Prototype and crit

Build the redesign well enough to test it on someone else, then defend it in front of a panel who didn't see the proposal beforehand

Due: 10 May 2027 · Weight: 25%

The brief#

Build enough of your redesign that a stranger can use it, then stand in front of the public crit and answer for it.

“Prototype” is doing real work in this brief: cardboard, foamcore, a 3D-printed part, a laser-cut sign, a working model at reduced scale, or a tight interactive mockup are all fine, but it has to be something a second person can pick up and operate without you narrating. If the panel has to ask “what would happen if I —” and you have to answer in words instead of letting them try it, the prototype isn’t finished yet.

The crit is public and the panel is deliberately made up of people who only know the redesign proposal, not the thinking behind it — the same gap between a document and the person meeting it cold that the real door will face. Being able to say clearly what the prototype does not yet prove (scale, materials, long-term wear, cost) is worth more here than pretending it’s finished.

What you submit#

The prototype itself, brought to the week 11 studio, plus a one-page test script: what you’re asking the tester to try, and what counts as it working.