Tools for Recording Prototyping Activities and Quantifying Corresponding Documentation in the Early Stages of Product Development

Abstract

Prototyping is an essential activity in the early stages of product development. This activity can provide insight into the learning process that takes place during the implementation of an idea. It can also help to improve the design of a product. This information and the process are useful in design education as they can be used to enhance students' ability to prototype their ideas and develop creative solutions. To observe the activity of prototype development, we conducted a study on students participating in a 7-week course: Principles of Digital Fabrication. During the course, eight teams made prototypes and shared their weekly developments via internet blog posts. The posts contained prototype pictures, descriptions of their ideas, and reflections on activities. The blog documentation of the prototypes developed by the students was done without the researchers' intervention, providing essential data or research. Based on a review of other methods of capturing the prototype development process, we compare existing documentation tools with the method used in the case study and outline the practices and tools related to the effective documentation of prototyping activity.

Pro2Booth: Towards an Improved Tool for Capturing Prototypes and the Prototyping Process

“…This section describes both the hardware and online software components (independent of the hardware, and can be run without it, so long as images, videos, or other files can be uploaded to it) of Pro2Booth, and how they address the challenges. The use of a hybridised software/hardware system provides benefits by supporting a wide variety of user background and skill levels (Soomro et al, 2021).…”

“…However, the information relating to the process of product development, rather than the information pertaining to the individual prototypes can yield interesting insights and learnings to improve future development activities (Barhoush et al, 2019;Bracewell et al, 2009;Siddharth et al, 2020). Soomro et al (2021) analysed six technologies aimed at supporting the capture of prototyping activities, categorising them into three groups: software, hardware and hybrid approaches. Their analysis highlights the importance of accessibility, flexibility, and ease of use to the adoption and use of a prototyping process recording tool.…”

A Systematic Review on FabLab Environments and Creativity: Implications for Design

“…All these properties can be positively affected in FabLabs and makerspaces focusing on constructionist approaches (described in more detail below). The creative process can also be fostered by providing the required technical help to implement ideas in practice, contributing by this to the learning process [102].…”

Perceptions of Digital Fabrication in Design Education: Skills, Confidence, Motivation, and Enjoyment

“…During the seven weeks of the course, teachers met with teams for weekly feedback sessions. Instructors provided input on design and technical problems with implementing the teams' ideas within the course time constraints (Soomro et al, 2021a). There was no schedule set for the development of the project, so students could work at their own pace.…”

“…FabLabs are open environments where students might meet people from multiple backgrounds working in the same space (Soomro et al, 2022), and be exposed to different ideas and knowledge fields, further opening the possibility of creating unexpected synergies and creativity. In addition, sharing knowledge is essential in the FabLab network (Soomro et al, 2021a). This relatively new educational environment has not been explored, especially from the perspective of design studio.…”