This project is a cardboard model to serve as a frame for paper prototypes of phone screens. The challenge for this prototype was that it:
must be cut from a single sheet of 18" x 24" chipboard
must not use any glue, tape, or other fastening materials to assemble and use
must be able to be dissembled into pieces that can be stored flat and transported
My overall plan for this prototype was a basic phone shape that a designer could slide paper prototypes of phone screens into. I ended up making two different prototypes to test two of the different concepts I had. One is my 'light-weight' design which consists of a front and back of a phone and three side pieces that hold them together and give the frame a realistic depth when it is held in the hand. The second model is my 'layered' design which creates the realistic depth using eleven layers of chip board. Both of these are pictured in detail below.
After testing these two different versions of the phone frame I found benefits and issues with both. I think that overall the light-weight frame is better, it is easier to collapse and reassemble, has fewer pieces to keep track of and is easier to use to display a paper screen due to the overhang of the frame. However, the layered frame feels sturdier and more realistic in the hand. The feedback that I got from peer reviews reinforced my decisions and gave me a few other insights. I hadn't realized that the two layers on the top of the light-weight frame could cause issues with inserting paper prototypes until it was pointed out by a classmate. Most of the other feedback was either things I had already noticed in my designs or complements on the detail, construction or the sketches I did as examples of paper prototyping. While looking at other's prototyping frame designs I found some features that I would want to incorporate in future iterations of either of my designs, such as a way to hold the paper prototype up higher in the frame as to make it feel less like a piece of paper in a frame, and more like a screen within a phone.
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