WEEK 1 | Introduction

In week one contact session, we were introduced to the course and learn about what the course require, all the academic stuff. I was quite nervous and panic, since most people sitting there are IT or multi-media students, while I come from communication.

We watched a few video about prototype, and introduced MakeyMakey. During the discussion, we talked about our concepts on prototype. I see prototype as model or sample in the early stage of design, which aim to test and gain feedback from the testing. Prototype could be physical, like simply using paper or Lego, or digital, for instance, a program or an app. The example of MakeyMakey demonstrated the electronic form of prototype.

Things to make a prototype could be anything we found! Pen, paper clip, books, cardboard...Prototypes are used when we want to evaluate a new design, and to enhance the design base on user or system analysis. I think prototyping is an important part on design. It helps us define the problem of the design by getting direct feedback from users. It tackles design problem and helps to bring up more idea and improvement.

My only prototype experience was DECO1100 when I did it in my first year. We were asked to come up an idea and create the prototype for airport and university respectively. For the airport design, me an my teammate came up with design for kids and their parents. There were lots of brain storming and discussion. We were required to create a kickstarter video:

For the second project, we create a law speaker prototype on campus. The law speaker targeted bike rider, that announce "obey the law, wear helmet" whenever there' re bike riders pass by. The prototype was made by a actual audio speaker and connected it with computer. It was a fun experience as we actually stand along the road and test our prototype, and receiving feedback from the bike riders. We also created a kickstarter video for that: