Collaborative Prototyping and Planning

This unit guides students from insight and ideation toward tangible solutions by teaching stakeholder engagement, resource and budget planning, and iterative prototyping. Students practice evaluation and documentation methods, apply creativity techniques, and prepare project plans and prototypes for further development in the final unit.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze lead-user input, empathetic observations, and task-based needs to prioritize project requirements and define the most important wishes and problems
• Apply resource, space, and budget planning techniques to produce a viable project plan that allocates personnel, materials, timelines, and support structures
• Demonstrate prototyping and testing methodologies—including multiple prototype types, consistent observational methods, and analysis of test results—to refine and make ideas tangible
• Evaluate creative techniques and stakeholder engagement strategies (e.g., provocations, Walt Disney method, checklists, leadership coalition) to select and justify the most viable concepts for implementation