Weird Jelly

Prototyping

By: Weird Jelly Admin

A wooden block that changed the world

Mon Jul 20 2026

You probably have a Smart phone, either Apple iPhone or some version of an Android phone. The iPhone was launched in 2007 creating the modern smart phone as we know it. There were a few attempts at Smart phones prior to the iPhone but the Apple device was the one that nailed the design and usability creating an operating system specifically for it, not trying to crowbar in the desktop analogies that don’t make sense on a mobile device.

Before the smart phone there was the PDA, a small handheld computer that had many of the smart phone features, just not the actual phone part.

One of the originators of the PDA was Palm and their Palm Pilot device. The inventor of the Palm Pilot was Jeff Hawkins who when he had come up with the idea for the device made a very simple prototype from a block of wood. He carried the wooden prototype device around with him and would pretend to enter meetings, appointments and notes into it. It may seem silly to do this but hew was able to test out one question. If he made the real device would he use it. The wooden block answered that question he was comfortable enough to use it and he thought it would be valuable to him and to others.

Other prototypes followed and eventually the Palm Pilot went into production. Arguably setting the standards for first of all PDAs and then the smartphone as we know them today. But it was that inexpensive wooden block that made it possible, and if he hadn’t liked the idea he hadn’t wasted a lot of money.

That is what prototyping is all about. Picking out the essence of what a product is and testing if it is viable or not. Getting a real item into your hands and other people’s can show if an idea could potentially be a success and more importantly can show up any problems very early on.

It is this very early stage prototyping that Weird Jelly are now helping people and small businesses with. After hearing about horror stories of companies charging upwards of £30, 000 for designs and drawing to be done and then not handing over the designs but insisting that they make the production items without even an idea been tested or assumption validated really is quite horrific.

Our prototyping service will make your wooden block, OK it’s actually a bit more than a wooden block but it will give you a physical working model. Something that can be tested and developed and refined further.

This is possible because there are so many more resources available now. 3D Printing can easily create shapes for enclosures. Software to create and design is free or very cheap. The explosion of electronics has spawned an entire industry geared up around prototyping and one off devices.

If you are curious or interested drop an email to hello@weirdjelly.co.uk and have a look at our prototyping page.