Creating our prototype last week was not an entirely new task for me. I have created prototypes before in art and other hands on classes that I have taken. I did find the idea of low resolution prototypes to be very innovative and efficient. This is a term I hadn’t heard before and I really like its emphasis on creating quick and efficient prototypes that get the point across without using too much time or resources. In previous classes our prototypes are usually rough sketches outlining our big ideas before we create a final product. I find it interesting that for this class, our final project is the prototype.
In the beginning, it was rather difficult to figure out how to compile all of the team’s fuzzy thoughts and ideas about the product into one comprehensive model. We really struggled in deciding which aspects of the product to focus our prototype on. At first, we had thought of creating a real-life version of the Chipedal bike but realized that the bike aspect of our model is the most comprehensible part. Instead, we focused on creating more technology based prototypes to illustrate how to use the bike and reap the rewards via an app. Creating the app and blueprint model was a much better idea than creating a tangible bike. The app and blueprint model help us to explain our idea in a much more comprehensible way and allow our audience to grasp what the new Chipotle experience will be like.
In previous classes prototypes were just dumbed down versions of our final project. I think that is why my group gravitated towards creating the bike in the beginning. Since the bike is the main part of our project we felt that this was the part that we had to show. But through this past week’s work, I have learned that the low-resolution prototype doesn’t have to illustrate the main part of a change, but rather the most intricate and fuzzy ideas incorporated into the change. And this is something that I will take with me and implement in other classes and eventually the real world.