A study of prototypes, design activity, and design outcome

doi:10.1016/j.destud.2005.04.005

Design Studies

Volume 26, Issue 6, November 2005, Pages 649-669

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.destud.2005.04.005 Get rights and content

The building of prototypes is an important facet of the product design process. This paper examines factors in prototyping, including part count and time spent on various design activities, and their correlations with design outcome. The research questions asked: Do simpler prototypes mean a more successful design? Does the amount of time spent on a project, both overall and on different activities over a project cycle, relate to design success? And does it matter when this time is spent? One of the main findings of this study is that prototypes with fewer parts correlate with better design outcome, as do prototypes that have fewer parts added to them over the course of development. This paper also finds that committing more time to a project is not necessarily associated with a successful design outcome.

Section snippets

Related work

A prototype is an early embodiment of a design concept. Prototypes can range from simple 2-D sketches that represent design thinking (Ullman et al., 1990, Goel, 1995, Suwa and Tversky, 1997) to foamcore mock-ups to sophisticated 3-D rapid prototyping designs that are nearly indistinguishable from a manufactured item. By definition, prototypes are not production stage design.

Testbed

This study examines the work produced in an advanced mechanical engineering design course for juniors and seniors at the California Institute of Technology in the Fall of 2002 (‘Class 1’) and again with a different set of students in the Fall of 2003 (‘Class 2’). Each course includes 23 students divided into 12 teams of two (one team consisted of a student and a teaching assistant). In these teams, each student is required to design, build and test his or her own standalone device to compete in

Prototypes

The following results for prototypes are from Class 2 only. No data on part count was kept for Class 1 because the study of prototypes in Class 2 in fact grew out of preliminary research on sketching in Class 1. These prototypes could all be described as proof-of-concepts, using Ullman's (2003) categorizations. Prototypes were fabricated using material removal methods (milling and turning) on metals and plastics and polymer casting. Applying the classification scheme for prototypes of Houde and

Conclusions

We now consider the answers to the questions posed in the introduction in light of the findings of this study.

Acknowledgments

The author gratefully acknowledges the support and guidance of the instructors of the course, Prof. Erik Antonsson, Prof. Joel Burdick, and Dr. Curtis Collins at the California Institute of Technology, and the commendable design efforts of the students that are the basis of this research. The author also acknowledges the generous sponsors of the course: Applied Materials, Amerigon, Dr. David and Mrs. Barbara Groce, Honeywell, Idealab!, Mabuchi Motor, Northrop Grumman, The San Diego Foundation,

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A study of prototypes, design activity, and design outcome

Section snippets

Related work

Testbed

Prototypes

Conclusions

Acknowledgments

Design Studies

Design Studies

Design Studies

Design Studies

Computers & Graphics

Product design for assembly

Prototyping: an approach to evolutionary system development

A document analysis method for characterizing team-based design outcomes

Journal of Mechanical Design

Engineering and the mind's eye

Sketches of thought

What do prototypes prototype?