How design is born - a road to perfection

It's been a while since i was designing something not just in CAD but also for 3D Printing and when i got back to it it reminded me how much of iterative process it is, especially when it comes to functional part.

Here is small example, a tiny example (insert 'its something meme'). Pretty much a 5cm x 3cm power strip zip tie mount so I can attach it to my desk leg. After several measurements it still took 5 prototypes to get it done.

First, a rough proof of concept (does it even work)? Then exploration on shape and dimensions of latching part. Finally finetuning for strength and ease of print (no support friendly angles and curves).

Last photo is finished part when where it should go.

Now imagine how much prototyping and time it takes to design more complex parts that are required to fit to certain places/devices in a lot more contact points and areas.