Prototyping Toolkits
= Why not give customers their own set of tools and ask them to design the product they would prefer to buy?
Description
"Prototyping toolkits differ from traditional market research in that rather than asking individual users what they want, toolkits allow users to design the product they would prefer.
the potential rewards of toolkit-based, user led design could outweigh the high cost of developing products that no one wants to by. Toolkits enable a company to collect a direct physical manifestation of what their customers want." (http://web.mae.cornell.edu/lipson/FactoryAtHome.pdf)
Characteristics
Hod Lipson & Melba Kurman:
"An effective toolkit
- Helps customers run experiments through computer simulations and rapid prototyping
- Uses design language that consumers are already familiar with
- Contains standard design components and modules so customers can create complex and interesting design rapidly and are freed of time-consuming set up and troubleshooting procedures
- Contains detailed information about the company’s internal production processes so users can create designs that are realistically producible."
(http://web.mae.cornell.edu/lipson/FactoryAtHome.pdf)
Example
- The semiconductor industry has been giving its customers do-it-yourself kits for
years so customers can design their own custom chips.
- The software industry has
also been a long-time beneficiary of volunteer communities of beta testers of soon-to-be launched products.