A Systematic Method for Design Prototyping

Abstract

Scientific evaluation of prototyping practices is an emerging field in design research. Prototyping is critical to the success of product development efforts, and yet its implementation in practice is often guided by ad hoc experience. To address this need, we seek to advance the study and development of prototyping principles, techniques, and tools. A method to repeatedly enhance the outcome of prototyping efforts is reported in this paper. The research methodology to develop this method is as follows: (1) systematically identify practices that improve prototyping; (2) synthesize these practices to form a guiding method for designers; and (3) validate that the proposed method encourages best practices and improves performance. Prototyping practices are represented as six key heuristics to guide a designer in planning: how many iterations to pursue, how many unique design concepts to explore in parallel, as well as the use of scaled prototypes, isolated subsystem prototypes, relaxed requirements, and virtual prototypes. The method is correlated, through experimental investigation, with increased application of these best practices and improved design performance outcomes. These observations hold across various design problems studied. This method is novel in providing a systematic approach to prototyping.

Prototyping Canvas: Design Tool for Planning Purposeful Prototypes

“…To increase the efficiency and effectiveness of prototype practice, researchers have proposed multiple prototyping methods and strategies from the Prototype for X (PFX) framework to a strategic design prototyping methodology that includes seven prototyping techniques (Camburn et al, 2015). Please refer to Menold's dissertation for an extensive review of current prototyping strategies , including these additional references (Camburn et al, 2017a;Christie et al, 2012;Hamon, 2017;Moe et al, 2004;Dunlap et al, 2014).…”

Novice designers' use of prototypes in engineering design

“…These limited initial definitions suggest that participants were not always aware of their own broad range of prototype usage, and that they, similar to findings of other studies, might not have intentionally planned for how they used prototypes (Atman et al, 2007; B. Camburn et al, 2015; B.…”

“…Working with prototypes at the component level and the ability to switch between component- and system-level thinking is an essential aspect of successful design practiced by experts (Gerber, 2009; Hilton et al, 2015; Viswanathan, Atilola, Goodman, & Linsey, 2014). A number of factors related to prototyping influence the design outcome, including the development of a structured approach for when and how to use prototypes, time spent on prototyping, and the complexity of the prototypes developed (Atman et al, 2007; B. Camburn et al, 2015; B.…”

Development of Integrated Intelligent Cad System for Design of Shafts

“…During development, the intention was that the IICADv system can be easily linked to RP devices working on the principle of additive technologies [14] and CNC machines operating on the principle of numeric control. Therefore, a developed system enables a quick and simple construction of physical prototypes and final functional parts.…”