What, how and when should I prototype? An empirical study of design team prototyping practices at the IDEA challenge hackathon

Daniel Nygaard Ege*, Mark A Goudswaard, James A Gopsill, Martin Steinert, Ben J Hicks

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

Abstract

To improve understanding of prototyping practice at the fuzzy front end of the design process, this article presents an analysis of a prototyping dataset captured during the IDEA challenge – a 4-day virtually hosted hackathon – using Pro2booth, a web-based prototype capture tool. The dataset comprised 203 prototypes created by four independent teams working in university labs across Europe supported by interviews carried out with each of the teams after the event. The results of the study provide nine key findings about prototyping at hackathons. These include elucidation of the purposes of prototypes in physical, digital and sketch domains and characterisation of teams’ prototyping practices and strategies. The most successful strategy focused on learning about the problem or solution space, often via physical prototypes rather than following more prescriptive ‘theoretical’ methodologies. Recommendations on prototyping strategies in hackathons or similar scenarios are provided, highlighting the importance of practical strategies that prioritise learning and adaptation. The results of this study raise the broader question to the wider research community of how design research and teaching should balance high-level strategic approaches with more hands-on ‘operational’ prototyping.
Original languageEnglish
Article numbere22
JournalDesign Science
Volume10
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 25 Oct 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), 2024.

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