A Critical Systems Position on Augmented Prototyping Systems for Industrial Design

In order to assess usability and impact of new Augmented Reality based prototyping technologies in industrial design engineering, we are carrying out a multiple case study. We focus on shortcomings in current (physical) prototypes and bottlenecks in the design process, which might present to cues for new Augmented Prototyping technologies. However, tracking and categorizing these bottlenecks is difficult, attention has to be given on the complete scope of prototyping use and its value towards design. A method was devised to capture bottlenecks in concept uttering, based on Critical Systems Thinking; identifying functionalist, interpretive, emancipatory, postmodern views tunes the researcher’s view to uses of advanced prototyping means that have impact on the complete design process.