The prototype - evaluation choreography

Prototyping and the acquisition of knowledge through evaluation are essential elements of the design process. However, both prototyping and evaluation are mostly studied separately. Moreover, prototyping and evaluation both suffer from conceptual confusion caused by the coexistence of many different perspectives brought forward by different disciplines. Multidisciplinarity is needed for innovative breakthroughs, but appears to be challenging. The goal of this paper is to offer a roadmap of possibilities to overcome these challenges and to build bridges between different perspectives in such a way that prototyping and evaluation can be structured, positioned, planned and executed coherently instead of separately. In this roadmap, the possible directions for the WHY, WHEN, WHAT, HOW and WHOM of both prototyping and evaluation are presented. The roadmap functions as a canvas, in which horizontal and vertical alignment of the different elements is crucial. Both a prototyping and an evaluation strategy must be carefully planned and aligned with each other. The presented roadmap assists in that process in such a way that multiple perspectives can strengthen each other. Only when choices about the WHY, WHEN, WHAT, HOW and WHOM of both prototyping and evaluation are made explicit, they can be discussed, communicated and learned from. In the end, prototyping and evaluation are like two dance partners that dance best if they harmoniously dance together. The choreographer designs and plans the dancing steps of the two dancing partners in such a way that a harmonious, elegant and inspiring dance is the result. The presented prototype-evaluation choreography in this paper helps the designer to be the choreographer of the prototyping and evaluation part of the design process.