The psychological experience of prototyping

While scholars have studied what design practices accomplish, few have considered how people feel when enacting these practices. An eighteen-month ethnographic study of a high-tech examined the psychological experience of engaging in the practice of low-fidelity prototyping. The study finds that the production and rapid visualization of multiple ideas through low-fidelity prototyping allows practitioners to reframe failure as an opportunity for learning, supports a sense of forward progress, and strengthens beliefs about creative ability. Results suggest how design work practices can he designed to help employees manage in uncertain conditions. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.