During the current basic track at the School of Design Thinking at the HPI in Potsdam I had the pleasure to run several sessions with the students regarding the importance of prototyping during a design thinking project. For sure for early testing but also as important and powerful way of develop and iterate ideas inside the team. Sometimes without even words. I combined this short input with several exercises, where the students created in several iterations and with very strikt time-boxing different prototypes based on a certain challenge. Interesting to see how effective athe hand-over from a first version of a prototype to another team worked out in the end.

1. Prototyping & Testing.
Jochen Guertler, Design Thinking Experience Day
d.school Potsam – April 15th 2014

2. Where are we at the moment?

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“Prototyping is problem solving. It is culture and a language. You can
prototype just about anything – a new product or service, or a special
promotion. What´s count is moving the ball forward, achieving
some part of your goal. Not wasting time.”- Tom Kelley

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Why prototyping?
• Deeper understanding though doing and thinking with your hands
• Overcome “talking phenomenon” by bias towards action
• Enable co-design between your, your team, your client and your user

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Prototyping should be rough, right and rapid.

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“The best way to experience an
experience is to experience it.”

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System critical functions.
Find them and define ways to test them.

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3D Paper Prototypes.

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Role Plays
§ Show the solution through the user‘s eyes.
§ Use a role play to show the impact of your idea, e.g. like “a day in
the life” of your persona.
§ Don‘t try to be too perfect. “Feeling the idea is key, not perfect
make up“.

11. Storyboards
• Visualize your solution.
• Make it tangible by sketching it out.
• Storyboards help viewers to share the holistic experience a
user of a product or service might go through

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Low-Fidelity Mockups & Paper Wireframes
• Demonstrate the functionality and the (Look)&Feel of your
solution.
• Compose low fidelity mockups by using traditional material.
Do not code them.
• Don‘t try to be too perfect. Key functionality and screen
flow is key, rather than finalized screenshots.

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Prototyping is Teamwork
• See prototyping as way of communication inside the team
• Not only the expert in the team should do it
• Split up and work in parallel
• Iterate also within the team while prototyping

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Make Space for Prototyping
• Materials should be always visible and easy to access
• Prototyping needs space
• Enable the team to prototype together

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Prototyping should be timeboxed
• Show unfinished stuff – you will get better and more honest feedback
• Do not fall in love with your prototype!

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Let the prototype speak for itself while testing,
but know what you want to learn.

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Create a Test Plan.
• WHAT do you test?
• HOW do you test it?
• WHY is this relevant for you?

18. Address the right question …and create the right solutionHow to Capture Feedback From Your Users?

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① Create a testplan for the WHAT, the HOW and the WHY
② Create a storyline to show how a user employs the solution to reach the goal.
③ Take your prototype(s), revisit end-users and take them through a scenario that
shows how to reach the goal with the new solution.
④ Listen carefully to what they say.
⑤ Capture and later synthesize all feedback.
⑥ Iterate your idea based on the feedback from your end-users.

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“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this
time more intelligently.” – Henry Ford.