Rapid prototyping turns ideas into testable products and reduces costly design errors

The useful part

A prototype reveals properties like size, weight, shape, and feel that a file on a designer's or engineer's computer can't. Having a physical model in hand means that discussions about how the product feels and looks don't rely on people's "likes" and instead reflect observable behavior and reactions. When everyone has a clear understanding of what's not working, it's much easier to decide the next steps and implement a solution.

How it works

• The ultimate goal is to build products that look beautiful, work effectively, and can be made reliably.
• When teams spend time polishing a prototype's appearance before fully understanding how it works, it leads to wasted effort and lost time.
• Teams learn about what works, what doesn't, and where there may be challenges.
• assumption, testing the prototype against real-world requirements and uses, gathering data, and documenting the process allow the design team to make changes and fixes before the next build.
• A product that works well in a controlled environment may reveal challenges in mass production, and vice versa.

What to take from it

Product teams test for setup and operation, as well as storage, maintenance, transportation, and the inevitable errors in use that occur. It's important to test thoroughly and to repeat tests as necessary to make sure problems have been solved for all scenarios. Physical Models Reveal Hidden Problems A simple physical model of the product shows issues like a button that's difficult to reach, a lid that sticks, or a confusing feature set before the problem is embedded so deeply that it's difficult and expensive to correct during production.

Example or evidence

• When a team builds a new prototype, they should be able to define the purpose of the model and describe the design questions it will answer.
• The goal is to build to the level of fidelity necessary to answer those questions and determine if the answers are acceptable.
• Teams rank their assumptions and build a prototype based on the three that, if incorrect, would take the longest to resolve or have the greatest impact on costs.
• Pre-production models explore the behavior of materials and manufacturing approaches, as well as assembly challenges.

Details worth keeping

Form models focus on size, proportion, shape, and balance. Functional models explore connections, fit, movement, and basic usage. Testing products are used to surface ergonomics and other issues.

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