Service designers will always prefer to create a prototype ✏️ instead of having a long conversation, both with their clients and with the users of a service.

A prototype is a jargon word used to indicate the rough first draft that is just good enough for people to understand the idea.

But why do service designers do that? Prototyping takes a bit more time than just talking, right? Yep. But the problem with just talking and explaining stuff is that you never really know if people have the same image as you 🧠 do in their head. And usually, they don’t.

How many times did it happen that you explained your great new idea to someone and after listening to you, they loved it. But once they saw it live, they didn't like it. This is normal.

When we explain an idea with words, the listener creates a wonderful image in their head of this idea 💭. An image that works perfectly for them. It’s like a dream. But when they see the reality of your idea, they notice that you didn’t really share the same dream.

So, the best way to ensure that you are talking about the same stuff is basically to show it 👁. Or at least show a shitty first version of it. And that’s what a prototype is for.

Obviously, the art of prototyping is the one of spending the least time possible building the prototype ✅. You just want to spend the right amount of time to build something that allows people to understand what your idea is all about so that you can understand what they like and don’t like about it.

This article is part of my free course "What is the Service Designer mindset?" which helps you to finally understand how service designers think and what makes them such a special group of innovators.