A CONCEPTUAL PROTOTYPING FRAMEWORK FOR INTEGRATING HUMAN FACTORS EARLY IN PRODUCT DESIGN

A knowledge-base that integrates human factor engineering (HFE) principles and prototyping best-practices for the design of human-centered products does not exist. This study fills this gap by proposing a prototyping framework to unify HFE principles and prototyping guidelines along with a prototyping toolbox. The framework is based on the House of Prototype Guidelines (HOPG), which introduces "Prototyping Categories and Dimensions" that are used for understanding the prototyping requirements and identifying the specifications that can be used to build a prototype. Additionally, a prototyping toolbox is introduced to classify tools and technologies to build the proposed prototype. The HOPG and prototyping toolbox are integrated via an MS Excel User-form, which proposes a systematic selection filter based on user input. The overall goal of this framework is to guide the prototyping activities in the right direction before the actual hands-on prototyping activity starts. Additionally, in this study, a cost-benefit analysis tool is proposed to calculate the value of the prototype by measuring the information gained and the resources spent. The cost-benefit analysis helps designers in narrowing down the prototyping options. A prototyping problem taken from the literature is used as a case study to demonstrate the usability and efficacy of the framework.