Functional prototypes

Functional prototypes are models or software solutions to demonstrate product or service functionalities and to test these before committing the project for further development.

Three-dimensional modelling and prototyping fosters informal communication between the designers and engineers about technical feasibility of the concept products. Prototypes facilitate via their tangible and engaging properties the communication and evaluation by different stakeholders.

Design creates a ‘shared space’ (Schrage, 2000) for a constructive act of probe-and-learn by which development teams gain a visual and tactile experience of what they might later develop into a product. In this way design and prototyping (of whatever kind) can help illuminate experimentation as well as implementation.