one of the reasons design projects are
not successful is because the designer
didn't make enough prototypes to test
ideas proof concepts and highlight
problems so in this episode we're
looking at prototyping a good prototype
is not the one that looks the most
beautiful or is the most well-made it's
the one that answers questions and moves
you forward often these are the ones
that don't work and there are a complete
disaster as much as the ones that work
brilliantly
it's easy to convince yourself when a
prototype doesn't work that you've
failed and even now when they don't work
I find it frustrating but I also love
this phase because of the challenge and
because every prototype I make contains
clues that help me to see and fix
problems and suggest lots of
improvements so that my next prototype
will hopefully be a few steps closer to
a successful design I've made a lot of
prototypes and models people use
different terminology but for me models
visual they may be scaled down but
generally they describe the designs
visual appearance but they don't
function prototypes show how your design
works they may not look anything like
the final design but they demonstrate
how it would function when you get a
combination of the two I would still
call it a prototype but it's like the
difference between product design and
industrial design it's just not worth
getting hung up on you have to choose
the right type of model or prototype for
where you are in the design process and
what questions you need to answer so
depending on the design brief you may
just need a model you may only need
prototypes but usually for each project
you will have to make both there are two
main types of product design positions
in-house designers work at companies who
manufacture products and design
consultancies our external designers who
design for several different companies
on a contract by contract basis but in
both cases it's important that you
consider which prototyping and model
making techniques and materials will
best help you to answer the brief in a
typical project prototypes can be form
models because form often follows
function there's no point in working out
the outside shape and look of something
until you know how big an internal space
needs to be for a circuit board or a
mechanism to work of course this depends
on the product if you are designing a
potato peeler handle for example the
form is the function so the prototype
could also be the visual appearance
look at this pair of pliers on paper it
looks good but sketching and CAD can
only tell you so much now there are lots
of examples of pliers already in
production and we all know how they work
it's not complicated so with time
pressures the temptation could be to
just make a quick visual appearance
model or worse progress straight into
manufacture but a working prototype
tells me how it behaves in use and it
turns out that when you close the
handles together they pinch the palm of
your hand which is really painful you
can probably imagine the trouble caused
if you'd pushed on to production with
only a visual appearance model that
didn't open and close the customer
complaints the money and time loss to
correct the tooling the product recalls
it would be a nightmare I learned this
the hard way you have to make prototypes
to test the feasibility of your ideas to
highlight problems to using focus groups
for feedback and to refine your designs
you're not designing for yourself you're
designing for others so you have to give
your prototypes to people to test put
them in big hands and small hands
young-old find a range of people to
identify problems prototyping can be a
specialist area of design it can take
more thought and effort to work out how
to design the prototype to prove your
idea then the actual design itself this
prototype for a pepper grinder looks
nothing like the finished design because
it's just designed to test the mechanism
but by putting in a lot of thought at
this stage I can design and build a
prototype to accommodate several
experiments rather than having to build
a new prototype each time I want to test
something else
so with this prototype I can swap shapes
in and out to test numerous angles and
grating ideas and I can watch what's
happening through a viewing window
prototypes are experiments in science
you come up with a theory you design an
experiment you test
theory analyze the results and come up
with ways to improve the experiment and
prototyping is no different James Dyson
said he had to make 5127 prototypes to
get his first bagless vacuum cleaner
right but it was worth it
so as the pliers example shows depending
on the project it's often important to
make a combination of visual appearance
model and working prototype to get as
close to the finished design as possible
this is why today rapid prototyping is
so useful because of how accurately you
can create designs from the data that
will eventually go for manufacture this
process is much more streamlined but
rapid prototyping is not always cost
effective or practical to use most
companies only have access to machines
with relatively small bed sizes so it's
currently not the right method to use
when developing anything large when I
designed and built this prototype
kitchen for speed and cost for me a pint
shell covered with MDF and plastic
tubing was the obvious choice as much as
