This week started off a bit theory heavy with a lecture in “Dissecting prototypes” and programming in Tuesday. Other than that most of the week was filled with group work in video prototyping.
The prototype lecture in Monday was interesting, containing rich information about the subject but it also pinpoints and clarifies some thoughts about the principles about prototyping and the qualities it possess. What I apprehend, the 3 qualities of prototype (Tenuos, Material and Present) has wide usability and each prototype can be made with a strong (or week) emphasis depending on what is sought after. For example in material quality, the prototype can call for feel, strength, color and so on. If the design specification states carbon fiber as material due to it’s tensile strength, can the prototype work or be sufficient with fiberglass as material? Most certainly not if it’s going to perform in strength but as for qualities like feel and color it can pass.
What I’m trying to express as a closing thought is that, a certain thought has to be given to what the prototype is going to be used as and how and by who. I’m much inclined with the idea of iterative design so I’m leaning towards low fidelity, low cost prototypes that can be scraped or redone without hassle. A robust design has to be proven by going through iterations of failures in order to capture the research data required for a “successful” design. That is why I believe that quick iterations of the prototype can generate increasing knowledge and yield better refinement for each sprint, inching one step closer to the final design specification.
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