6 Reasons Why You Must Deploy Software Prototyping

“Have no fear of perfection – you’ll never reach it.” – Salvador Dali

Well, that shouldn’t stop us. In the tech world, digital prototyping certainly aids us in developing highly responsive technology solutions to perfection.

Digital software prototyping is more than just an average 3D model of your product. It mimics operation, functionality and allows testing of the final product before physically constructing it. By building a working simulation of the actual application, designers can effectively visualise, optimise and iterate the product digitally, saving time and money.

What’s more, this technology is constantly evolving. Take Vention’s 3D Machine Builder for instance. Connected with cloud technology, the 3D Machine Builder allows users to develop bespoke industrial equipment, leading users through a process of configuring different components and designing the machine of their choice.

Or consider Jaguar Land Rover’s 2020 goal. JLR is working towards engineering new models solely based on computer simulation, focusing mainly on crash-testing, aerodynamics, fuel economy and driver-less technology.

Digital prototyping is clearly here to stay. Let’s scrutinise its benefits in greater detail.

1. Getting Started Right Away

Procrastination can badly affect businesses, especially in complex work environments where one has to meet tight deadlines. Digital prototyping enables quick action and quality decision making.

Designers can start immediately, choosing from a number of prototyping tools available, making changes and incorporating new requirements and ideas with ease.

2. Define and Refine the Idea

Digital prototyping enables users to continuously amend an agile model to reach the intended product design. It allows changes and refinements in quick succession, throughout the process.

Using this methodology, designers can plan, optimise, validate, and visualise products beforehand without physically developing the actual product. This allows early identification and correction of faults in the product design.

This technology also allows testing the model for robust qualities by subjecting it to load conditions, as a means to assess the product’s behaviour and interaction.

3. Save Money

Cost savings is one of the main driving forces behind incorporating digital software prototyping. Prototyping helps in minimalising actual production time, thereby shortening the development cycle. It enables concurrent crafting among team members too, reducing the resources and labour required.

Prior to digital prototyping, software engineers had to reach the end of the development phase before testing their designs. A single glitch could in extremis lead to the entire cycle being repeated incurring exaggerated and unnecessary costs. Today, design engineers can deploy digital software prototyping skills and recreate functional models, without incurring significant additional expenditure.

Take a look at a working prototype developed by Rezaid.

How to Navigate: Go to Homepage > Click Stands > Click Build me a stand

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4. Enable Concurrent Testing and Feedback

Software prototyping eliminates losses from potential mistakes made later in the development process. It helps detect issues and faults that may otherwise have gone unnoticed. Prototype development, problem identification, correction of the problem and the inherent learning associated with this process is a valuable – often undervalued – step in the creativity cycle.

Furthermore, it is much easier to test the usability and utility of the prototype before the end-product is developed. For instance, prototypes can be used to show clients how the final product will look and perform. Clients can work with multiple prototypes and select the most suitable one.

The quicker the development life cycle, the sooner the product is handed to the customer. Digital prototyping enables customer feedback to be brought into the decision-making loop sooner and more easily.

5. Create Efficient Models

Modern software prototyping tools have the ability to generate precision models.

A digital prototype can be altered an infinite number of times, and multiple versions of it can be stored and tested. It is essential to go through the Build-Measure-Learn loop as many times as possible during development to ensure accuracy of the model.

6. Collaborate and Communicate With xDesign

Digital software prototyping enables integration of the whole team’s ideas – from content creators to designers, not forgetting the client too! Digital prototyping condenses the software development life cycle and restricts the number of unnecessary consultations and meetings. Moreover, modifications can be made in real-time.

Modern manufacturing techniques demand the whole team work on the same data simultaneously. This vital requirement can be fulfilled using xDesign, an excellent digital software prototyping package. xDesign integrates user-friendly software with an authentic approach to design and cloud collaborate from inside your browser. It allows users to understand the workflow progress by making collaborative tasks, allotting them, and linking them to interdependent parts of the project while monitoring the performance progress.

Rezaid uses xDesign to prototype apps and develop engaging, high quality designs.

Eternal Optimism

The software industry has come a long way – from the old days of developing the final software and then testing its performance, to making digital prototypes of the complete end-to-end product before actual development begins. Digital prototyping is a vital element in software development.

Although relatively new, digital prototyping is well on its way to becoming mainstream. It offers a friendly User Experience (UX), rapid user testing and remodeling.

In short, prototyping is revolutionising technology development and enabling instinctive user experience.