possible always make everything actual
size you can't interact with a scale
model in the same way I could have saved
time and materials and money making a
scale model of my kitchen but it
wouldn't have highlighted any problems
in use or told me half of the things I
needed to know often the first
prototypes you make are made as quickly
as possible to determine if you can
carry on down one Avenue of exploration
or identify that it's a dead end and
move on
look at this chopping board there's no
point in spending a day making a full
prototype like this when five minutes
experimenting with paper or cardboard
will tell me if the mechanism works or
not
time is money so wherever possible
prototype fast and prototype cheaply
don't underestimate how many questions
you can answer quickly with card and
sellotape pieces of rubbish I use cloud
and sellotape for my first wheelbarrow
prototyping plastic bottles to work out
weight distribution for a vacuum cleaner
which wasn't testing a mechanism but
prototyping user interaction to work out
how acceptable or feasible a new method
of doing something would be and never
forget Lego so you don't need a lot of
tools and materials to prototype the
main comment I get from students about
prototyping is that they can't afford
materials when I was around 10 years old
I watched a programme about making
models for sci-fi films and it showed
how the rocket boosters for one model
were made from the lids of toothpaste
tubes
for me this was a turning point because
early on I learned that everything we
surround ourselves with can be
repurposed now I look at things
differently this isn't just a table or a
chair it's a material store and once
it's finished its role
I can see opportunities for hundreds of
projects so I don't buy a lot of
materials but I rarely pass a skip
without having a peek and friends and
family by now should know not to throw
anything made from wood or any broken
machinery away they should save it for
me I have boxes of bits lying around
because it's always useful and I'm
forever pulling things apart to get
access to the cogs and springs the nuts
bolts and all the materials and bits and
pieces they contain however a word of
warning be careful when taking things
apart
I was once given an old printer that I
decided to take apart on my bedroom
floor
who knew in the base it had a reservoir
that stored excess ink after cleaning I
was turning the cogs and I didn't
realize that they were reversing a pump
that was pumping ink all over a
relatively new carpet I got into a lot
of hot water for that one so be aware
salvaging materials can be dangerous to
your health
always use the appropriate safety gear
annal a newspaper down the great thing
about taking things apart is that not
only do you get lots of materials for
free but you learn how things are
manufactured and put together which
informs your designs so it will make you
a better designer in the first episode
on innovation I showed this visual
appearance model of a potato peeler I
made it from a stripper metal a pen body
some sheet aluminium and an old loyalty
card
sprayed with car body spray paint apart
from a bit of spray paint I didn't have
to buy anything to make it I made this
prototype from strips of plastic bent on
a toaster polypropylene again from an
office file wood and stair steel from an
old pancake flipper
this model is almost twenty years old I
made it when I was in university which
is why aesthetically it may look a bit
dated but back then it was bang on trend
it's made from MDF and turned aluminium
to handle details of pin heads and since
then the wooden dowels holding it
together how shrunk and the decals have
lost their stickiness now I couldn't
make this model nail because I don't
have anything like the equipment I had
access to in University so if you are in
college or university take advantage of
everything available to you because you
will rarely have access to so much
fantastic equipment under one roof again
this is my workshop now the work area is
less than two meter square I have a band
saw a pillar drill a vise and a circular
saw that I have to drag outside if I
want to use it some people assume they
need a lot of tools to create prototypes
but you don't
I made this chair with just a few hand
tools no electric tools a tool so in
prototyping and model making anything
goes as long as you get the results you
need
when I was young I had no idea how to do
things and my lack of knowledge forced
me to experiment I jumped straight into
prototyping and whilst I made lots of
mistakes they led to great results that
I couldn't have worked out on paper now
I'm older I have a much better idea of
what won't work so I spend much longer
trying to work things out in my head and
on paper thirst to try and avoid losing
time by making mistakes when I make
prototypes I put off jumping in for as
long as possible i procrastinate which
actually takes longer this is completely
wrong but the problem is I can't go back
to not having knowledge so I must force
myself to just jump in more and this is
what we all have to do progress the
prototyping as soon as you can because
it will move your designs on faster in
the next episode I'm going to give you
more prototype making tips and you can
shake a stick out thanks for watching if
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