Prototyping and Model Making - Students of Product Design Episode 5

In students of product design episode 5 I look at prototypes and model making. One of the reasons industrial design projects are not successful is because the designer didn’t make enough prototypes to test ideas, prove concepts and highlight problems. Industrial designers have to make prototypes. You can never assume that just because something has been done before, you can progress straight to manufacture without prototyping your design. In this video I demonstrate this by designing a pair of pliers. A simple change to the handle means in use it pinches the palm of your hand. A quick prototype highlights this and saves time, money and embarrassment. So you have to do this phase in the design process to identify problems. But this isn’t the only reason to prototype. Prototyping and model making is used to develop new mechanisms, test people’s opinions, get important feed back in focus groups and trial different user interactions to work out how acceptable or feasible a new method of doing