Design Philosophy
A Concept Prototype is the physical embodiment of a Concept born from an Idea. Ideally, the only requirement for a Concept Prototype is for it to physically embody an Idea to the best of the creator's ability. The physical embodiment of an Idea, or the Concept Prototype, is important because good design is based on iteration. The power of a Concept Prototype is precisely in its physical embodiment - physical models accelerate and enable design iteration, thus yielding better insight to the preceding design. Yes, the world's best designers can iterate designs in their minds, but even the world's best can't make an "informed" design change by riding a prototype race bike in their daydreams.
Clearly not all prototypes have the supporting markets that justify them to be productized - and even the ones that do, eventually ask the prototype to be "water-downed" so significantly that the product ends up loosing the original spirit of the Concept Prototype. Have you ever been to a Paris fashion show or a Tokyo car show, and then felt let down when you get to your local showroom? In summary, a fair bit of luck is need on at least two fronts; a concept must have the market it requires to survive as a product, and the design trade-offs based on cost, manufacturability, and business viability must be made such that the "excitement" of a prototype remains in the productized version of the concept.
Even immersed within the seductive process of taking a Concept Prototype into the Product realm, we still find the highest value in the Concept Prototype phase. This phase is the first point in the design process that the initial idea is physically embodied, yet it lacks any of the ensuing constrains and trade-off driven by practicality (and to some extent reality). In the end, prototypes can be seen, held, ridden, tested, and abused. Prototypes are the race bikes, one-off bicycles, or experimental airplanes we saw our heroes drive, race, and crash in our midnight childhood dreams - years go by, but we still refuse to grow-up. Most importantly, prototypes give us the experiences, insight, and judgment need to either move forward with a good idea or abandon a bad one. In the end, it is the act of creating Prototypes that extends our creative limits and develops our judgment - and both of these skills are priceless be it on the race course or high in the vertical hills.
Figure 1: A simplified illustration of Mogomoto Prototype's design process
