Prototyping

Pretty slides?• I don’t like slides with a lot of text. I prefer slide shows with lots of

pictures I can talk over… but since you are going to be looking at this later, without the benefit of me talking, I put a lot of words on it• Slides will be available on Slideshare• KANSO design briefs will not be available, as they are not free to

share.

Who am I?• Went to NYU (Computer Engineering) and University System of

Maryland (BS Computer Science and Business)• Serial Entrepreneur: Internet, Games, Interactive Entertainment,

Finance, Security• Co-Founder of HARDWARE.co, community for Hardware Startups to

share knowledge• VP Engineering KIWI.KI GmbH—lead engineering effort and product

design. Prototyped and productized all gen 1 hardware and services.

Kinds of prototypesPrototypes explore different aspects of an intended design• A Proof-of-Principle Prototype explores some functional, but not all, aspects of

the intended design.• A Form Study Prototype explores the size and appearance, but not the

functionality, of the intended design.• A User Experience Prototype captures enough aspects of the intended design

that it can support user research.• A Visual Prototype captures the size and appearance, but not the functionality, of

the intended design.• A Functional Prototype captures both function and appearance of the intended

design. It may be created in with a different method and scale from final design.

Functional prototypes• Show that you can solve the problem• Are effective enough to determine how well the problem is solved• Are not usually pretty• Should be fairly inexpensive—used to unblock other steps of product

development process• Off the shelf components used as much as possible• Will be one-offs, but never make less than two• Do not sell your prototypes!

Example: KIWI

<- Current production hardware

Prototype for next generation ->

Example: Berlin Boombox

Prototyping is Easier than EVER BEFORE•Electronics: Arduino / Raspberry Pi / Sensors from Cellphones•Forms: 3d Printing, CNC•Interactions: Smart Phones•Infrastructure: Cloud

Design prototypes• Show that your solution is accepted by the market• Manifest your product vision• Are usually very pretty, and may not be practical• May be somewhat expensive• May involve external design firms• Will be 100% bespoke• Never make less than two

Design Process• Research• Mood Board• Ideation• Refinement

Case Study: KIWI’s new Ki

Bonus: Production Pictures

Questions?