This presentation will examine the increasing prevalence and importance of “in-market” or “live” prototyping in product design.  Over the past several decades, product development cycles have shortened radically.  In fact, in many cases there is no longer a cycle at all, but rather a condition of “continuous release,” analogous to conditions found in open-source software development.  Software methodologies are now being applied to physical products, especially for obtaining and managing valuable “upstream” user feedback, offering a powerful new tool for product development.

Several graduate industrial design thesis projects will be presented which make the case that this practice has already become normalized among younger designers.

We’ll also review ongoing adoption of these methodologies by innovation consultancies and multinational corporations, and the barriers they’ve encountered due to intellectual property restrictions, branding concerns, and corporate culture.