I wanted to take time to describe my own take, on developing prototypes.
Believe it, or not, that's my BABY, there, figuritively.
(See picture). I'm thinking: "Any customer, of my product, is going to notice, any dirty fingerprints, on that unfinished wood box".
So that's one concern. Inventers are, sometimes, a strange breed...You aren't 'working' for a living, no cash usually coming in today. That can look a fool's pursuit.
REWARDING, heh yeah...maybe tomorrow.
You can't be expecting quick rewards, or you lose sight. But it can be a very unpleasant journey.
The problem area, with prototypes, is you can be faced with a wide open, BLANK page, and better get busy. Many folks balk at this point (ha! Wimps).
But in reality, not so bleak as there are some set patterns of action that some creative people utilize.
Plus, pay attention to an opposite effect. Say, you've got a new dress design. Using existing designs, think of the burden, of review all those (thousands) of previous dress designs. In that dynamic, you are often better off ignoring everything else, and just get (your) design down, in paper, first. THEN, you enter the 'prior art' review phase. (NO LEGAL ADVICE, just opinion).
For dealing with novel design, my approach often starts with a goal, first prototype model, often precedes most functional goals. It's a packaging and 'fit and use' ergonomic consideration.
Of course, this describes prototyping mechanics and with 'educational' market aspects, so the package appearance takes precedence.
The first (couple of) models, I let things get slightly 'wild', meaning that some bold or unusual feature might be emphasized. For example, after considering one particular model, requiring 4 foot tall cabinet, I went bold: exaggerating that cabinet, to 7 feet height.
Now, that's bold, but some restraint needed too!
I often don't strictly require the whole 100 % of functions to be working, until 3rd prototype model is begun.
My main point here is that it doesn't add that much to sort-of 'decorate' the dang thing: In this case, I wanted that clear wooden box to get a nice varnish, or oil rub finish. Can't hurt, and makes your new 'baby' purty to look at...
Meanwhile, maybe you can't visualize the whole of it, mechanically especially. You give it your best shot, and add some cosmetically pleasing appearance. It can be an attitude changing approach.