If you are trying to come up with a prototype for a product you would like to have produced and sold, the most important part of the entire process is the brainstorming and researching that you need to do first. The more groundwork you do in the preparation stages, the more likely you are to be able to produce a prototype that will lead to a successful product, so do your homework if you hope to succeed. The following is a brief look at steps for brainstorming and researching before prototyping.
Market research
The first important step if you are considering creating a prototype is knowing what else is currently out there in terms of existing product design. This should help you to figure out what kind of products will be popular and highlight obvious niche markets that you may be able to take advantage of. There is no point in coming up with a prototype of something too similar to something already being made, so make sure you research extensively and ensure your product will be just what customers will want to buy.
Set clear goals
Once you have a bit of a better idea as to what is out there and what isn’t, come up with a clear set of goals regarding what you want to produce, for whom you want to produce it, and why it is being produced, as having these more general goals will help you considerably when it comes to choosing between ideas that your team comes up with. Having clear goals is easily one of the most important steps in the entire process.
Encourage creativity
There is always more than one way to get a job done, and there is certainly an enormous amount of ways you can create the perfect prototype, so get together with your entire group and do a good old-fashioned brainstorm. Write down every idea or suggestion that comes up until you have exhausted every possibility, and allow lots of time for this process to happen so that you are sure to get every suggestion on the table.
Feasibility of design
Once you have all of your creative, weird and wonderful ideas written down, go through them one at a time and examine each idea in detail. This is where your clear goals will save you a lot of time, as they will make it easy to sort through your ideas and separate those that meet your goals and those that won’t. This is also the time to look at how feasible each idea will be to actually produce, so once you have your list of ideas narrowed down, bring in some industrial designers and make sure your ideas are even possible.
Making your choice
Having gone through your extensive brainstorm, come up with a list of ideas and determined each idea’s feasibility, you should now have a pretty clear idea that stands out as your prototype. Choose the best one and start looking into having it made up, because you are ready to move into production.
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