{"id":10184,"date":"2016-08-02T12:54:19","date_gmt":"2016-08-02T10:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/?p=10184"},"modified":"2023-11-22T15:10:55","modified_gmt":"2023-11-22T14:10:55","slug":"3-simple-steps-to-build-a-remarkable-prototype","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/3-simple-steps-to-build-a-remarkable-prototype\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Simple Steps to Build a Remarkable Prototype"},"content":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1679489870517{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]Whether\u00a0you have an\u00a0innovative\u00a0idea\u00a0for\u00a0a\u00a0physical product, a digital product or a service, you can always\u00a0develop\u00a0a prototype to test its\u00a0feasibility. These days, prototyping\u00a0is inexpensive\u00a0and doesn\u2019t necessarily require a lot of technical\u00a0know-how. In this article, I will share 3 simple steps that you can\u00a0follow to prototype literally anything. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Prototyping is an important part of the modern (agile) innovation process. It allows you to test your assumptions, to turn a vision into something tangible, and to refine your ideas and explain them to others. Although prototypes aren\u2019t (and shouldn\u2019t be) perfect, they help to explore and improve your ideas.<\/p>\n

People love to interact with prototypes. If you have something tangible to show, all eyes and ears will be on you. If you have made the effort to build something, you will definitely get the attention of clients, your CEO, and perhaps some investors. When you’re armed with a prototype, people will take you and your idea more seriously. Think about it. Whom would you rather listen to? Someone with a rough sketch on the back of a napkin, or an innovator with a \u20183-D version\u2019 of his or her idea?<\/p>\n

Concrete ideas<\/span>
\nManagers have the tendency to keep their ideas vague. Although it\u2019s valuable to keep your options open, it\u2019s not enough to generate\u00a0implicit strategies. If you want to innovate, you will have to turn abstract suggestions\u00a0into concrete proposals.<\/p>\n

Too often I see people hide behind abstraction, to cover up the lack of creative ideas. By keeping things vague, and by applying rhetoric frameworks, it becomes hard for other people to judge these ideas properly. It\u2019s hard to come up with arguments against an idea when you don\u2019t fully understand the\u00a0idea in the first place.<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0Draw\u00a0a flat prototype<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Sketching your idea is the first step in making your idea tangible. Words are ambiguous and can be confusing. An image, however, is understandable, and worth a thousand words. For other people, it’s easy to react to a sketch and to build upon it. Drawing is a great way to capture and explain\u00a0the essence of your idea. A drawing of an idea\u00a0can be useful for yourself, as well as for the people you’re working with.<\/p>\n

Don’t worry.\u00a0You don\u2019t need\u00a0to be Leonardo da Vinci to make\u00a0a good drawing. Everybody can\u00a0draw. Visual thinking<\/a><\/span> doesn\u2019t require any artistic talent at all. If\u00a0you can draw a line, a circle, a square and a triangle, you are\u00a0perfectly capable of explaining yourself with a quick sketch. It’s\u00a0totally fine if your sketch\u00a0is\u00a0messy, incomplete or\u00a0ugly.\u00a0As long as it is clear and helps you to get your ideas across.<\/p>\n

Key\u00a0visual (for a physical product)<\/span><\/strong>
\n<\/span><\/span>This technique is commonly used in the creative industry to quickly present and judge ideas. The objective is simple:\u00a0explain the essence of your idea in one \u2018key visual\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

Needless to say, not every idea can easily be turned\u00a0into one self-explanatory sketch.\u00a0However, having only one image to explain\u00a0yourself, forces you to make choices. It gives\u00a0you a good sense of how ‘simple’ your idea really is. Simplicity\u00a0is often a good indicator of a great idea. (Do people grasp\u00a0your idea, without your verbal clarification?)<\/p>\n

Magazine Ad<\/span>
\nYou can also make the key visual more detailed. You could, for example, create\u00a0a ‘magazine\u00a0ad’ for your new product.\u00a0How would you advertise it to your future customers? What visual (and what features) would grab their attention?<\/p>\n

App Screens (for a digital product)
\n<\/span><\/strong>A quick way to draw an app prototype is by sketching it directly into an ‘app mockup’. Print the outlines of a smartphone on\u00a0a large piece of paper, and draw the different ‘app screens’. If you are developing a website or desktop application you can use\u00a0\u2018wireframes\u2019.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Try to find a logical flow and user interface. How would it work? What buttons do you need? What does a user see? What can a user do? etc.<\/p>\n

Storyboard (for a service)<\/strong>
\n<\/span>This method is especially useful when you want to prototype a service. Draw a storyboard of how stakeholders will interact with your service. Draw what they do, and fill it in with what they say, think and feel. Turn your customer’s journey into an engaging comic story. (Don\u2019t overdo it, draw just enough to explain how people will engage with your service.)<\/span><\/p>\n

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2. Build a tangible\u00a0prototype<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Now you have explored your ideas on paper, it’s time to build a handmade, 3-D non-working prototype. Your objective is simply to build a cheap and tangible version of your idea. This way you go one step further than your line-drawing and \u2018paper reality\u2019. Your prototype in this phase should be nothing more than an inexpensive demonstration of your idea in a physical way. By building a 3-D version, you might also stumble upon flaws in your idea that you might not have discovered by simply looking at a flat drawing.<\/p>\n

You are allowed to use anything you want to turn your idea into a prototype.\u00a0Inexpensive\u00a0household items are perfect prototype materials. E.g.\u00a0think about foam, cardboard, tape, paperclips, glue, empty milk containers, toilet rolls, paper, aluminium foil, etc.<\/p>\n

Your prototype still doesn’t have to ‘work’, its main\u00a0goal is to function\u00a0as a mockup of your idea. A non-working prototype\u00a0enables you to investigate\u00a0the shape and size of your idea.\u00a0It will give\u00a0you\u00a0a better understanding of how your product (or service) would look and work in real life.<\/p>\n

Your prototype doesn\u2019t have to be perfect or look pretty. However, It should resemble, and function, as your (final)\u00a0product or service as\u00a0much as\u00a0possible.<\/p>\n

\"prototype\"<\/p>\n

Prototyping kit (for a physical product<\/span><\/strong>)<\/strong>
\n<\/u>If you want your team to build a prototype directly after a brainstorm session, make the necessary preparations. At HatRabbits for example, we have our own prototyping kit, with all sorts of materials people can use to build their prototypes with. Of course, you should give people the freedom to use whatever they can get their hands on. However, you don\u2019t want your team to lose too much time hunting for the right building materials.<\/p>\n

Besides arranging the necessary equipment, it’s also advisable \u2013 especially when there is a limited amount of time \u2013 to have some basic items prepared (e.g. satellite images, miniature models, logos, specific shapes etc). This is especially useful when you work with a specific subject, or with a preset framework. It allows your team to focus on prototyping their ideas, instead of losing themselves in decoration trivia.<\/p>\n

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Recently we organised a ThinkTank for the Dutch province of Gelderland and several railway companies, to solve a problem with boarding and exiting trains. Besides our HatRabbits prototyping kit, we also created paper cut-out train models, rails and platforms beforehand, so participants could rapidly build a miniature rail station. The video below gives a short impression of the prototyping part of the session.<\/p>\n