TESTING AND EVALUATING A PROTOTYPE

Testing a prototype / developed design is a very important part of the design and manufacturing process. Testing
and evaluation, simply confirms that the product will work as it is supposed to, or if it needs refinement.
In general, testing a prototype allows the designer and client to assess the viability of a design. Will it be successful
as a commercial product? Testing also helps identify potential faults, which in turn allows the designer to make
improvements.
There are many reasons why testing and evaluation takes place. Some reasons are described below.
Testing and evaluation, allows the client / customer to view the prototype and to give his/her views. Changes and
improvements are agreed and further work carried out.
A focus group can try out the prototype and give their views and opinions. Faults and problems are often identified
at this stage. Suggestions for improvement are often made at this stage.

Safety issues are sometimes identified, by thorough testing and evaluation. The prototype can be tested to
appropriate Standards.
The prototype can be tested against any relevant regulations and legislation. Adjustments / improvements to the
design can then be made.

Evaluating a prototype allows the production costs to be assessed and finalised. Every stage of manufacturing can
be scrutinised for potential costs. If the client has set financial limits / restrictions, then alterations to the design or
manufacturing processes, may have to be made. This may lead to alternative and cheaper manufacturing
processes being selected, for future production.

Component failure is often identified during the testing process. This may mean a component is redesign and not
the entire product. Sometimes a component or part of a product, will be tested separately and not the whole
product. This allows more specific tests to be carried out.

Evaluating the manufacture of the prototype, allows the designer to plan an efficient and cost effective
manufacturing production line.

Prototype testing can be carried out alongside the testing of similar designs or even the products of competitors.
This may lead to improvements.

Testing ensures that any user instructions can be worked out, stage by stage, so that the future consumer can use
the product efficiently and safely. This guarantees customer satisfaction.

Testing a prototype allows ‘concept’ designs to be evaluated fully. This is sometimes called ‘proof of concept’. This
usually happens during the early development of a product.

Testing against the design specification, helps ensure a full and relevant evaluation of a prototype is carried out.
This should be carried out during the entire development process.
The testing and evaluation phrase, allows fellow designers, knowledgeable in the specialist area, to offer opinions
and suggest critical improvements. This may lead to a more successful design.

What you need to do now.

Test your prototype against your design specification (there will be obvious points that cannot be assessed, for
example, if you have indicated a product be made from durable materials then this specification point cannot be
addressed. Please enter N/A for this point.
 Testing design against the specifications
Design
Does your design meet the specifications?
Specification Yes No Justification

The board game
should be painted in
pastel colours neither
to bright nor to dark.
At the end I created my board game out of my last design. In
the end I kind of changed slightly my background. I made it
into a Demogorgon (stranger things monster), which is
mostly made out of dark colours, such us red, grey, black and
white.

I want my board It is based on the theme Nature as I used the colours of the
game’s theme to be rainbow for the pathway so it has a link to it. Not only had I
about “Nature”. linked to the theme nature but as well stranger things which is
related to nature.

I want the board game The game has a smooth sides although it is true that the sides
itself to be smooth of the game aren’t the smoothest as we made it from
cardboard and you can’t sand paper it.

I would like that some For my board game I have some things that pop up, such us
things to be 3D. my wheel made out of cardboard and my ¨pocket¨ for the
playing pieces.

I want it to be light. The board game is light and easy to carry around.

It should be made from As we made this prototype at home I basically created my

recycling materials. board game of recycling materials, the only thing I bought
was white paint I run out of.

Be safe to use. Yes it is pretty safe to use, however it is true that the sides of
my game are a bit rough.

