The design team will now produce a number of inexpensive, scaled down versions of the product or specific features found within the product, so they can investigate the problem solutions generated in the previous stage. Prototypes may be shared and tested within the team itself, in other departments, or on a small group of people outside the design team. https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/5-stages-in-the-design-thinking-process

1. Prototyping and
testing

2. Contents
• What is a prototyping?
• What is testing?
• Types of prototypes
• Importance of this phase
• Iterative nature of Design
Thinking
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3. Prototyping
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4. ““If a picture is worth a thousand
words, then a prototype is worth
a thousand meetings.”
– Saying at IDEO
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5. What is prototyping?
Prototyping is an integral part of Design Thinking and User
Experience design in general because it allows us to test our
ideas quickly and improve on them in an equally timely
fashion.
It is a set of tools and approaches for properly testing
and exploring ideas before too many resources get used.
Many of us may recall the art of prototyping from our
early childhood where we created mock-ups of real-
world objects with the simplest of materials such as
paper, card, and modelling clay or just about anything
else we could get our hands on. There is not much
difference between these types of prototypes and the
early rough prototypes we may develop at the earlier
phases of testing out ideas.
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6. A prototype is a simple experimental model of a proposed solution
used to test or validate ideas, design assumptions and other
aspects of its conceptualisation quickly and cheaply, so that the
designer/s involved can make appropriate refinements or possible
changes in direction.
Prototypes can take many forms, and just about the only thing in
common the various forms have is that they are all tangible forms of
your ideas. They don’t have to be primitive versions of an end
product, either—far from it. Simple sketches or storyboards used to
illustrate a proposed experiential solution, rough paper prototypes
of digital interfaces, and even role-playing to act out a service
offering an idea are examples of prototypes. In fact, prototypes do
not need to be full products: you can prototype a part of a solution
(like a proposed grip handle of a wheelchair) to test that specific
part of your solution.
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7. Testing
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8. Testing
Testing can be undertaken throughout the progress of a
Design Thinking project, although it is most commonly
undertaken concurrently with the Prototyping stage.
Testing, in Design Thinking, involves generating user
feedback as related to the prototypes you have
developed, as well as gaining a deeper understanding of
your users. When undertaken correctly, the Testing
stage of the project can often feed into most stages of
the Design Thinking process: it allows you
to Empathise and gain a better understanding of your
users; it may lead to insights that change the way
you Define your problem statement; it may generate new
ideas in the Ideation stage; and finally, it might lead to an
iteration of your Prototype.
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9. 5 Guidelines to testing
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• 1.Let your users compare alternatives
Create multiple prototypes, each with a change in
variable, so that your users can compare
prototypes and tell you which they prefer (and
which they don’t). Users often find it easier to
elucidate what they like and dislike about
prototypes when they can compare, rather tha
• 2.Show, don’t tell: let your users experience the
prototype
Avoid over-explaining how your prototype works, or
how it is supposed to solve your user’s problems.
Let the users’ experience in using the prototype
speak for itself, and observe their reactions.

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• 3.Ask users to talk through their experience
When users are exploring and using the prototype,
ask them to tell you what they’re thinking. This may
take some getting used to for most users, so it may
be a good idea to chat about an unrelated topic,
and then prompt them by asking them questions
such as, “What are you thinking right now as you
are doing this?”
• 4.Observe
Observe how your users use — either “correctly” or
“incorrectly” — your prototype, and try to resist the
urge to correct them when they misinterpret how it’s
supposed to be used. User mistakes are valuable
learning opportunities. Remember that you are
testing the prototype, not the user.
• 5.Ask follow up questions
Always follow up with questions, even if you think
you know what the user means. Ask questions
such as, “What do you mean when you say ___?”,
“How did that make you feel?”, and most

11. Types of prototypes
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12. Low-fidelity vs. high-fidelity
prototyping
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Low Fidelity: Lo-fi are the paper prototypes
which are perfect at the early stages and are
refined throughout the process. This type of
prototype helps to make changes easily and
quickly. It focuses more on the way of using the
system instead of what it will looks like, which
makes designers and developers more open to
changes based on user feedback. With lo-fi it
gets easier for the team and audience to
understand the product well. But, as the
complexity of the product increases it becomes
difficult to maintain lo-fi prototypes further into
the development cycle. This makes paper
prototypes ineffective at keeping up with the
required depth in design.

13. Low-fidelity vs. high-fidelity
prototyping
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High-fidelity are highly mistaken for the final
product as they are the closest prototypes to
what the actual finished product would be. Hi-fi
prototypes are best to give a near realistic
experience of the product with actual
functionalities. Although it can be really costly
and time consuming.
It is ideal for discussing the complex parts of a
product. But presenting the hi-fi prototype at
the beginning may even confuse the viewers and
would not be able to give them the basic
knowledge and thus, they lose themselves in the
complexity of the product.

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15. Importance of this phase
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16. Why is this phase important?
▷ Better understanding of the design intent: Prototyping not only presents a strong
visualisation of the design to understand the look and feel of the final product but it also
helps the team to comprehend better why they are designing, what they are designing
and for whom they are designing.
▷ Early Feedback : One of the most important aspect of product building process is to
gather feedback. With prototyping you can collect reviews at every stage of developing
the product—whether adding new features or redesigning parts of the product. Test
what is working for the audience and what is not. Define goals with your team members,
the management teams, external stakeholders, SMEs etc. and come to the best collective
decision.
▷ Early changes save time and cost : Changes towards the end would mean not just radical
restructuring but also more speculation and rework. With a preliminary model ready it is
always possible to make the desired changes early, because by that point no investment
or effort has gone into creating the full product.Thus, early changes help you achieve
your goals faster.
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17. ▷ Validation before development : Prototyping allows having multiple discussions
between iterations before getting into final development. This iterative process makes it
easier for you to have surety in what you are building is actually what is needed.
▷ User research and user testing : Users are supreme. So identifying your prospective user
set and collecting their ideas to serve them better is of utmost importance. Prototyping
helps you achieve that. In fact, the ultimate intent of creating a prototype is user testing
which tells you how usable and valuable your product is to the end user. You can gain
inputs and insights about how real users would actually use the product and what you can
improve to address their pain points.
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18. Iterative Nature
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19. Design Thinking being
iterative
Design Thinking is an iterative process. In the larger context, we
understand then explore then materialize our solution.
Every step of the way is iterative. What we learn in one step of the
process may cause us to go back and refine what we learned in a
previous step. Especially when we prototype our ideas and see people
interacting with it. We may discover that we may need to go back to
the beginning and learn more about our target audience.
Design Thinking is a cycle. Once we have implemented our solution – a
product or service or other experience – we still get feedback from our
customers, learn and improve the user experience or make new
experiences.
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