Prototyping strategies for stakeholder engagement during front-end design: Design practitioners’ approaches in the medical device industry

Abstract

Prototypes are fundamental tools used throughout design processes. During early design stages, including problem definition and concept development, prototypes can support stakeholder engagement, which is considered critical for success. However, the ways in which engineering designers leverage prototypes within front-end stakeholder engagements are not well described in the literature. This research explored front-end prototyping strategies for stakeholder engagement through semi-structured interviews with medical device design practitioners. Our research findings describe seventeen strategies design practitioners used to engage stakeholders during front-end design activities. The findings add rich detail to the existing strategies broadly described in the literature, and have implications for designers across expertise levels, as they can be used to develop intentional approaches to engage stakeholders during front-end design.