When designers have completed their designs, it is likely that that they will have approached the problem in radically different ways that will give rise to different user systems. It is then possible to combine designs and taking the best features from each. It is important to employ parallel design for novel systems where they is no established guidelines for how best the system should operate. Typical Application Areas Parallel design is useful when there are quite different system concepts under discussion and it is required to make a decision on one and one only. It of course implies that some kind of working model or prototype is produced by all the independent groups see for instance Paper Prototyping or Wizard of Oz .
Benefits Allows a range of ideas to be generated quickly and cost effectively.
Parallel nature of the approach allows several approaches to be explored at the same time, thus compressing the concept development schedule. The concepts generated can often be combined so that the final system benefits from all ideas proposed. Only minimal resources and materials are required to convey product feel. The technique can be utilised by those with little or no human factors expertise. Limitations Requires a number of design team members to be available at the same time to produce system concepts.