a big idea presentation, but certainly not one that is set in stone.