prototyping-concept-throwaway-evolutionary

The three prototype kinds

The book identifies three prototype kinds — concept, throwaway, evolutionary — each with characteristic uses, costs, and failure modes.

Concept prototypes

For exploring preliminary ideas. Quick, cheap, often disposable.

Use for: brainstorming sessions, early stakeholder alignment, exploring whether a direction is worth pursuing.

Examples: paper sketches, storyboards, mood boards, foam mockups, role-playing.

Failure mode: artificial reality problem. A skilled designer can make any concept look plausible; the prototype's polish doesn't predict actual workability.

Throwaway prototypes

For testing specific aspects of a design.

Use for: performance benchmarks, A/B tests, single-flow user studies, technical spikes.

Examples: standalone interactive demos, wind-tunnel models, isolated code experiments.

Failure mode: scaling and integration problem. A throwaway that works in isolation may fail when integrated or at scale.

Evolutionary prototypes

For incrementally building toward the final design.

Use for: MVPs that grow into products, iterative startup development, products with uncertain requirements.

Examples: software MVPs, agile sprint outputs, lean startup builds.

Failure mode: tunnel vision. Iterations refine the current direction; teams may miss fundamentally better directions.

Picking the right kind

| Situation | Prototype kind |

|---|---|

| Exploring ideas; "is this worth doing?" | Concept |

| Testing one specific question | Throwaway |

| Iterating toward a final product | Evolutionary |

| Stakeholder alignment | Concept |

| Performance benchmark | Throwaway |

| Scaling a startup | Evolutionary |

The kinds aren't mutually exclusive. A typical project uses concept prototypes early (to align), throwaway prototypes mid (to test specifics), and evolutionary prototypes late (to ship and refine).

Combining the kinds

A common pattern:

1. Concept prototypes to explore directions and align stakeholders.
2. Throwaway prototypes to test specific risks (performance, user flow, integration).
3. Evolutionary prototyping to build the actual product, informed by what concept and throwaway prototypes revealed.

Each kind catches different issues; using all three reduces the risk of any single failure mode.

Resources

• Lidwell, Holden, Butler — Universal Principles of Design (2003).
• Schrage, M. Serious Play (1999).
• Brooks, F. The Mythical Man-Month (1995).
• Boehm, B. "A Spiral Model of Software Development and Enhancement" (1986).