Prototyping is an amazing method to quickly iterate a design from a rough to efficient stable state, which can then be taken and materialised as a product or service. It allows you to get a feel of what the product or service will be like, enough to iron out major issues, which you can then take on to start building for real. You start prototyping right from day 1 of the idea. Do it on paper, do it on a whiteboard. We humans are visual creatures. What we can see, and feel, we understand better than just in form or spoken or written words.

Here is an example I often share to build an understanding of the value of prototyping during UX primer workshops for other company departments, clients or stakeholders because it’s just such a fun thing to watch, and thus does a good job of driving home the benefit of prototyping.

The video shows The McDonalds brothers low-fidelity prototyping their interface (kitchen) for a service (McDonalds- burgers and fries!). It shows how a quick simple (virtually zero-cost to execute) simulation helps uncover service efficiency gaps which they then use to make improvements, to what would ultimately be their revolutionary Speedee service system for fast food production.