The James Dyson Foundation Engineering Box – Lesson 5
Prototyping Techniques
Dyson engineers use cardboard to build their initial prototypes because it’s easily pliable and
inexpensive.
Tip #1: Scale It Up or Scale It Down
While your product’s brief requires that it be able to fit on a sheet of paper, other prototypes engineers
create can be of many different sizes. A prototype doesn’t have to be true to size. If you’re designing a
very compact product, consider scaling your project to be larger than it would be in reality (so that
everyone can see a close up of the details). If a design is much bigger, engineers can scale it down to
create a miniature prototype, which will save time and resources.
Tip #2: Divvy Up the Work
Identify different parts of the prototype that can be made independently, then divvy up the work so that
your whole group can be involved in building your prototype. It’s important that you establish the size
and scale of each part, however, before everyone starts working.
Tip #3: Tricks for Manipulating Corrugated Cardboard
A) Scoring – Scoring is a technique engineers use to slice the top layer of the corrugated
cardboard, without cutting all the way through, which makes it easier to bend or curve the
cardboard. Dyson engineers used this technique when creating the curved cyclones for their
initial cardboard models.
B) Cutting Curved Shapes – Instead of trying to cut a circle, or other rounded or curved shapes,
consider cutting the shape out of a series of small strokes, chipping away at the shape, instead
of trying to do it in one go.
C) Layering – Especially with thick, corrugated cardboard, an easy way to make a three
dimensional part of your prototype, or a component of it, is to cut multiple layers of the shape
that can be stacked and glued together.
Frank Gerhy used the layering
technique to build a collection of cardboard
furniture!
D) Cut and Tape or Fold – If you’re making a corner or a dynamic, moving piece of your
prototype, you can cut and tape two pieces together, or you could fold a single piece.
Sometimes, folding cardboard can be difficult because it’s so thick, so consider scoring the
cardboard along the line where you want it to fold.