Beyond static: ideation using interactive prototyping toolkits
Year: 2013
Editor: John Lawlor, Ger Reilly, Robert Simpson, Michael Ring, Ahmed Kovacevic, Mark McGrath, William Ion, David Tormey, Erik Bohemia, Chris McMahon, Brian Parkinson
Author: De Roeck, Dries; Stoffels, Bart; Standaert, Achiel; Verwulgen, Stijn
Series: E&PDE
Institution: Artesis University College, Belgium
Section: Rapid Prototyping
Page(s): 606-610
ISBN: 978-1-904670-42-1
Abstract
This paper will focus on how digital aspects of design can be included in the very first phases of a design process. The research presented is based on a mapping of existing interactive prototyping tools, where both the âphysical designâ and the âdigital designâ side are taken into account. The physical design mapping focuses on the creation of an interactive prototype involving sensors and actuators. The digital design aspect focuses on how computational code is fed into these prototypes via a variety of programming environments. A central argument in the presented research is that existing tools and toolkits that allow for the creation of digital interactive prototypes are mostly oriented towards verification. This means that a toolkit is used after an idea or concept has been crystallised. For an industrial designer, the aim, however, should be at using interactive toolkits during the ideation phase. Therefore it is crucial to look into how these existing tools can be used hand in hand with renowned ideation tools such as storyboarding and wizard-of-oz techniques, in order to enhance the quality of the outcome. The feasibility and effective value of this methodology was explored and preliminary evaluated during a one week exercise with both Bachelor and Master industrial design students.
Keywords: Digital creation, interactive prototyping, toolkits, interaction design