Lost in Translation: Examining the Complex Relationship Between Prototyping and Communication

Prototyping plays a pivotal role in the engineering design process. Prototypes represent physical or digital manifestations of design ideas, and as such act as effective communication tools for designers. While the benefits of prototyping are well-documented in research, the fundamental ways in which the construction of a prototype affects designers' reflection on and evaluation of their design outcomes and processes are not well understood. The relationships between prototypes, designers' communication strategies, and recollection of design processes is of particular interest in this work, as preliminary research suggests that novice designers tend to struggle to clearly articulate the decisions made during the design process. This work serves to extend prior work and build foundational knowledge by exploring the evaluation of design outcomes and decisions, and communication strategies used by novice designers during prototyping tasks. A controlled in situ study was conducted with 45 undergraduate engineering students. Results from qualitative analyses suggest that a number of rhetorical patterns emerged in students' communications, suggesting that a complicated relationship exists between prototyping and communication.

Automated summary

Prototyping plays a crucial role in engineering design as physical or digital representations of design ideas. While the benefits of prototyping are well-documented, the ways in which it influences designers' reflection and evaluation of their work are not fully understood. This study focuses on the relationship between prototypes, designers' communication strategies, and recollection of design processes, uncovering the challenges novice designers face in clear articulation of design decisions.