Design Nomenclature / Physical Model Making
Prototype
Also called functional prototype, engineering prototype, proto
Strictly, the first article made to test whether a design works. The word has been diluted until it means any model at all, including renders and slide decks. Insist on the qualifier: a functional prototype proves mechanism, an appearance prototype proves nothing about mechanism, and a production prototype proves the tooling.
In practice
In most rooms "prototype" now means "the model we showed the client." When money depends on the answer, ask what it is meant to prove and what it cannot.
Not to be confused with
- MockupA stand-in built to answer one question — does it fit, does it read, is it the right size — with no obligation to work or to be made of the right material. Its value is entirely speed and disposability. A mockup that took a week to build stopped being a mockup somewhere around Tuesday.
- Appearance modelA model built to be indistinguishable from the finished product in every visible respect and functional in none. Surfaces, seams, colour and weight are right; the inside is a block. It pairs with a works-like model, which is ugly and does everything — the split exists because one object rarely does both jobs well.