Webinar Summary
Define Your Prototype Strategy: Align Form, Function, and Evidence
Early design moves fast, but too often teams rush to a build that does not answer the questions their next milestone requires. The result is weak evidence, slow decisions, and costly rework. This webinar teaches a practical, repeatable way to embed prototype strategy into early development, so each build produces objective evidence toward design feasibility. By feasibility, we mean clear evidence that the concept can meet requirements driven from users or technical needs, not late-stage design validation.
We introduce a simple strategy that maps form and functionality on a spectrum. Using this model, you will learn how to select the right prototype fidelity for the decision you must make now. We define four useful archetypes you can apply immediately: rough feasibility rigs for core mechanism questions, user interaction models for grip and layout, works-like and feels-like hybrids for credible stakeholder sessions, and production-representative alphas when both appearance and function must move together.
The heart of our approach is fast-to-function: short, focused build–learn cycles that tighten the loop between industrial design, design engineering, human factors, and integrated prototyping. We show three paths you can tailor to your situation:
- Function-led feasibility when physics or mechanism risk dominates, with clear bench criteria and thresholds.
- Experience-led feasibility when adoption and workflow are the risk, with task success, error profiles, and qualitative insights.
- Hybrid credibility builds when you must demonstrate plausibility and plausibility-in-use at the same time for KOLs or internal gates.
Expect concrete guidance on scoping the next sprint: the milestone you are driving to, the questions that must be answered, who will interact with the prototype and in what context, the evidence you need, and what level of form and function is sufficient. You will see how aligning these inputs up front produces functional prototypes that de-risk decisions, refine design inputs, inform requirements, and increase confidence as you move into development.
