Design Like Apple: Seven Principles For Creating Insanely Great Products, Services, and Experiences

Design Out Loud

Protoype to perfection.

In 2009, Intel introduced an innovative product called Intel Reader¹, a mobile handheld device for people with reading-based disabilities, such as dyslexia or low vision, or for those who are blind. Simply put, Intel Reader coverts printed text into spoken word. I say innovative not because its component parts were particularly new, but because of how the Reader integrated three existing technologies—the digital camera, optical character recognition software, and a text-to-speech synthesizer—into a groundbreaking advance. Intel Reader provides someone with reading difficulty the ability to hear the contents of a textbook, a phone bill, or a menu. Snap a picture of any of these things and, voilà, Intel Reader tells you what they say.

My colleagues and I at LUNAR were part of the design team for Intel Reader, and a good part of what we did was to prototype. In fact, we prototyped like crazy. While prototyping is an integral part of any design effort, because there was no other product like this one on the market we relied on prototyping to quickly explore a wide range of design alternatives at every stage of development.

A prototype is the tangible embodiment of a future product that helps us get a glimpse of what it will be. Prototypes are the lifeblood of a rich design process, because they stimulate the senses and make concepts real so we ...