What is mental prototyping?

Oct 14

White boarding exercise — The average rate of speech is about 125 words per minute; the human brain can process about 800 words per minute. How fast can you design?

“Over my career, I’ve been asked a few times, “What is mental prototyping?””

It is seeing the user interface change over time as the user interacts with it in your head.

It’s psychology, visual design, interaction design, and engineering combined to place one’s self in the user’s mind before any implementation begins.

It’s mapping existing design system patterns to user journeys.

It’s seeing gestalt and atomic pieces all at the same time.

It’s knowing how users of assistive technology will interact with a user flow.

It’s advocating for folks with different abilities to business stakeholders.

Stephen James

Cross-functional alignment creator collaborating across engineering, design, compliance, and program management leadership on research-led and customer-focused projects. I have the privilege of leading accessibility and design system initiatives that enable organizations to craft a consistent experience that delivers compliance, customer value, and market impact.

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MENTAL PROTOTYPE