Prototype  and  test  

Design  Thinking  Ac5on  Lab  

Prototype  #1  The  yearbook  for  teachers  

Idea:  to  make  clear  arrangements  of  when  you  are  allowed  to  bother  a  colleague  for  advice  or  answers  to  ques5ons  that  you  have.    

I  have  make  a  rapid  prototype  of  a  book  that  will  be  handed  to  each  new  teacher  when  they  start  working  at  a  school.  It  contains  informa5on  about  things  such  as  the  vision  of  the  school,  the  contents  of  the  different  years  and  an  overview  of  all  the  teachers  at  the  school.  The  teacher-­‐pages  contain  informa5on  about  the  teacher.  There  you  can  add  notes  about  the  first  

mee5ng  you  had  with  this  teacher,  including  his/her  availability  and  preferred  communica5on  channel.  

Prototype  #2  Trick  and  treat  

Idea:  Let  people  pay  for  a  cookie  with  a  5p  or  a  trick  based  on  their  experience  instead  of  money.  

I  have  made  a  rapid  prototype  of  my  pay-­‐with-­‐an-­‐idea-­‐vending  machine  by  using  a  jar  of  cookies,  a  ques5on  and  a  blocnote-­‐pen  combina5on  that  people  can  use  

to  write  down  the  ideas  they  have.    

The  tests  The  yearbook  for  teachers  

I  have  tested  the  prototype  with  two  different  persons.  Unfortunately,  my  stakeholder  was  on  holiday,  so  I  could  not  evaluate  the  prototype  with  him  live.  Instead,  I  have  shown  him  the  prototype  via  Skype  and  discussed  the  prototype  with  him.  Besides,  I  have  performed  a  live  test  with  another  person,  in  order  to  evaluate  whether  the  prototype  was  clear  with  less  instruc5ons  and  clarifica5ons  as  well.  AOerwards,  we  have  talked  about  the  prototype  and  the  idea  that  it  embodies.  Below  you  can  see  some  pictures  made  during  the  test.  

The  tests  Trick  and  treat  

For  this  test  I  used  a  different  set  up.  I  have  set  up  the  prototype  in  the  staff  room  of  a  school,  with  the  ques5on  next  to  it.  I  was  curious  to  see  how  people  would  use  it.  I  made  sure  that  no-­‐one  saw  that  I  put  the  prototype  there  and  then  observed  how  people  used  the  product  or  how  they  commented  on  it.    To  prevent  that  I  gave  myself  away,  I  could  not  take  pictures  of  people  using  the  prototype.  But  I  made  some  pictures  of  the  prototype  in  the  context  (some  of  which  I  also  used  to  present  the  prototype).  

The  results  The  yearbook  for  teachers  

The  results  Trick  and  treat  

Reflec5on  What  did  I  learn  by  tes0ng  the  prototypes?  

What  would  I  do  next  0me  if  I  would  con0nue  working  on  the  project?  

-­‐  Tes5ng  is  fun  and  gives  a  treasure  of  insights!  -­‐  Your  ini5al  assump5ons  turn  out  to  be  not  always  right  when  you  present  your  work  to  your  stakeholder.  -­‐  You  can  never  test  too  early  in  the  process  to  prototype;  I  could  have  done  it  much  earlier  already.  -­‐  If  you  sincerely  ask  people  if  they  want  to  help  you,  they  are  more  willing  to  help  then  I  expected  and  provide  

beXer  feedback  than  I  expected.  -­‐  The  more  coarse  your  prototype  is,  the  more  people  will  focus  on  the  func5ons  instead  of  the  details.  -­‐  By  leYng  people  see,  touch  and  interact  with  something  you  help  them  imagine  what  it  will  be  like  to  use  the  

product.    -­‐  Before  prototyping  it  is  important  to  think  carefully  what  you  want  to  evaluate.  Only  that  needs  to  be  

prototyped  with  enough  detail,  the  rest  can  be  kept  simple.  -­‐  It  was  easier  than  I  expected  to  throw  away  the  prototype  aOer  the  test  and  start  over  with  the  good  things  

about  the  prototype.  -­‐  By  failing  fast,  you  can  fail  fast  and  try  many  approaches  in  a  short  amount  of  5me.  That  is  more  valuable    than  

inves5ng  much  5me  in  a  slick  prototype,  only  to  find  out  is  not  really  what  the  stakeholder  is  looking  for.  -­‐  Whatever  you  use  as  prototype  materials,  it  can  always  be  even  simpler  without  diminishing  the  value  of  the  

prototype  or  not  geYng  across  the  point  and  feel  of  the  prototype.  

-­‐  Test  a  number  of  aspects  of  the  idea  with  various  prototypes  instead  of  using  just  one  prototype  to  test  all.  -­‐  Test  the  prototypes  for  a  longer  5me,  to  also  spot  things  that  turn  up  over  5me.  -­‐  Experiment  with  different  types  of  ques5ons  for  the  “trick  and  treat”  prototype  and  let  people  use  the  

“yearbook”  for  a  longer  5me  and  report  about  their  findings  -­‐  Go  back  to  analysis  and  see  what  I  can  include/differ/change  in  the  prototype.  -­‐  Iterate,  iterate,  iterate.  -­‐  Apply  the  idea5on  techniques  on  how  to  con5nue  with  the  prototype.