The document discusses Jim Henson's approach to prototyping, which involved heavy use of sketching, storyboarding, and building minimum viable prototypes. It notes that Henson would sketch from a young age to explore ideas cheaply, used storyboards to plan projects shot-by-shot, and iteratively evolved his prototypes, hacking things together to see what worked. The document suggests taking inspiration from Henson's continual evolution and prototyping approach to making things up as a new industry.

1. Russ Unger | @russu
Jim Henson & Prototyping with Puppets

3. Russ Unger | @russu
Jim Henson
master of muppets

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You wouldn’t decide to become a
puppeteer, I don’t think.
“

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The 1950s

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The 1960s
A

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The 1970s

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The 1980s

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The 1990s & Beyond

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MuppetLean

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MVK
Minimum
+ =
Viable Kermit

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MVK

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Iterate
1955 1965 1968 1978
, Iterate, Iterate, Iterate

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2005
, IterateIterate, Iterate, Iterate, Iterate

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Project Ecosystems

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Designer
Product Manager
Project Manager
Marketing QA Dev
Client?

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Sketching / Storyboarding / Prototyping

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Sketching
Henson started sketching characters and comic strips as a kid. He realized that sketches were
inexpensive ways to explore his ideas.
He never stopped.

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Storyboarding
A storyboard is a graphic organizer that visually tells a story. Creating a storyboard helps you
plan your story shot by shot.

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Lend4Health.com
Home Page
(0.0.0.0)
Search Loans to Fund
(1.0.0.0)
Loan Details
(1.1.0.0)

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Patterns

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Patterns
Original Muppets were designed so that ~6 Muppets could be easily made from a single
design.

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CSS for Muppets?
.muppet-eye-blue {
background: blue;
border-top: 3px solid black;
height: 65%;
}
.muppet-body-blue {
background: blue;
border: 0;
height: 80%;
}

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Hacking

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Bernard Tyers
Belén Barros Pena
~$3,000.00
http://www.diymobileusabilitytesting.net/

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Travis Isaacs
keynotekungfu.com

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Who said that every wish would be heard
and answered when wished on the morning star?
Somebody thought of that and someone believed it.
Look what it's done so far.
What's so amazing that keeps us star gazing
and what do we think we might see?
Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection.
The lovers, the dreamers and me.
All of us under its spell.
We know that it's probably magic.

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Hacking
Jim needed to see what the viewer would see, so he started using a “monitor” to view scenes
from where he was located.

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Hacking

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(So What?)
Jim Henson made sketching and prototyping a constant part of his thinking process.
He continually evolved everything he worked on.
He hacked things together.
He made it up as he went along.
As a relatively new industry, so do we.

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WWJHD?
What Would Jim Henson Do?
WWAPD?
What Would A PROTOTYPER Do?

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You wouldn’t decide to become a
puppeteer, I don’t think.
“

49. Russ Unger | @russu
Thank You!