[IxDA Discuss] What tools do you use for prototyping?

[Todd Zaki Warfel]

On Nov 11, 2007, at 10:19 PM, Andrei Herasimchuk wrote:

> Ok. That's what I mean as well. So what's so controversial then  
> about a prototype that basically acts just like the real thing?


Because in the real world often prototypes don't look exactly the same  
as the final product for many, many reasons. You use the prototype to  
test, you discover some things you need to change, you change them and  
that's the final production piece. Concept cars aren't exactly the  
same as the final production car. High fashion on the runway is a  
prototype of the final clothes you find in the store—not the same as  
what was on the runway. The foam prototype of a remote control is  
probably the closest to the final remote in "pixel perfect" terms. But  
in my tour of the Boston IDEO office, I saw dozens of mice and remotes  
made of foam core—all prototypes, few resembled the final production  
piece.

One of the points of a prototype is to test out concepts, design  
ideas. So, you're going to build a number of prototypes that aren't a  
true pixel perfect reflection of the final design. And according to  
what you're saying, then those aren't prototypes. Or are they?


Cheers!

Todd Zaki Warfel
President, Design Researcher
Messagefirst | Designing Information. Beautifully.
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