Prototyping in smart product design: Investigating prototyping tools to support communication in the early stage smart product development

Smart product design (SPD) is more complex than traditional product design (TPD), requiring intense interdisciplinary collaboration. It is well understood that prototypes are an effective means to facilitate communicating design concepts. However, there is limited research concerning prototyping preferences of design disciplines involved in SPD. The research explores the use of prototyping in smart product development. Specifically, it aims to understand the preferences and dimensions of fidelity of different prototyping tools that can support communication in the SPD process for various stakeholders. This paper presents two surveys. The first investigates the use of prototyping tools by different disciplines involved in SPD versus TPD. The second compares elements of key prototyping tools used across disciplines within SPD. Results show that the interactivity and environment dimensions of fidelity of prototyping tools motivate differences in preference between SPD and TPD. Moreover, user depiction and contextual information are key elements of prototyping that support designers in communicating interactive and environmental qualities of SPD concepts.