Elements of Physical Modelling
Purpose and audience determines the type of physical model that is made.
Purpose
What is the purpose of making the model?
- Who will be seeing this?
- To what end?
- What do I want to accomplish with them?
Audience
Who will be the model be shown to?
- Client
- (future) User
- Manufacturer
- Design team
Advantages of Physical Modelling
- Can be used to explore and test ideas.
- Easily understandable.
- Communication with clients.
- Communication with team members.
- Ability to manipulate ideas better than with drawings.
- Is tangible.
- Can be used in user trails and user research more readily.
Disadvantages of Physical Modelling
- Designers can easily make assumptions about how accurately a model represents reality.
- It may not work like the final product.
- Might not be made of the same material.
- Time consuming to make.
- Level of skill required.
- Can be costly (especially in the case of prototypes).
Fidelity
A combination of fidelity and user/environmental contexts allows for deeper understanding of the ideas that aid design development.
The fidelity of a model is very important for how it can and will be tested.
Low Fidelity
- Mostly a conceptual representation related to the idea.
- For example a paper prototype; it expresses the concept, but it does not or barely functions as intended.
- The user can provide input for further design development.
Middle Fidelity
- Middle fidelity models are a representation of the aspects of an idea.
- For example a partially working mock-up with limited functionality.
High Fidelity
- A high fidelity model is a mock-up of the idea, representing the final product as closely as possible.
- For example a full scale working prototype. They are tangible and testable, which allows full user interaction.
Fidelity and Context
- Restricted -> controlled environment -> low or middle fidelity
- General -> any user, any environment -> middle fidelity
- Partial -> final user or environment -> middle fidelity
- Total -> final user and environment -> high fidelity
Model Types
Scale Model
- A scale model is one that is a different scale from the actual product. A scale might be larger or smaller than the final product.
- For example, scale models are most often used in architecture, to gain insight and communicate ideas, without needing to build a full-sized building.
Aesthetic Model
- A model developed to look and feel like the final product.
- The appearance and feel are most important for aesthetic models, and thus they tend to forgo functionality.
Instrumented Models
- Prototypes that are equipped with the ability to take measurements to provide accurate quantitative feedback for analysis.
- For example a model could be instrumented by equipping it with sensors.
Mock-Ups
- A scale or full-size representation of a product used to gain feedback from users.
- Mock-ups are not functional.
Prototypes
- A sample or model built to test a concept or process, or to act as an object to be replicated or learned from.
- Prototypes can be developed at a range of fidelity and for different contexts.
- Prototypes tend to be very high fidelity models.