When you have a proposed solution to the chosen problem, it is imperative to prototype this proposal. This stage helps companies identify improvements in a proposed solution before launching it on the market. It is here that the ideas raised in the storyboard or other ideation tools become reality.

The tool chosen to prototype the product idea obeys the mission of this toolkit to develop products with a focus on gender equality. A tool of this type, more belonging to the performing arts, allows the last vestiges of gender stereotypes that may be taking shape in the solutions to be made visible.

This tool proposes a series of guides to create an inclusive innovation culture in your company, which fosters the empowerment of women, around the concept of diversity of thought and psychological safety, framed from the agile perspective.

It is important to know that the prototype you choose to make will evolve throughout the process. It is the end for which it is created.

Many times it is perceived as a conquest of this prototyping phase to have the user interaction map or the physical product mockup, however, when creating, developing and designing with a gender perspective, these prototypes will not be enough to continue building empathy towards the user.

Design with a gender approach demands a greater level of empathy and knowledge about the differentiated situation of women and men, which must continue to be built in each phase.

For this, it will be necessary to carry out a representation of the solution, a role play or role playing, since failure to do so may lose opportunities for improvement, insights and findings that will only come to light after a tool like this and not just imagining the interactions or imagining the use of the products. 

Prototyping, ideation, and testing tools require constant feedback from other people. In particular, if you seek to work with a gender perspective, it will be advisable to convene the innovation and development committee. If you do not have one, you can build a team with equal participation of men and women, with the greatest variety of skills, preferably multidisciplinary, and that people are trained to identify stereotypes and advocate for gender equality throughout the process.

• Have the product idea and all the information that helps to carry out the interpretations with the greatest possible fidelity. It is highly recommended to use information that has the results of men and women separately, so as not to lose sight of the wishes, interests and expectations of both groups or the interest group.
• Define the roles. Assign each person on the team the role they will have in representing the solution. The roles to take into account can be:

The user.
The person with whom you interact as part of the solution (only in the case where the product includes the attention or participation of someone else).
The person in charge of recording and recording. A single person or more can perform this role. It will depend on the size of the team.

• Recreate the scenarios in the most accurate way with components that seem real. As in the other tools, it is important to pay attention to the chosen scenarios and that these do not increase the inequality gap between women and men.
• Actresses and actors must interact with the product or service.
• You have to be very careful with the staging. Is it possible that stereotypes are being used about the way women or men behave? Are hero or alpha male personalities being used to represent a man? Is a woman’s voice being used to represent an electronic resource for assistance?
• On this last point there are many myths that a woman’s voice is innately easier to understand. This is based on other myths that a higher voice register is easier to hear, or that they are easier to hear despite a noisy environment and many more.

Being aware of this will help to iterate on the solution without adding biases that end up adding unnecessary components that reproduce gender stereotypes to the product or service. For example, representing a woman with body gestures exaggerating attributes of delicacy, contributes to continue forming the idea that women have to be perceived as delicate people, and for this reason, some products fall into common places when using pastel or pink colors for tangible products, or stereotypical motivations such as “always have a perfect makeup” when designing a service.

• • • The team should be asked to express their ailments and joys in the most real way possible at each moment of interaction.
    • It is important to take turns to interpret the roles, you can define a garment that characterizes the user to be used by each member in their turn to interpret it. This will provide complementary ideas to the participants of the tool.
    • Have a device to record the session, it can be a cell phone or a camera.
    • The proposed duration is 120 minutes.