I’ve long been interested by the moment an idea becomes something you can see, touch, or experience. It’s like watching the invisible take shape. In innovation and business development, that transformative moment comes through prototyping. It’s messy. It’s playful. It can also be full of surprises. And it’s absolutely essential.
When I think about what makes prototyping so powerful, especially in the context of service design or business development, it comes down to this: prototyping is the bridge between dreaming and doing. It gives form to our ideas, making them real enough to explore, test, and improve. Without it, we risk getting stuck in theory, spinning beautiful ideas that never get off the ground in the real world.
The power of making things tangible
When I teach about these things, I emphasize hands-on learning. There’s something so connecting about making, building, crafting and about getting out of your head and into your hands. Prototyping is the invitation to do just that.
Whether you’re building a physical object, sketching a user journey, role-playing a service encounter, or creating digital interfaces with hotspots, you’re testing how your idea stands up outside your imagination. And what’s amazing is how often that first version surprises you. What seemed clear in your mind might fall flat in reality. It shows you just how much you must really think about what you are creating. And that’s a good thing! You’re learning. And once you have done that and you are showing it to people, you are getting feedback, and you are moving forward.
Start before you think you are ready
One of the best things about prototyping is that it doesn’t require perfection. In fact, the earlier you start, the better. I often tell students to start before they are ready. Don’t wait until you have polished every detail. Grab some paper, some string, a few LEGO bricks, and a friend who’s willing to role-play. Just start. Because until you try it out, you don’t really know what works and what doesn’t.
And here is the surprising thing, people are far more willing to give you honest feedback on a rough prototype than on something that feels ‘finished’. When it’s a rough draft, it’s clearly a work in progress. You’re inviting collaboration. You’re saying to them ‘help me make this better’. That collaborative rapport you create with the user is powerful and it leads to better outcomes.
Prototyping in service design
In service design, we deal with systems, relationships, emotions, and interactions. These can be difficult to grasp. How do you prototype a conversation? A waiting room experience? A sense of trust?
The answer: you act it out. You use storytelling. You build a space with cardboard and chairs. You simulate the environment. You create just enough of a ‘real’ experience that you can observe, tweak, and improve.
I’ve seen this approach transform understanding in students and workshops. This happened when I was running a service design course with nursing students. Suddenly, a group of nursing students saw what a redesigned patient letter for elderly patients might feel like, not just on paper, but in action. They feel the emotional tone. They notice the confusion at certain steps. They see how a small change in tone or a different word can make a big difference.
A learning experience for everyone
Fast prototyping is also a good equalizer. You don’t need to be an expert designer to build a prototype. You just need curiosity and a willingness to try. In my work with students across disciplines, prototyping gets them discussing, experimenting, learning, and even laughing as they try to build the intangible into something tangible. This is great.
It is great because It’s not about getting it ‘right’ the first time. It’s about creating a space where it’s okay to fail, reflect, and iterate. It is about having a mindset that allows you to confidently be playful, be resilient, and also be growth oriented. It is exactly what we need more of in education and leadership development.
For me, the reasons listed above are why I’ve explored experiential formats like jams and challenges. They give people permission to test ideas fast, to think with their hands, and to learn by doing. The jam environment, for example, encourages participants to move quickly from concept to prototype, often within hours. It’s intense, but also incredibly productive and energizing. It also helps, quite paradoxically, take off the pressure of perfection.
What a facilitator or a jury of an event like that is expecting is nowhere near what is expected by the same people who are coming back to a team after 6 months of work. These events prove to them that they can have a fairly rounded out concept in just a couple of days if they work on it in a methodical way that involves rounds of feedback and iteration.
From idea to impact
Ultimately, prototyping is about creating connections. An idea, no matter how brilliant, is just potential until it’s brought to life. Through prototyping, we start to see what that idea could become, how it could really address a pain point (or not). We notice who it helps. We uncover hidden flaws. We spark new insights. And we do it faster and more effectively than by thinking or talking alone. If you never prototype your idea, then you are in love with its potential, not with its reality.
Whether you’re designing a new service, launching a creative project, or re-working a new process, consider how you might start to bring prototyping into your process. There is no point waiting for the perfect plan, you need to build something. Try it out with other people. See what happens.
The truth is, the only way to know if your idea works is to bring it to life through prototyping and allow others to interact with it. Actually see the impact your prototype has with those who will use it in the future. Prototypes take you from ideas to impact.
Author
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Pamela Spokes
Specialist, TurbiiniPamela Spokes BA, MA, MBA, AmO. Educator in Service Design and Entrepreneurship with the Turbiini Pre-Incubator Programme in English.
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