Week 9: Making it testable

Matching a redesign to a prototyping method that actually lets someone else try it

26 April 2027

A redesign proposal is a document; a prototype is the first version of the door that someone other than you can operate. That jump is bigger than it looks, and the method you pick decides whether it happens at all. A full-size cardboard mockup proves whether a signage change reads at a glance. A laser-cut panel proves whether wording fits where you think it does. A foamcore model at reduced scale proves a hardware layout without needing a real door to test it on. None of these prove everything, and picking one means being honest about what it leaves unproven — which is exactly what the prototype and crit assessment later asks you to say out loud.

The wrong move is choosing the method that’s easiest to build rather than the one that tests the actual claim your redesign makes. If your fix lives or dies on whether the hardware feels right in the hand, a drawing doesn’t test it, however good the drawing is.

Outline#

• prototype fidelity: what a method proves and what it doesn’t
• matching a method to the specific claim your redesign makes
• planning for a stranger to operate it without you narrating
• what to bring to next week’s build studio