W03: Prototypes

Welcome to TECH 120. This is a 3 credit hour course and meets for 2 hours and 50 minutes weekly. The syllabus describes the course:

Students in this course will engage in critical analysis of real-world problems and global challenges. They will demonstrate the ability to recognize opportunity and to take initiative in developing solutions applying the principles of human-centered design. Students will be able to communicate effectively and to work well on teams. Problems and solutions will be examined from societal, cultural, and ethical perspectives.

View the entire syllabus at: http://bit.ly/design-thinking-syllabus

View the course schedule at: http://bit.ly/design-thinking-course-schedule

Objectives

The objectives of this section are to learn:

sketching basics
competitive sketching
sketching layout
creating a prototype
storyboard a design video

For this session, you will need your notebook and pens.

The basics of sketching for design

During class we review and practice basic design sketching skills. We will use a pen, not a pencil, for this exercise. You will capture your work in your notebooks and on 8.5 x 11 unruled paper. Outline for this section includes:

Line quality (single continuous lines, no feathering)
Straight lines at various lengths
Geometric line shapes (parallel lines, squares, rectangles, triangles, etc.)
Angles (30°, 45°, 90°, etc.)
Circles and arcs
Polygons (pentagon, hexagon, and octagon)
Using geometric shapes to create various objects

Competitive sketching

We've worked weekly to develop our sketching skills. We will continue to develop these skills by using them in a competitive, Pictionary style, exercise. If you are unfamiliar with the game, the video to the right that explains the rules. The variations to our exercise include:

Break into three teams
Teams will compete at the same time
Teams will turn around while the person sketching has 15 seconds to begin their sketch
When the instructor announces, "begin", the team members will turn around and begin guessing
The first team to guess wins that round

Sketching layout

We discuss how to properly layout a sketch on the page and consider alignment, orientation, and whitespace.

Creating a prototype

During this session we discuss the types of prototypes and focus on the creation of an early proof of principle prototype.

Other prototypes, per this Wikipedia article, include:

A Proof-of-Principle Prototype serves to verify some key functional aspects of the intended design, but usually does not have all the functionality of the final product.
A Working Prototype represents all or nearly all of the functionality of the final product.
A Visual Prototype represents the size and appearance, but not the functionality, of the intended design.
A User Experience Prototype represents enough of the appearance and function of the product that it can be used for user research.
A Functional Prototype captures both function and appearance of the intended design, though it may be created with different techniques and even different scale from final design.
A Paper Prototype is a printed or hand-drawn representation of the user interface of a software product.

Several materials can be used to create a visual prototype to include:

plastic filament
LEGO building blocks
clay
paper
wood
Sugru
others???

Your prototype sketch

Draw inspiration from the design sketches you and your teammate have created up to this point. Together, select a single design to move forward. Each of you will then create a final sketch of the prototype you will build. The sketch will point out materials used, functions, and features. Start a new page in your notebook and sketch ideas and capture notes about the creation of your design project #1 prototype.

IN CLASS: Sketch competition teams will brainstorm prototypes for regular <INSERT DESIGN HERE>

Storyboard a design video

In class next week, each team member will create a video. The video will meet the following criteria:

Uses the storyboard template provided on the instructor's web site and is submitted as a PDF file
Accurately displays the contents of the 30-second video and includes frame-by-frame time stamps
Includes a spoken introduction to the design project (name of product and why you need one)
Demonstrates the operation of the design
Explains and/or demonstrates the unique features of the design

Before any video is created, there must first be a storyboard (see video below). Use the storyboard template below. Each team member will create their own storyboard and then together they will select which one, or an amalgam of the two, to use to create their video.

IN CLASS: I will demonstrate the creation of a storyboard

M12 - Storyboard Template

Homework

See Course Schedule at: http://bit.ly/design-thinking-course-schedule

W03: Individual: prototype sketches (10 points and submitted via Blackboard as a PDF)
W03: Individual: storyboards (10 points and submitted via Blackboard as a PDF) - see Storyboard a design video section above for specific instructions.
W03: Individual: Arduino push-button light project (40 points)
- NOTE: This tutorial uses the desktop version of the Arduino IDE. The IDE is only available on Macs, PCs, and Linux. If you use a Chromebook, or have issues installing the desktop version, use the online version of the IDE.
Team: build and prepare a presentation for a single prototype to share with the class next week. Answer the following during the presentation:
- What is the name of the product?
- What are the unique features of your design?
- How does your prototype highlight the unique design features?
- What would you anticipate as the cost for this new design?
- What would you do to make the design more functional?
- What would you do to make the prototype more functional?

NOTE: Homework for this week more intense and designed to give you a feel for the intensity of work you will experience during your final project.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse