Showing an unsuccessful prototype

Two original fictional non-fiction texts for reading practice.

Text A: a design tutor’s essay

A display of failed prototypes can be more misleading than a display of finished products. Once the successful version is known, it is tempting to arrange every earlier attempt as a necessary step towards it. At the time, some trials led nowhere. An honest account should preserve that uncertainty.

I ask students to explain what each test was meant to reveal, what happened and what they changed afterwards. A broken object does not by itself prove useful learning. Nor does a successful test establish that the whole design works. The claim needs to fit the evidence.

Presenting a mistake also takes judgement about other people. A team member should not become the amusing explanation for everything that went wrong. Discussing a decision is different from assigning a permanent identity to the person who made it.

The aim is not to celebrate failure as automatically valuable. It is to make decisions visible enough to examine. Sometimes the sensible next step is to abandon an idea, and an exhibition should leave room for that conclusion as well as for a triumphant final object.

Text B: a student designer’s reflection

Our first display looked like a story of steady progress. We put three damaged models beside the version that worked and wrote that we had learned from each. When someone asked exactly what the second model had taught us, we realised we had no answer. We had changed two things at once and could not tell which mattered.

For the revised display, we described that limit instead of inventing a lesson. Another test showed that a joint could carry weight, but we stopped claiming that the whole structure was dependable. The narrower statement was less impressive and easier to defend.

We also removed a joke about the person who suggested the second model. Everybody had accepted the plan at the time. Making one person the face of the mistake avoided discussing how we had made the decision together.

I still like the final version, but one part of the display explains an idea we dropped completely. It did not secretly lead to success. Showing why we stopped was useful because visitors could see that continuing is a decision, not an automatic reward for having started.

Compare what the two writers say about people presenting unsuccessful prototypes. Make it clear which text you are using.