Product testing, also called consumer testing or comparative testing, is a process of measuring the

properties or performance of products. ... Often an existing formal test method is used as a basis
for testing. Other times engineers develop methods of test which are suited to the specific purpose.
 Design detailed and relevant testing methods that generate data to measure the success of the
solution.
Collecting data
Both types of data collected through testing are considered primary sources of data.
Qualitative data deals with quality and is data gathered as descriptions. This data tends to be subjective
and can be converted to a numerical value, eg “I like the overall shape of the solution, it fits my hand
well, I would give it a 9 out of 10 for comfort” or “The layout of the webpage looks intuitive, it looks easy
to navigate and the use of negative space makes it clear. I would rate the clarity of the page as 8 out of
10.”
Tests that can be used to obtain qualitative data include:
 using a questionnaire to find out if the target audience likes the look of a product
 surveying students to find out which parts of a video game they found too easy and which were
too difficult 
 interviewing an expert after he or she has interacted with a solution
 performing a user trial by giving a toy to children to play with and observing reactions.
Quantitative data deals with quantity and is gathered as definite values, typically a numerical value. This
data is objective and can be measured, eg “All information in the database has to be a maximum of 3
clicks away” or “The overall cost of the materials can be no more than €45.”
Tests that can be used to obtain quantitative data include:
 timing users who are tasked with finding a particular piece of information on a website
 beta-testing interactive media to find bugs measuring a product to ensure it is the correct size
and within weight limits
 running performance tests to determine the strength of a product
 checking the capacity of a storage device
 counting the number of hits on a website over a set period of time.

You now need to devise at least two methods of testing a product that will provide objective results that can be
presented graphically. (You could use any of your specification points to devise testing methods).
The testing methods will be as if you had made your product, even if we cannot actually use them to generate
results.
Explain weaknesses and limitations of the solution based on the analysis of data
Lastly, you will need to write a reflection on the unit taking into account the difficulties faced during distance
learning.
DISTANCE –LEARNING---how you found it

In conclusion I am really fortunate, for this design to be my final idea. In my point of view it
turned out better than expected, no doubt that I changed the idea slightly as it would have been
harder to make. The background of the game was changed because it was harder to make, as I
was too imaginative with my creativity, however I still had my Stranger things and nature
theme combined. This E learning didn’t really affected me, as I found resources at home that
extremely helped me through the days; such as the cardboard piece I found; paint and brushes;
I only went once shopping for white paint because I was running out of it. This board game has
met the expectations on making it out of recycling materials as I used the materials that were
already at my house. However, there are somethings I need to improve in next time; as I could
have created a pocket that would come in and out of the board, and could have made it cooler;
as well the paper cut out could have been more created; last but not least, I could have made
the wheel more creative. Referring it back to the testing against the specification, I have added
most of the specifications to my board game. One of the things I forgot to mention is that, as
this pandemic started I couldn’t make my board game sides not rough, but I tried my best to
make it safe. Probably one of the most necessary part to make the board game better would be
by making a ¨pocket¨ to secure and make it safer to use. For my two methods of testing a
product, I created a survey with questions on my board game and share it with friends and
families, and I will improve based on the responses.

This is my survey:

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?
id=DQSIkWdsW0yxEjajBLZtrQAAAAAAAAAAAAO__d3UzkFUNTRIVk9MMk1TMURPTTZPMT
IwQk9CQ1NPVi4u

This are the results:

What do you think What could I What part do you

about my board improve next time? What do you like dislike about my
game? (Que (En que puedo about my game? game? (Que
piensas de mi improvisar la (Que te gusta de mi cambiarias del
ID juego?) siguiente vez? juego?) juego?)
Everything! I love
1 Amazing I don’t know the theme Nothing
2 Amazing Nothing Everything Nothing
The creativity and
the inspiration
Colour in the from stranger Bland
3 Amazing background things background
Nothing it’s Colourful,
4 Amazing perfect creative Nothing
The instructions
5 Good need to be clear The design Nothing
 Maybe you can
improve by There is nothing
adding more All the colour and that I don’t like.
colour in the the idea of the It’s a really nice
6 Amazing background board game board game.
Maybe the
Not a lot, I like material that the
the colours and spinner is made
7 Amazing design I like the design of
8 Amazing The pocket Everything Idk