Service Prototyping: Testing Design Concepts & Solutions

Posted on Apr 2, 2025 in Software Engineering

Topic 6: Prototyping

The objective of prototyping is to test the design concept, the service design, and their underlying new proposed ideas and solutions to approve or reject them. If they are approved, the process goes ahead. If they are not approved, then they should be amended, improved, and fine-tuned depending on the results of the prototype testing. Their ideas should be revised, etc.

What is Service Prototyping? Prototyping Goals

It is a lightweight simulation or sample version of the actual service design where the crucial parts of the service and the user experience are going to be temporarily built and tested.

Prototyping helps designers to:

  • Replicate our personas by selecting a sample of them. Real personas will test our prototypes.
  • Replicate the processes and outcomes of the service.
  • Replicate the user experience and really involve him/her in those experiences.
  • Simulate and test all interactions between consumers and all the service components.
  • Replicate service situations and different scenarios of events that could happen and their consequences on our users.
  • Simulate physical components of the service.
  • Simulate the consumer journey and the service touchpoints.

The Prototyping Strategy

  • Time and budget: the available time and budget for building the prototype.
  • The size of the sample of users that will test the different prototypes.
  • Scope of the prototype: prototypes can be developed for a single subsystem/process of the service, for a set of subsystems/processes, or for the entire service.
Types of prototypes to be developed and used:
  • Physical (e.g., cardboard prototyping)
  • Virtual (e.g., computer simulations, CAD model, and/or engineering analysis)
  • Fidelity of the prototype. It refers to how close a prototype is to the final product (e.g., low-fidelity prototype: a sketched prototype)
  • Prototype manufacturing: it can be outsourced, rapid prototyped, or completed in-house.
  • Prototype scale: physical prototypes can be either full size or dimensionally scaled.
  • Prototype functionalities: it can be fully functional or be created to exhibit only partial functionality that contains only a few design requirements at a time.
  • Prototypes can use similar or different service components and materials than the final design.

Service Prototyping Methods

  1. The Servicescape Simulation

    We simulate the physical and built environment in which a service process takes place.

  2. Prototyping the Service Stage: Role-Playing and Experiencing the Simulation

    Prototyping the service stage involves creating a simulated environment where individuals can role-play and experience different aspects of the service delivery process. This prototyping phase is crucial for testing and refining various elements of the service before its full implementation.

  3. Virtual Prototypes

    There are different software-based engineering disciplines which involve modeling a system/service, its users, and its different components, simulating and visualizing its behavior under real-world operating conditions, and refining its design through an iterative process.

    It uses: Digital floor plans, layout plans, User flow simulation diagrams, Computer graphics (CAD, etc.)

  4. 3D Designer Interior

    A 3D interior designer is a professional who specializes in creating visual representations of interior spaces using computer software to generate three-dimensional models and renderings.

  5. Paper Prototyping

    Paper prototyping is a low-fidelity prototyping technique used in the early stages of the design process to explore and iterate on ideas quickly and inexpensively. Rather than creating digital or physical prototypes, designers use paper and other simple materials to sketch out interfaces, layouts, and interactions.

  6. Virtual Wireframes, Mock-ups, and Prototypes
    1. Wireframes

      The skeleton of our design. For designing user interface (UI) and user experience (UX). Focused on space allocation and prioritization of content, functionalities available, and intended user behaviors.

    2. Mock-ups

      Medium-fidelity visual representation of our design. Building on the placement of objects outlined by the wireframing stage, mockups incorporate fonts, logos, typography, navigation graphics, color, images, and text. Not interactive.

    3. Prototypes

      High-fidelity representation of our design. Building on the wireframes, closely simulate the final experience with clickable links and other interactive elements. Interactive.