A Case Study in Design Iteration

The focus of this lesson is design iteration;

• doing it on purpose - as in “prototyping as experimentation”, and
• doing it when “surprises happen” - as in when the customer changes their minds, or the designer discovers an error in their own thought process.

Students are tasked to design, build and install a house number on an outdoor sign, to the satisfaction of the homeowner.

The instructor - role playing as the homeowner - controls the need for design iteration, by deciding they don’t like something about the student’s prototype. Since re-printing numbers takes hours and reprinting hole plugs takes only minutes, the lesson focuses design iteration on “perfecting” the look and fit of the hole plugs.