Project Review: Proto.is
Have you got an idea you've been mulling over for far too long, and never quite got round to starting? 
Prótó - one of the first projects submitted to Naglasúpan - is a free four-week challenge for exactly that. You pick an idea, prototype it, get feedback from the others doing the same, and put a first version out at the end.
It's all online apart from a meetup at the finish, with regular lectures from its creator, Rúnar Vestmann. Each week has one goal:
- Week 1: choose and shape the idea
- Week 2: a half-finished prototype, so the idea is something people can see
- Week 3: a full prototype, iterated on the feedback
- Week 4: first release
The idea can be anything: an app, music, a website, a book, a video game, a board game, art, a film, a physical product.
You don't need to have the idea when you sign up.
The community side runs on Discord, where people share progress, give each other feedback, and find collaborators for their own idea or someone else's. Lectures and material are in Icelandic.
It ran for the first time last October with 83 sign-ups. Projects included a book on being an Icelandic jólasveinn, a recycling-sorter app, a Christmas song, a scheduling app for football referees, and a box for keeping matarkex fresh.
The second round starts this October. Sign up today and give that idea a month of dedicated focus.
We look forward to seeing what comes out of it this year.