Iterative prototyping takes you on a journey of evolution and refinement that may lead you to totally redefine your initial product concept. While the process leads you to knead and reshape the product, it’s also a journey of self-realization for many people.
The most readily apparent is the moment when your dearly held preconceptions about the product are dashed during user testing. It’s hard to let go of ideas you are personally in love with, but when the overwhelming evidence from user testimony is that the idea won’t work, you have to let it go.
Self-discovery also comes in a subtler form through putting your concept into the world and learning that the way you actually conceived of it and framed it was lacking. When we put a language translation prototype into a realistic situation, factors such as eye contact, social graces and nonverbal cues turned out to be major considerations – and less so the product interface that had been obsessively crafted. We also found that the conversational moments that most needed translating weren’t ones that the device was really capable of providing effectively. Revelations such as these are exactly what you’re looking for in user testing, and don’t just change the prototype but also your mental model of the concept and how you need to define it.
