A cura di: Nithiku Nimkulrat, Silvia Deborah Ferraris, Francesca Mattioli

Prototyping and Experiential Knowledge

Unfolding shifting views on the use of prototypes in design research

This volume examines the evolving role of prototypes in design research, emphasizing their function as intentional and transient objects that facilitate the transition from abstract concepts to concrete design outcomes. The book investigates how prototyping contributes to knowledge generation, design process development, and the articulation of experiential understanding.

Pages: 284

ISBN: 9788835183198

Edizione:1^a ediz 2025

Publisher code: 10319.39

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This volume examines the evolving role of prototypes in design research, emphasizing their function as intentional and transient objects that facilitate the transition from abstract concepts to concrete design outcomes. Through a range of disciplinary and methodological perspectives, the book investigates how prototyping contributes to knowledge generation, design process development, and the articulation of experiential understanding. The chapters are organized into four thematic parts – Envisioning, Exploring, Comprehending, and Developing the Design Process – each addressing distinct aims and contexts of prototyping. Contributions include studies on low-fidelity tactics, collaborative learning environments, multisensory material translation, biodesign practices, data engagement, and political dimensions of design. These inquiries foreground prototyping as a situated, relational, and epistemic practice. The volume concludes that prototyping in design research extends beyond technical validation to encompass pedagogical, ecological, and speculative dimensions. It demonstrates that prototypes can serve as vehicles for interdisciplinary collaboration, critical reflection, and the negotiation of complex design challenges.

Pieter Jan Stappers, Foreword
Silvia D. Ferraris, Nithikul Nimkulrat, Transitioning from abstractness to concreteness through prototyping

Part 1. Envisioning through prototypes

Aleksandra Sviridova, Jouke Verlinden, Beyond prototyping: demonstrators, provotypes, and the narrative turn in design research
Paula L. Schuster, Rolf Brändle, Deliberately abstract: the tactics of low-fidelity prototyping
Martina Labarta Labrador, Francesca Mattioli, Prototyping collaboration: managing collaborative projects in design education

Part 2. Exploring through prototypes

Gemma Potter, Graft-games: investigative prototypes for the cumulative exploration of similarities between craft and the play of videogames
Elizabeth Meiklejohn, Felicita Devlin, Caroline Silverman, Dani Epstein, Yue Xu, Joy Ko, Experiential substance: tactile translations using digital materials
Francesco Cianfano, Tommaso Celli, Marco Marseglia, Valentina Rognoli, Slow prototyping in biodesign: designing with the living in hybrid laboratories

Part 3. Comprehending through prototypes

Ayse Özge Agça, Jacob Buur, Turning abstract data concrete: drawing and tinkering with data
Sisse Schaldemose, Hands-on thinking: prototyping as a pathway to theoretical understanding
Rose Dumesny, Dorian Reunkrilerk, Prototyping-as-debate: exploring the situated nature of politics in design

Part 4. Developing the design process through prototyping

Yash Bohre, Purba Joshi, Rowan Page, Rethinking assistive technologies through hybrid manufacturing: a case study on designing for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
Peter Schumacher, Francois Fraysse, Brandon Matthews, Simon Modra, Dominic Thewlis, Geoff Langridge, Jack Beven, A virtual reality experiential prototyping tool for the application of anthropometry in complex, confined human environments
Aldo Sollazzo, Urban vision: AI-driven spatial analytics for walkability in Barcelona’s superblocks

Contributors

Serie: Design International - Open Access

Subjects: Architecture, Design, Art, Urban and Regional Studies