What's in my toolshed: the prototyping edition

Lately I have been thinking a lot about how I go about prototyping. That's a huge topic, because really prototyping is a step along a long, loooong and windy path that begins with an idea. I often analyze in painful detail how I get the idea or what I do with that idea once I have it, but today I want to think through my process in terms of what's in my bag, or what's my setup. 

I think it goes something like this:

I have an idea.
Tools: shower, running shoes, a friend and/or hot chocolate

I sketch out the idea.
Tools: pencil, notebook, ipad, paper53, cosmonaut

I share that idea with a small group of people
Tools: more hot chocolate

This cup is from the  folks at One Girl Cookies in Dumbo

I share that idea with a larger group of people
Tools:  a blog, camera (usually just use my phone)

    

Then, I share the idea with people in my making environments
Tools: github, flickr

I read and write - A lot. I tend to research everywhere from blogs to books, to print articles. I ask experts and novices a like to talk to me.
Tools: New York Public Library, DML, goodreads, the interwebs

What I am reading now: Creative Confidence by the Kelley Brothers. Check it out!

Then I am like omgossssh  I have so many things I need to get organized, so I put all of my tools into some sort of list, or spark file.
Tools: Evernote, etherpad , Google Docs

By this time I realize that I want to make something so that people can have a proof of concept to play around with, so I start to make something interactive.
Tools: POP, Coda2, Cyberduck, Webmaker, Appmaker, Adobe Illustrator, etc.

Then I go into a rapid cycle of user testing -> iterating -> usertesting
Tools: redpen for mockups, user testing websites, Hive meetups, minigroups, groupme, Webmaker demos,  more hot chocolate and chocolate chip cookies.

At this point I kind of move into a decision making phase. This is a whole other set of operations, however I now have a lot of tools at my disposal to make that decision. By now, I have now developed a cohort of people who I am working with to develop the prototype - whether that be user testers, feedbackers or active co-developers.

I should note here that a) this whole process relies heavily on hot chocolate - my current favorite can be found by visiting the Little Sweet Cafe just off of Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn and b) my process is all about prototyping in the open. I find that prototyping by, for and with people makes my ideas stronger and helps me to fail faster so that I can pick myself up and iterate with more knowledge, more often. I'd love to hear what ways YOU prototype.

My thesis process according to Phill Retuta

via his blog

1. Visited every public beach in New York.
2. Asked visitors what they thought about the beach.
3. Began research both on the web and in libraries
4. Compiled the history of NYC beaches and water safety
5. Googled everybody with the terms “NYC,” “beach,” “water”, etc. and made calls and sent out emails
6. Did a lot of soul-searching and got over her fear of approaching people
7. Became comfortable making mistakes, choosing topics, and not boxing herself in.
8. Went crazy.

My Thesis Process

The Director of the masters program that I am currently in (for only a few more months!) asked me to answer a few questions about my thesis process. It was a little strange to talk about my process and give advice to the next group of students doing a thesis because I am still in the middle of finishing all this! Anyway, here it is. If you are a first year visiting this site- please drop me a line and say hello. :)



A classmate of mine, Clay Ewing also was asked to answer a few questions.Here is his moment of fame. It's interesting to hear what he is up to and how far along he came with his project.