As a former industrial design student and a product designer, prototype is not a fresh concept for me. During the time when I was in another master program in California and my internship in southeast Asia, I have done so many kinds of prototypes: foam model, sketch model, commercial use model and models that were made by different physical materials.
This is my ergonomics class assignment for making a model for peelers when I was in Industry Design program in California. From the sketch, we can easily see how those peelers work, but we still lose the user experience to feel how it is held in our hands and how comfortable it is to work with our fingers.
By reading the article” What do Prototypes Prototype” showed me to a wider concept of what prototype do; how it leads to the final design, and what the basic elements are for a prototype. The most impressive aspects in this reading for me is that it makes prototypes explain the design from a more general concept. In terms of industrial design, prototype means building a physical model to give a user, designers and clients early first-hand visual experience and physical user experience before it leads to the final design or be produced for the market. From this article, I have learned that prototype can be used for Mechanical and electrical engineering, Electronics prototyping and Computer programming/computer science.
In the end, I want to add another experience about prototypes. A prototype is also a very popular marketing strategy for a lot small and medium size companies in the electronics industry in China. When I worked I a small company in Guangdong province, China, they went to several international trade shows to exhibit their products. They can usually make tons of prototypes with different designs, colors, materials, and sizes for similar functions. Then, they get feedback from their international buyers and start to produce certain popular products. In this case, a prototype can help small companies save a lot money and help them to pre-test the products before it is taken to the market to avoid the unnecessary cost.
This is the prototype of usb card reader when I worked in a electronic company in south China.
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