[MUSIC] In this course, when we talk about design making, we refer to concepts and prototypes. We'll unpack both of these further now. Tools, such as sketching and wireframing are crucial in the generation of concepts and in the refining of these during development phases. Prototypes are then created to represent these concepts. A prototype is the creation of a tangible representation of an envisaged idea. Examples of prototypes that we'll explore include low-fidelity prototypes and mock-ups. So let's unpack some basic example of methods that you can implement during your design making phase. The first method we will cover in relation to concept generation is sketching. Sketching is used by designers to visually represent the physical aspects of an idea while developing it for a product or service. Sketches are cheap and quick to materialize and, therefore, completely disposable and replaceable. Rather than trying to verbalize what an idea will look like, it can be quickly represented through a sketch. By putting ideas on paper, they become clearer, facilitating a dialogue between your thoughts and your sketch. Sketches are also excellent tools for communicating ideas to stakeholders and colleagues. The thought of sketching though can be quite overwhelming for people with limited background, say in art or design. However, it is possible to develop very useful sketches through simple shapes and simple lines. As with many skills, the development of sketching comes with practice, so pick up a pencil now and do a quick line sketch of bicycle. The effectiveness of sketches isn't linked to artistic merit. Successful sketches facilitate discussion, understanding, and technique. As long as the sketch helps communicate an idea, and helps you to develop that idea into something better, the use of sketching is a conceptual tool that has served its purpose. Although sketches can be used at different stages of the design process, they're generally more relevant during the idea generation phase. The next conceptual tool that we're going to look at are wireframes. Wireframes are line drawings that show the fundamental structure or functions of a product or system. They can be especially useful for expanding upon sketches. Wireframes offer a formal way for designers to think about and communicate to others what a design can do. Because wireframes do not act like a finished product, they are quick to produce and are very easy to modify, assisting with the iterative idea generation process. Wireframing is commonly found in the design of digital applications these days. When this tool is used early in the ideation process, it allows us to shift from researching and understanding a problem to building a solution. Early sketches can be combined and translated into structures, such as menus, tabs, headings, and pages. Wireframes aren't very useful for testing with users or customers, though. They may be difficult for customers to understand, as they focus on the structure and functionality of a product. However, they're very useful to get feedback from other designers, or other domain experts, before turning them into mock-ups and prototypes. Low-fidelity prototypes allow a quick exploration of ideas early in the design process. They can be used to reflect on a design, to discuss design solutions within a team, and to get feedback from prospective users through usability testing. A prototype should represent the actual scale of the final product. Low-fidelity prototypes are different to wireframing as they use tangible materials to explore how people could interact with the final product or service. This allows users to experience and interact with something close to what the final product will actually look like. In doing this, you can uncover what is easy to use, what doesn't work, and what aspects, if any, need to be improved. Low-fidelity prototypes also differ from mock-ups, which we'll discuss next, as they do not represent the final visual design. So low-fidelity prototypes typically only represent the surface of a product interface and don't normally have the underlying technology built into them. This becomes apparent in the next iteration of the design. The final design making tool we'll look at are mock-ups, which are to scale or full size models of products and their features. Mock-ups are commonly used in industrial design and manufacturing processes to visualize the detailed representation of the envisaged product. They're made early on in the design process, and mock-ups are a great way to test ideas and get buy-in from internal or external stakeholders before you spend too much time developing a functional product. They allow for the exploration of specific form factors, such as how users will interact with the design or the process. The design of a mock-up should closely resemble the final visual representation of the product. However, mock-ups are not functional, so they don't allow for user's interaction with the design. So to explore how you go about design making, we have looked at sketching, wireframing, low-fidelity prototypes, and mock-ups. You could use all or just some of these design making methods for idea generation and development. These tangible representations of the design allow you to see what works and what doesn't work on your way to a final solution. Next, we'll explore creating prototypes with digital fabrication techniques, so stay tuned. [MUSIC]
