IDEA DEVELOPMENT - QUICK PROTOTYPES

Elon Musk, in his speech at the California Institute of Technology, talks about how it helps to convince people when you have a model with you, even if it is a low fidelity one. This is how quick prototypes help.

While the term ‘rapid prototyping’ is used synonymously in Titan for 3D printing, it isn’t as ‘rapid’ a process as you’d hope. To get things 3D printed quickly, you would need to make a 3D model on a software of the parts you need and discuss your intentions with the ‘tech-team’ so that they can resolve the model to a print ready stage - if there’s something they think can’t be done, you’d have a tough time to convince them otherwise, let alone get your model. The process is requires clarity at the start, is time taking, involves too many people and expensive (as an intern, you need to keep asking for approvals for 3d prints and you make people cringe if you want to take out too many prints).

To keep testing out sketch ideas, it helps to have a few pieces of scrap to tie together quickly to test the feasibility of an idea. The prototypes on the left used cardboard to make the watch case and tiny bits of rolled up paper were adopted as ad-hoc straps. No workshop resources were needed - only a cutting blade, some tape, bits of cardboard and a sheet of paper. These prototypes were used to test the different ways in which the strap could be integrate into the case. One prototype that tested the idea of a swap-able bezel needed a cutter and glue gun as it was forged out of the pieces of a tiny plastic water bottle. Creating prototypes like these bring clarity quickly and allow for a good ideation progression.

If personal clarity is at a good stage after ideating with quick prototypes then your proposals are less likely to be tweaked by any other individuals involved in the process because quick prototypes allow for the passage of an idea from one mind to another with greater net clarity than a sketch or digital render would.

Quick prototypes also allow a designer to demonstrate the structural integrity of a design idea that deviates from the standard watch blueprint.