The Prototyper Pro
Strategic concept generator.
"A concept isn't finished when you can describe it. It's finished when you can see what could go wrong."
The Core Insight
The Prototyper turns strategic territories into concrete product, service, or experience concepts. Rather than generating dozens of surface-level ideas, it produces THREE deeply-considered concepts per run, each exploring a different strategic archetype, complete with strategic grounding, confidence assessment, and consumer-ready test copy.
What The Prototyper Generates
This tool explores what strategic territories could become in practice:
| Concept Type | Examples |
|---|---|
| Product Concepts | Physical products, digital platforms, apps, hardware, software |
| Service Concepts | Membership models, support offerings, delivery mechanisms, subscription services |
| Experience Concepts | Retail environments, pop-ups, events, community programs, branded spaces |
| Partnership Concepts | Co-branded products, collaborations, platform integrations |
| Campaign Platforms | Multi-channel brand activations (distinct from single social videos) |
What it doesn't generate: Social video execution (use The Channel for that), creative taglines (humans are better), or fully detailed product specs (that comes later).
Three Strategic Archetypes
Unlike brainstorming tools that generate option lists, The Prototyper produces three strategically distinct concepts per run:
- Grounded: Most feasible interpretation: builds on existing strengths, lower risk, proven mechanics
- Ambitious: More creative take : higher differentiation, bolder positioning, stretches the brand
- Lateral: Unexpected angle : challenges conventions, explores territory edges, distinctive approach
You can't judge a concept in isolation. Three archetypes show the territory's range, from safe to stretching, giving you the comparison needed to make informed decisions about risk and reward.
How It Works
Step 1 - Strategic Context: Provide the strategic inputs that shape concept generation.
Import from Completed Pitch
If you've completed a full pitch (Story → Audience → Message → Plan → Frame), The Prototyper is your next step: turning your strategic territory into tangible product, service, or experience concepts.
What it imports: Strategic territory, stakeholder tension, brand name, competitive context, and strategic exclusions from your completed pitch.
Why it matters: One-click context loading means you can move from strategic platform to concrete concepts in seconds, not hours.
Input Organisation
The Prototyper organises inputs by their source in the Threader Suite:
| Source | Inputs | Required? |
|---|---|---|
| From The Frame | Strategic Territory, Territory Description | Territory required |
| From The Audience | Stakeholder Tension, Target Audience | Tension required |
| From The Brief | Brand Name, Brand Role | Brand required |
| From The Message | Competitive Context, Strategic Exclusions | Optional |
| Additional Context | Other relevant information | Optional |
Strategic Territory
The territory is the primary generative input. Examples:
- "Real-World Testing" (showing phones survive genuine daily disasters)
- "Quiet Rebellion" (rejecting upgrade culture without preaching)
- "Earned Indulgence" (permission to enjoy without guilt)
The more specific your territory, the better the concepts. "Quality" generates generic concepts. "Real-World Testing" generates concepts you can actually build.
The Concept Board
Each generated concept includes a complete concept board:
Concept Name: Memorable handle (not a tagline)
The Tension: Human truth the concept taps into
The Insight: What makes it feel fresh or unexpected
The Idea: One-paragraph description of what the concept actually is
How It Expresses The Territory: Explicit connection back to strategic territory
Key Benefit: What the audience gets from this concept
Why This Brand: Why only this brand can credibly own this concept
Carousel Navigation
After generation, navigate between the three concepts using the carousel:
- Counter shows your position (e.g. "2 / 3")
- ← → buttons move between concepts
- All fields update: name, tension, insight, idea, confidence, and Midjourney prompt
- Position remembered when you save or create test concepts
Tip: Review all three before deciding. The grounded concept isn't always the right choice. Sometimes the lateral interpretation reveals the most distinctive opportunity.
Confidence & Assumptions
Every concept includes explicit confidence assessment. This is where the strategic value lives:
| Component | Icon | What It Surfaces |
|---|---|---|
| ✓ Grounded | Green tick | Elements supported by evidence, brand heritage, or established facts |
| ◐ Assumed | Yellow half-circle | Elements that require assumptions to be true (these need validation) |
| ⚠ Risks | Red warning | What could go wrong: creative risks, execution challenges, competitive threats |
The Risks section often reveals strategic weaknesses you haven't considered. Pay attention to it.
Concept Actions
After generating concepts, you have four action options:
| Button | What It Does | When To Use |
|---|---|---|
| ← Edit Inputs | Return to input form to adjust strategic context | When you want to change territory, tension, or other inputs |
| Iterate This | Generate 3 variations of currently-viewed concept (same core idea, different execution) | When you like a specific concept but want to explore different expressions |
| Start Fresh | Generate 3 completely new concepts with same inputs | When you want different interpretations of the territory |
| Create Test Concept → | Convert currently-viewed concept into consumer-ready test copy | When you want to prepare a specific concept for stakeholder review or testing |
Important: Both "Iterate This" and "Start Fresh" generate 3 new concepts, replacing the current batch. Save concepts worth keeping before generating new ones.
The Visualisation Prompt
Each concept includes a production-ready AI image prompt. This lets you quickly visualise the concept for internal reviews or client presentations.
