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NOVICE DESIGNERS' USE OF PARTITIONING STRATEGIES TO NAVIGATE THE PROTOTYPING PROCESS
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 July 2021
Abstract
Prototypes can be used to create value in all phases of the product development process. Prototyping strategies that determine how prototypes are developed should therefore be considered for the prototyping process as a whole. In this paper, we analyse how partitioning strategies were used by ten novice design teams to navigate their prototyping processes during a three-week mechatronic development project. Using the ‘ProtoMapping’ method, their prototyping strategies were visualized and five different types of strategies identified. Four of the ten teams formally planned how to divide their product into modules that could be prototyped in parallel or planned when to integrate prototypes to test the full product. Still, the ProtoMaps showed that most of the teams used some partitioning strategies during their project even when they did not formally decide to do so. Novice designers should be supported in making such strategies for the prototyping process deliberately. Therefore, prototyping tools should be expanded to support not only individual prototyping activities but also the prototyping process.
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- This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
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- The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press
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