Garden Product Prototyping
An introduction to prototyping new garden products.
When developing a new garden product, prototyping is one of the most important steps. Using prototypes we can better determine the functionality of the product, its overall appearance and how to produce it. Usually, at D2M we aim to produce around 4 or 5 prototypes if the product is complex and 2 or 3 if the item is simpler. Keep reading if you want to know more about prototyping new garden products.
There are different ways to classify the types of prototypes that we can develop. According to the fidelity of the prototype (how similar it is to the real product) we can divide them in low, medium or high fidelity.
Initial or low fidelity garden product prototype
This kind of garden product prototype is a faster and cheaper way to test the main functionality and usability of the product. They can be easily modified but it is important to take into account that it will probably be necessary to produce more than one prototype to fully test the product.
Medium fidelity prototypes
This type of prototype is a bit more complex and tries to imitate the final result of the product better without adding all the details. We create medium fidelity garden product prototypes when the key characteristics and functionalities of the product are agreed and have been tested on a previous low fidelity prototype.
Usually, the user will be able to test the features of the final product with this kind of garden product prototype and make sure that there are no remaining problems to be solved.
High fidelity garden product prototype
This kind of garden product prototype is made to look and feel almost like the final product. High fidelity prototyping of new garden products is more expensive. For that reason it is very important that the design is final and the functionality and usability have been tested before. If any changes need to be made to the model, it will also be harder and more time-consuming.
If you have any doubts why prototyping is the most important stage of the process this is a list of all the advantages of using prototypes:
- You can easily find any problems with the usability of the product.
- You can show the prototype to better explain your vision to any investors, stakeholders and other relevant people involved.
- You can test the product and make improvements to make it more efficient.
- Any problems you find, you will be able to solve them before production happens.
- The garden product prototype can be shown to your potential clients to gather opinions and feedback.
- Prototyping is also useful to create content for marketing purposes and creating expectation for the new garden product launch.
The only disadvantage of prototyping new garden product ideas is that it is an expensive stage and takes some time. However, try to think that you will be able to identify problems and unexpected issues before going into production. Those problems would be way more expensive to fix later in the project, once you start production.
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