Published on <a href="https://blog.prototypr.io/prototyping-lesson-1-prepare-your-prototyping-mindset-fd275b4a2b7d?source=rss----eb297ea1161a---4">| Prototyping: From UX to Front End &mdash; Medium</a> Natalia Tsymbalenko 
Prototyping mindset frees you to experiment in front of your potential users and not to be ashamed of yourself
<img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*bR1f-NGmSsrZ2efFtIUwDA.jpeg">Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/Lnou48GrIWc?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText">Quino Al</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a>
If you are from Lean Startup world, you are familiar with this basic drill: Build-&gt;Test-&gt;Learn-&gt;Iterate.
Now, with the rapid and rough prototyping, this cycle can be shorter than the week, assuming you have your potential users — <a href="https://medium.com/lean-startup-circle/things-to-do-before-you-get-of-the-building-f7b50b349a2e">earlyevangelists</a>, so they can provide your a fast feedback.
Just a few days back, our design team had joined together a course <a href="https://app.novoed.com/prototyping-2017-3">+Acumen and OpenIDEO course Design kit: Prototyping</a>.
Before taking the course, my practical experience was limited to wireframes in Balsamiq for well defined digital solutions.
<ul>
<li>I feel intimated with paper prototyping and roughness of early prototypes. I most probably would have tendencies to focus too much on details. To combat that, I will limit myself to 1 hour of rapid paper prototyping. Watch the result in the Designing motherhood series.</li>
<li>I am scared to show these scrappy prototypes to REAL potential users. But in the reality, I know my earlyevangelists will be happy to provide their feedback to keep my team working on the solutions that would help new moms feel more supported.</li>
</ul>
I hope at the end of the course:
<ul>
<li>I will be better with rapid prototyping multiple diverse solutions to test problem-solution fit;</li>
<li>I will know how to setup, run the prototype test sessions, and, most importantly, how to interpret the results of the sessions.</li>
</ul>
This is the lesson #1 from the series inspired by the course and practical experience we are gaining from prototyping 2 selected ideas from <a href="https://medium.com/@natalia_tsymbal/should-you-do-brainstorm-session-2fafc495765">Ideation sessions</a>.
<h3>Lesson#1: Prepare your prototyping mindset</h3>
For fast speed prototyping, you need to embrace 4 principles:
<ol>
<li>Keep it simple and scrappy to start</li>
<li>Don’t get too attached to your idea</li>
<li>Go for quantity</li>
<li>Listen to your audience</li>
</ol>
Some of the interesting thoughts/ideas from the product prototype reading materials:
<ul>
<li>For digital product ideas, start with paper prototypes first to test with the users. This is completely out of my comfort zone, having spent a decade building software. And, I,definitely, will do it, watch my “Designing motherhood” series to spot my paper scrappy prototype there</li>
<li>Testing within the team is not the best choice to validate problem-solution fit, but better than nothing</li>
<li>Do you know that you can prototype environments? I wonder how that can be done if no space available.</li>
</ul>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*QsbPsKgZI0Nr9zSo5K1siw.png">
<ul>
<li>And completely, out of place, there is a problem with open defecation in urban Ghana and there are the designers who work on solutions</li>
</ul>
<h3>Optional homework</h3>
What was the last thing you made? How did that process of making and creating feel? What were some of the challenges you faced and how did you overcome them?
Just a few days back I was trying to come up with a new game for my 10 months old baby. I didn’t know whether she will like it but felt curious whether this game would work. One of the games had turned out to be a pure delight, and it was a quite simple game — we were just flapping hands and making noises 😉
Would love to get your responses in the comments!
Read next post where I will share how we are progressing with prototyping and testing solutions with earlyevangelists.
This is a post from series #productdesign where I practice product design and customer development.
Follow me to see product design journey from scratch.
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<a href="https://blog.prototypr.io/prototyping-lesson-1-prepare-your-prototyping-mindset-fd275b4a2b7d">Prototyping lesson #1 : Prepare your prototyping mindset</a> was originally published in <a href="https://blog.prototypr.io">prototypr</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Prototyping lesson #1 : Prepare your prototyping mindset

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