Prototyping is the fundemental tool of the Design Validation Phase. Its ultimate objective is to evaluate the merits of the preliminary design. Products vary significantly in terms of complexity and performance so appropriate prototyping methods must be chosen accordingly to validate specific aspects of any given design. Functional prototypes may be utilized to validate the performance of specific product features. Appearance models are often deployed to validate the aesthetic character of a product. Prototypes may be created by means of manual fabrication or fully computerized methods of construction.

Manual Prototype Fabrication is typically performed by an expert fabricator. This prototyping method is ideal for large prototypes and often utilizes a vast array of manufacturing techniques such as fiberglass or foam modeling, welding, or sheetmetal fabrication.

Rapid Prototyping processes, such as SLS (Selective Laser Sintering) or SLA (Stereolithography), deliver an exceptionally high level of accuracy and do not require specialized tooling. As such, prototypes can be delivered within days, making them both time effective and cost efficient for low volume prototyping.

Rapid Injection Molding is a variation of Injection Molding but unlike the high volume process it makes use of advanced aluminium alloy molds thus greatly reducing the lead-time and tooling costs. It is a fast and affordable way to get real injection molded parts in prototype or low-volume quantities. This process is typically most economical for small runs of 100 to 10000 parts.