Stephanie Houde & Charles Hill (1997). "What do Prototypes Prototype?”

About the Text

The authors write that prototyping is a common practice to represent different aspects of a project. There are literally prototypes for everything, from low- to high-fidelity prototypes, to show different aspects of the thing the prototype is about.

Because most people just prototype to get a rough insight into whether it’s working or not, they miss out on the great potential of prototyping. In fact, prototyping is a deep topic, and it’s a true skill to be able to choose the right kind of prototype to be able to build a focused prototype to communicate in the best way possible to the various target audiences.

Different target groups

Prototypes for Users

To get feedback and evolve the design of the project.

Prototypes for supporting organisation (as example project manager)

Indicate the progress and direction of the project

Different understandings of Prototype

Because in an organisation a lot of different people work together, there are some “prototyping cultures” which means the following understandings of the word prototype merge into a more organisation-based term.

But traditionally, that’s what the professions understand under the term prototype:

Industrial Designer

Molded Foam model

Interaction Designer

Simulation of on-screen appearance and behavior.

Programmers

Test program