Prototyping

A prototype is a working answer to a question the designer cannot settle by thinking harder about it. A2.2 covers the techniques available, from sketch models thrown together in minutes to functional prototypes that behave like the finished product, along with the reasons for choosing one level of fidelity over another at a particular stage of a project.

B2.2 is about the audience rather than the technique. A model built to check whether a mechanism clears its housing is a different object from one built to convince a client to fund the next stage, and this topic covers how designers match the form of communication to the stakeholder in front of them, across physical models, digital models and the drawing conventions that belong with each.