The art of prototyping
Issue 265: The enduring skill that neutralizes noise
Sir Ridley Scott once described the art of storyboarding as the first look at a film. Similarly, a prototype is a first, typical, or preliminary model of something made. When people discuss prototypes, they often frame them as a rough draft or a “first version.” Prototyping is a culture and art form; a way to collapse an idea into something tangible enough that you and others can react to it. Prototypers can immediately shut up performative talkers by proving through their actions.
The best prototypes don’t just validate feasibility; they change the conversation about what should exist in the first place. The trick is remembering that a prototype isn’t a miniature version of the final product. It’s a tool to answer a question. That’s why some of the best prototypes are disposable—they live just long enough to teach you something and then get thrown away.
In 1997, Stephanie Houde and Charles Hill wrote a paper called, What do Prototypes Prototype? Their framework remains one of the clearest ways to think about the practice. A common mistake in making prototypes is having an unclear intention of what questions the prototype is meant to answer. As a result, several prototypes are solution-oriented with a nice-looking demo but no clear learning objective. Houde and Hill break the prototype framework into three categories:
Role: What is this product’s purpose in someone’s life? For example, does this wearable make you feel more connected to your health, or does it become just another notification source?
Look and feel: What does it feel like to use? This is about texture, motion, pacing, and emotion—the subjective qualities that don’t show up on a spec sheet.
Implementation: How would it actually be built? This is where you test whether your stack, APIs, or infrastructure can support the concept.
What makes this framework powerful is that you don’t have to prototype everything at once. You pick one lens, focus on it, and let the prototype do its job.
Getting started
I will give you the most honest answer: there is no ideal prototyping tool. It’s not one you pick and pay a monthly subscription to. The reason is that prototypes for Role, Look and Feel, and Implementation all rely on different toolchains. As they say in the 60 Second Prototyping talk at WWDC, “Subvert your tools.” Here are a few quick tips to get you started.
Start with familiarity: The best way to get started building prototypes is to use the tools you know already. Whether you’re comfortable wiring up noodles in Figma or writing loops in code, pick the tool that allows you to make without the friction of learning something new.
Add technical depth in layers: Once you’re comfortable, bring in APIs, databases, or automation. These stretch your capabilities and open doors to higher-fidelity questions.
Go end-to-end: It’s better to stitch something together in a “toy” environment than to get stuck halfway in production code. Completeness is more important than fidelity in the first iteration.
The best prototypers favor momentum over perfection. Over multiple iterations, it leads to perfection. The ability to keep the loop of idea → build → learn → adjust, moving which leads to perfection.
Lessons from prototyping
The value of prototyping is less about the artifact made than the lessons learned from showing it to customers and stakeholders. Prototype artifacts must be charged by output, method, and insights. As you build your own prototyping ability, you learn key skills along the way:
Human workflows and behaviors: Making prototypes forces you to go through the entire lifecycle journey of a customer to understand the value and pain points. It’s not being empathetic but simulating the experience in real life.
Understanding the touchpoints and toolchain: Even a basic prototype forces you to bridge gaps between tools, platforms, or departments. You discover where the seams are and whether they matter.
Learning the technical stack: Building end-to-end, even in a simplified form, makes you see the whole picture. You’re not just thinking about the UI—you’re touching APIs, data models, and distribution. This holistic perspective is rare and powerful.
Detach from personal ideas: It’s important not to be too attached to the prototype you create. Most will get thrown away. The value of the prototype is not the artifact itself but the lesson and insights.
Quantity leads to quality: Before successfully creating the first Dyson Dual Cyclone vacuum cleaner, he reportedly made 5,127 prototypes over the course of about five years.
In practice, you often learn that the problem isn’t at the surface layer. A Look and Feel prototype may fail because of an Implementation challenge, not the UI. A system idea may succeed because of a tiny moment of delight. Prototypes reveal these truths faster than any slide deck.
“We have a strategic plan. It’s called doing things.” —Herb Kelleher
The importance of prototyping
Prototyping biases towards action and feasibility over UX Theater. The act of making and putting things together will naturally expose the opportunity areas to improve. It collapses the distance between idea and impact. If you can make something tangible, you change the conversation: people stop arguing in the abstract and start reacting to the real.
In a business context, this is gold. A good prototype can align executives faster than a strategy deck, unlock resources, or show customers a future they didn’t know they wanted. Teams that build prototypes consistently are not just faster—they’re more aligned, because they’re always working from a shared artifact.
The art of prototyping is the art of learning. And in an environment where time, attention, and capital are scarce, the people who learn fastest win. It’s true what they say, a prototype is worth a thousand meetings.
Hyperlinks + notes
- → A must-read and a reminder that some of your most talented people will just quit because they are tired of the performative nature of work. They won’t fill out the bi-annual pulse survey because they don’t think it’ll matter. Check on the quiet ones.
How we’ll know if we’re in an AI bubble (history’s 5 warning signs) | Exponential View
Agent + Human Ops: How AI is Changing Roles and Workflows at Brex | First Round
I love how you articulated the benefits of prototyping so succinctly. The upside of prototyping is immense, provided you ensure your prototypes are grounded in solid research questions that tie back to a problem that's in service of a business goal.