- Optimised for Midjourney, DALL-E, or similar AI image generators
- Describes visual style, mood, composition, and key elements
- Copy button for instant use
- Generate the visual, then upload to Test Concept Mode for complete concept board
Test Concept Mode
Click "Create Test Concept" to convert any concept into consumer-ready copy for stakeholder review or testing. The test concept includes an editable name, insight (starting with "You..."), benefit (starting with "Introducing..."), and reason to believe. A Midjourney prompt carries over automatically for visual generation, and you can upload images directly.
Use "Refine Copy" to let AI polish your edits without losing strategic intent. Export as DOCX or PPTX, or save to your library.
Export Options
The Prototyper exports the currently-viewed concept (check the counter, e.g. "2 / 3") in two professional formats:
Export Modal Options
Click Export to open the export modal with configurable sections:
- Include workspace logo (if available) : Adds your agency branding
- Concept Details (Name, Tension, Insight, Idea) : The core concept board
- Confidence Assessment (Grounded/Assumed/Risks) : Strategic validation layer
- Test Concept Copy : Consumer-ready concept description
- Visual Prompt (Midjourney) : AI image generation prompt
1. DOCX (Word Document)
- Complete concept documentation including territory, tension, insight, and idea
- How it expresses the territory and key benefit sections
- Confidence assessment with Grounded/Assumed/Risks sections
- Test concept copy formatted for stakeholder review
- Visual prompt for generating concept images
- Professional formatting suitable for client delivery
Best for: Written proposals, email attachments, archival documentation
2. PPTX (PowerPoint)
- Cover slide with concept name and territory
- The Problem slide (tension and insight)
- The Solution slide (the idea and key benefit)
- Why This Brand slide
- Confidence & Risks slide
- Test Concept slide (consumer-ready copy)
- Visual Prompt slide
- Professional slide design consistent with Comms Threader aesthetic
Best for: Client presentations, comms plans, stakeholder meetings
Copy Text
Instantly copy all selected sections as plain text to clipboard for pasting into emails, Slack, or other documents.
Save & Load
When you save a project, all three concepts are saved together:
- Complete batch preserved (all 3 concepts: grounded, ambitious, lateral)
- Position remembered (if you save while viewing Concept 2, loading returns you to Concept 2)
- Test concepts preserved if created
- Navigate after loading using ← → buttons
The library badge shows total saved projects. Each project contains 3 concepts, so 5 saved projects = 15 concepts in your library.
How It Fits The Suite
- Post-Frame: Take a strategic territory and explore what products/services/experiences it could become
- Pitch Prep: Generate concepts to pressure-test the territory before presenting to clients
- NPD Briefs: Explore new product opportunities within the strategic platform
- Innovation Workshops: Rapidly prototype concepts for stakeholder discussion
- Standalone: Quick concept generation from any territory (doesn't require full pitch completion)
- To Estimator: Take a validated concept and scope what it would cost to produce
Versus The Channel: The Prototyper generates WHAT to build (products, services, experiences). The Channel generates HOW to talk about it on social media.
Theoretical Grounding
The Prototyper embodies proven innovation and design thinking principles:
- Prototyping Mindset: Test ideas cheaply before investing heavily (IDEO, Stanford d.school)
- Pre-Mortem Thinking: Imagine the concept failed. What went wrong? (Gary Klein)
- Assumption Mapping: Every concept rests on assumptions. Make them explicit. (Lean Startup)
- Jobs-to-be-Done: Concepts solve specific tensions, not vague needs (Clayton Christensen)
- Strategic Fit: Concepts must connect back to brand territory to be defensible (not random ideas)
Tips for Best Results
- Use Import from Pitch: If you've completed the pitch flow, import context automatically rather than re-typing
- Be specific with territory: "Real-World Testing" generates better concepts than "quality" or "reliability"
- Review all 3 concepts: Navigate through the full batch before deciding which to develop
- Grounded isn't always best: Sometimes the lateral interpretation reveals the most distinctive opportunity
- Use Iterate This strategically: When you like one concept's core but want different execution (generates 3 variations)
- Save before iterating: Both actions replace the current batch : save concepts worth keeping first
- Pay attention to Risks: The risk section often reveals strategic weaknesses you haven't considered
- Test the visualisation prompt: Generate the Midjourney image before presenting to make concepts tangible
- Use Exclusions field: If you know what the concept should NOT be, state it explicitly
- Refine test copy: The AI-generated test copy is a starting point : edit to match your voice, then use Refine Copy to polish
Common Mistakes
- Only reviewing the first concept: Navigate through all 3 before deciding which to develop
- Assuming grounded = best: The grounded concept is safest, not necessarily most strategic
- Not saving before iterating: Both actions replace the current batch : save first if you want to keep concepts
- Skipping the territory description: The optional territory description field helps the AI understand nuance
- Ignoring the Risks section: This is where the real strategic learning happens
- Using vague territories: Generic territories like "innovation" or "quality" produce generic concepts
- Exporting without checking counter: The counter shows which concept you're viewing/exporting
- Exporting without editing test copy: The generated test copy is good but benefits from human polish
- Treating it like a brainstorm tool: The Prototyper deeply explores three strategic positions. It does not generate 50 ideas.
"The goal isn't to find the perfect concept. It's to find the risks in the concept before you're committed."