Lim, Stolterman, Tenenberg · TOCHI 2008

Prototypes are filters.

The Anatomy of Prototypes argues that a prototype does not need to model everything. It selectively filters a design idea so a team can learn about the parts that matter now.

Core move Choose what the prototype makes visible. Then choose what it safely leaves vague.

Try the filters

Tune five dimensions

Move each slider. The same product idea becomes a different prototype, aimed at a different design question.

Appearance3 From rough wireframe to polished visual language. Data3 From lorem placeholders to plausible live-like content. Functionality3 From static facade to working local behavior. Interactivity3 From read-only screen to tactile hover, click, and drag cues. Spatial structure3 From abstract blocks to organized product geography.

Today’s priority

Focus

Resolve the billing settings flow before design review.

Signal

72%

Tasks likely to ship this week

Task queue

3 items

Next window

Paper in one minute

A prototype is not a small product.

It is a question-making artifact.

The useful question is not “how realistic is it?” but “what does this prototype let us examine?” A sketch can be high value if it filters for the right thing.

Filtering is intentional incompleteness.

The five dimensions help a team say what is emphasized and what is intentionally left unresolved: appearance, data, functionality, interactivity, and spatial structure.

Why this matters.

Teams waste time when they argue about the wrong fidelity. This frame makes the prototype’s learning goal explicit, so critique lands on the design question instead of the artifact’s unfinished parts.

This page is an interpretive teaching tool, not a substitute for the paper. Slider values are deliberately simplified to make the dimensions tangible.