How To Prototype A Product
Monique Freeman

How To Prototype A Product

Inspiration can come from strange places and at any time. In the middle of the night, in the shower, going for a run – you name it an idea can pop out of anywhere. We all know that some ideas can be fleeting, but some ideas stick. Like a little seedling, how do you nurture an idea to allow it to grow?

The idea of letting in some sunlight to allow your idea seedling to grow is great but exactly what should you do to allow your idea to sprout?

Let’s create an idea to help us understand the process. How about a Coffee Travel Mug with an inbuilt heater?  Let’s say it has an LED screen that allows the user to set the temperature that the coffee will stay at. Alright now we are talking!

Mary has had a rough night sleeping, as she has come up with this idea in the middle of the night. Sweating, anxious and full of adrenaline she opens her laptop and types in her idea into google. Hmmm, there currently isn’t many products like her idea on the market. Excited that her product could possibly be unique, she wonders about how to actually create the product.

Getting through the planning stage

Mary completes a SWOT analysis and business plan on her idea. She researches the marketplace, has identified users and checked out competition. She understands the marketing side of it but she still has a burning question to answer. How the hell is she going to make this product?

What is Prototyping?

Fundamentally, a prototype is building the thing that is in your head! It encapsulates design and creation of a physical object. It is transforming a virtual, conceptualized design or idea to a real physical form that you can touch. Prototyping can be in the form of many different iterations and versions until you reach the desired goal – either decided by you as the creator or your customers.

Mary is ready to create a prototype. She wants to build a real life heated coffee travel mug! Let’s find out about Mary. She is educated and she has little to no money. What now? Let’s begin.

How do I make a Prototype of my idea?

Mary has sketched her idea on a notepad. She thinks about all the people she knows and remembers that her friend’s father is an engineer. She decides to have a chat with him about it. It turns out he thinks her idea is possible and gives her some pointers

  1. Needs to have a heating element (to keep the coffee warm)
  2. Needs to have a power source – in the form of batteries as her idea is to keep the travel mug portable

Diagram of a Heating Element
An idea of how the heating element could work

Thrilled, Mary writes down her findings into her notepad. Later that night when she is at home, Mary starts looking for somebody to help her design the product. She fires off a few emails to design firms but she is worried because her finances aren’t in great shape. After all, she is young with an idea. Frustrated she keeps looking. She finds a world where freelance websites exist. She decides to post her project to see if there is anybody that can assist. Turns out there are heaps of engineers and people who can draw designs in computer programs! Mary goes down the rabbit hole and chooses a person to assist her with drawing up her design. One month later, Mary has the drawings she needs and far more knowledge about how to get her first prototype.

Design of an Invention
A freelancer helped Mary come up with a design.

Mary has visited electronic stores, talked to electricians, youtubed how to solder and she knows all about 3D printing. She chooses a local 3D printer and talks to them about what she wants to achieve. She gives them the design drawn on computer software and the 3D printer creates her design for the first time! Ecstatic, she now has a physical thing that resembles her idea!

Rendering of an Invention
Another freelancer came up with a rendering.

This is Mary’s first prototype. She spends the next month connecting up a heating element and battery supply with the help of her friend’s dad. The first couple of times, the heater element wasn’t strong enough but now version five of her prototype looks promising. Mary is tracking her progress and updating her business plan. She wants to be able to effectively communicate with the travel mug manufacturer when it comes time. Her fifth prototype works, but begins to melt the plastic that the 3D printers used. Damn!

3D Printed Prototype
3D printer version so Mary could experiment with the heating element.

Time to talk to a Manufacturer.

Mary gets a sixth version printed. While it is not a working prototype, she has hooked up the heating element and everything is in place. She nervously makes the phone call to a number of different travel mug manufacturers. Not everybody wants to see her and she gets rejected from all but two.

The Meeting

The day of the two big meetings. Mary arrives early at the first manufacturer. The first manufacturer is a very old business that has a large market share. The meeting does not go well as Mary fumbles through her business plan and product showcase. The manufacturer understands what Mary wants to achieve and asks her questions and gives her advice.

  1. Who will do the electronic wiring?
  2. It will cost money to create a pattern (mould) for her new travel mug design.
  3. You need to place a minimum order quantity of 1,000 travel mugs
  4. Will the manufacturer handle the packaging of the travel mugs?

Mary is learning as she goes and politely thanks the business for their time. Her fear and anxiety is at an all time high. What if my product fails? Mary thinks to herself as she pushes through the exit door.

She prepares for her second meeting and decides that she will do the electronic wiring. After all, she has learnt how to solder and have people that help her with the electrical components. Mary also decides that she will handle the packaging of the travel mugs. She wants to keep in control of how the travel mugs are packed and wants to put an extra special thank you note with each mug.

Mary attends her second meeting slightly apathetic, not expecting much and not feeling the best. The second company is newer, having installed the latest technology to create mugs. She is greeted by the owner of the business who is an older gentleman and his son. Together the meeting takes shape and Mary begins to feel energised. She tells the father and son about her journey, after all she has nothing to lose - she is a real person who has a dream.

Mary is upfront about not having a lot of money and that she cannot afford a minimum order quantity of 1,000. The father and son listening carefully, tell her that her idea is great and that her prototype is very impressive. They agree to start with a minimum order quantity of 500 which will be difficult for Mary to afford but not impossible. Mary explains that she will be putting together the electrical componentry and packaging to reduce the cost.

Final Prototype
The final design that the final prototype was based off.

Preparing for Hard work.

The phone rings and it’s the company with the first finished prototype from the newly created pattern (mould). Mary rushes down full of excitement. When she gets there, she cannot believe her eyes! The final version!

She rushes home and assembles the heating element and battery. She makes a coffee and pours it into her travel mug. She turns on the switch. The moment of truth. She waits 4 minutes and takes a sip. The electronic temperature gauge reads exactly the temperature she wanted. Her product works!

From here, Mary spends many late nights assembling her travel mugs, writing personalised thank you notes and wrapping each mug perfectly. She has a social media following which is growing exponentially. She has recouped her initial investment and now has plans to grow.

Keep This In Mind When Prototyping A Product

  1. Expect false starts
  2. Be upfront with what you are trying to achieve
  3. Be passionate
  4. Find passionate people
  5. Take a calculated risk – financial, trust
  6. There will be somebody out there that can assist you
  7. Don’t expend your creative energy on people that aren’t interested
  8. It’s OK to be wrong
  9. Keep thinking through a problem
  10. Enlist the help of others
  11. Test, test and test again!
  12. Consider seeking legal advice to protect your idea
  13. When talking to manufacturers, push them for a better deal!
  14. Be prepared to commit to sweat equity (late nights packing boxes)
  15. There is no such thing as a failure, only learning.