Rapid Prototype Your Idea

Before launching into your final project – the artistic creation process – it’s helpful to design a rapid prototype or storyboard of your idea so that you can test the concept. Test your idea? Yes! This is part of what’s known as design thinking and it’s a creation process that helps ensure you work effectively and efficiently. Think of it this way: you don’t want to undertake a major project only to discover right before it’s due that your idea just isn’t that great, or needed a bit more thought when you had a bit more time. Like right now! So, take the time right now to create a prototype or storyboard that you’ll test with your peers in the next part of this lesson.

A storyboard, for the record, isn’t the same as the timeline you created in the last lesson – that was focused on making sure you could meet your goals within the time limits of this class (though that activity might provide important insights for this task). The goal of this rapid prototype or storyboard is to roughly organize your thoughts and outline your visual story. Depending on your medium, it can be a simple sketch or mock-up of the work you aim to create, or a scene-by-scene breakdown of, say, a documentary. And though you likely don’t know the exact answer to your better question, but you should know why you’re asking the question, how you need to uncover the answer and what you want to do with the answer (create new knowledge, provoke a debate, provide a solution, argue for or inspire a specific action).

You might think: I’ve done this basically! EXACTLY! You’ve already done most of the work for this task. That’s why this is a rapid prototype. We’re not asking you to take hours to create the prototype, but rather we want you to summarize everything you’ve done in one place so that others can comprehend what you’re doing and why. And when others get your concept? They can confirm whether you’re on the right path or not. (It also helps you reflect on the work you’ve done to make sure that you think you’re on the right path.)

Make sense? Our goal is to make sure you don’t do any more work than you have to and that the work you do is actually good and impactful, in this class and in our world.

What needs to be covered in your storyboard? Here are a few questions to consider:

  1. What’s your better question? Why are you asking this question?
  2. How will your story present the answer to your question? Will it be a clear message or something more subtle for the audience to interpret? What’s your goal?
  3. What medium will you be using? What tone do you want to set? Will your story be positive or negative?
  4. How might you use elements and principles of design?
  5. What resources are needed to make this visual story come to life?
  6. What research do you need to do? Who should you talk to about your vision? Do you need to interview any experts or stakeholders to create your visual story?
  7. What audience are you targeting? Who needs to consume your story for you to achieve your goal?

Resources:

Storyboard examples on Pinterest

28 Storyboard Examples to Inspire you

20 Storyboard Examples For Different Uses of Storyboarding

Mood Boards

How to Storyboard a Marketing Video (When You’re Not an Artist)

Inspiring mood board examples

How to create a beautiful moodboard

Steps to help you get started:

  1. Inspiration: Many artists draw inspiration from their surroundings, personal experiences, emotions and observations of the world around them. They may be inspired by nature, people, art, music or other forms of creativity.
  2. Research: Some artists may conduct research into a particular subject or style of art that they are interested in. This can involve reading books, studying other artists or visiting galleries and museums to gain inspiration and new ideas.
  3. Sketching and experimentation: Sketching and experimenting with different techniques and materials is a common way that artists develop their ideas. This allows them to try out different compositions and ideas before committing to a final piece.
  4. Collaboration: Collaborating with other artists or creatives can also be a way to develop ideas. This can involve bouncing ideas off each other, sharing techniques and materials, or working together on a joint project.
  5. Brainstorming: Artists may also use brainstorming techniques to generate new ideas. This can involve writing down all ideas, no matter how unconventional, and then selecting the most promising ones to pursue.
  6. Revision: The creative process often involves revision and refinement of ideas. Artists may revisit their work multiple times, making changes and adjustments until they feel satisfied with the final product.