Experience prototypes make products – and brands – that win over decision-makers and wow users.

Product Experience Design | Tools & Processes

When it comes to new products, Interaction Designers know they give concepts the hands-on clarity needed to move forward.

AI assistants that don’t understand your accent. Touchscreens too small, or out of place, to let you select the right option. Menus that seem simple, but you get lost in when under pressure. There’s lots to consider when executing new product experiences.

It takes a lot of confidence to say “Yes!” to an idea when it only exists as a sketch or in specifications.

That’s because you can’t get a gut feeling for a product if there’s nothing to actually feel. Especially when faced with big decisions in new product and experience development. We know the hardest thing a decisionmaker in a business must do is predict how something they’re creating will make consumers feel. This is where experience prototypes are the answer. They provide the proof needed to get a new product design off the ground.

So, what is an experience prototype?

In short, it’s an interactive and real-world simulation focussed on the most relevant parts of a product, service, and context. To build them, Product Experience Designers and Technologists mix pieces of existing products with new electronics and software to mock-up the experience. Often, they start simply. A block of foam, some switches, and a few animated screens. It’s impossible to build an experience prototype too early, so they might have rough edges and need some babysitting to operate. But they get the job done. Can they look ugly? Sure, but it’s not the styling that matters. The features and interactions are most important.

It’s also important to prototype contexts as much as to design a product experience prototype. At night, on the highway, or in the rain – that’s where the best feedback comes from. And as an idea evolves, so do the prototypes. Accurate components like displays and sensors are added, bringing richer detail and less ambiguity. At each stage of the design there’s no need to second-guess. You know how ideas will be received, because you’ve already experienced them firsthand.

That’s what the true value of experience prototyping is: the confidence.

Particularly with user tests you get less confusion, clearer ideas, and better decision making. When people get to bend and break prototypes, they’re immersed. They’ll point out things no one considered and even settle debates about how a product should work. When you find opportunities to improve early, the final outcome will always be better.

In the end, the further a brand becomes an ecosystem of products and services, the more new ideas must be experienced to understand them. Decisionmakers to put a prototype in someone’s hands, smile, and say, “Off you go, then. Try that”.

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