When building software, the same screen or features can be designed in many different ways.
So, how do you know what to build? How should users move from one screen to another? How many buttons should there be?
That&#;s where software prototypes come in. They&#;re essential to designing, testing, and creating successful software products.
A prototype in software development is a simulation of how a real software product will look, work, and feel. Typically built early in the software development process, prototypes are primarily for design feedback and user testing.
Purposefully broad in definition, software prototypes can come in all levels of sophistication&#; from an idea sketched on the back of a napkin to a clickable prototype that mimics real software.
A prototype can simulate an entire mobile app or just one digital interaction of the proposed software.
Think of prototypes like scale building models used in architectural design. An architect takes their understanding of a client&#;s wants and drafts blueprints to match, but the blueprints might not be enough. So, the architect builds a scale model of the building.
In this case, a scale-building model is an example of a sophisticated prototype, but sometimes that&#;s needed for a more complex project. It allows the client to see the plans for the building (or software product) and provide feedback about what they like or don&#;t like.
Of course, it&#;s easier and cheaper to make changes based on the early scale model (or prototype) instead of waiting until the finishing touches are being made to the building two years later.
Developing software is a similar process: prototypes are often used to gather feedback and make changes early in the process, rather than letting a development team fully code the application and then dealing with significant design changes afterward.
When creating a software product, prototyping is the ideal way to test, evaluate, and validate your idea with users and the internal team. It lets you confirm that you are building the RIGHT product and features before you actually code anything.
In other words, prototyping reduces project risk.
You don&#;t want to find out AFTER months of costly developer time and budget that the features don&#;t meet your user&#;s needs. Instead, starting with a prototype lets you get early user feedback on what key features to build and how they should work.
As they say at IDEO, &#;If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a prototype is worth a thousand meetings.&#;
SPARK Tip: When building prototypes, they don&#;t need to include ALL the features you may need. Instead, focus only on the core features needed to solve your problem to ensure a quick and valuable feedback loop. This mindset aligns with the same reason you want to start a project with a minimum viable product, or MVP.
Depending on your project, you could develop a prototype through the different phases below, or just focus on one phase to communicate your ideas.
It can help to sketch your idea on paper first, no matter how rudimentary it is. And yes, it&#;s still a prototype.
The goal of a paper prototype isn&#;t to come up with a final polished design, so don&#;t worry about artistry.
Instead, paper drawings can be a quick and simple way to bring a vague idea to life, as it forces you to move to the concrete: What would the app look like? What functionality does it need? What kind of buttons and inputs would you use?
Even simple paper drawings can clarify your ideas to yourself and, more importantly, to others. They are also extremely easy to change and test out different ideas all at once.
Take a look at these paper wireframes below from a software project with a past SPARK client. Your ideas sketched out on paper can make an idea come to life.
SPARK Tip: Like above, you can sketch out ideas using pre-formatted paper that mimics device screens: Download your own paper wireframes here. It&#;ll help you to better visualize how you want your software to look and you can share them with your development partner.
The next step up from paper sketches is digital wireframes (or low-fidelity designs), which are 2D skeletal outlines of a software application.
Done by a UX/UI design team, low-fi designs usually represent an initial concept of the product. Digital wireframes are like blueprints of the product made using minimum styling, color, and graphics. They&#;re made with specific software tools like Figma, Miro, Invision, Sketch, Adobe, etc.
Wireframes are a visual representation of the software and focus on functionality, user flow, and how screens will relate to each other. They only include key elements so they&#;re fast and easy to make for designers.
They&#;re great communication tools for eliciting feedback and ideas from stakeholders and users during the design process. Their &#;rough&#; feel encourages others to comment honestly because they know features are still being clarified and changes are expected.
SPARK Tip: Some development partners like SPARK deliver wireframes and clickable prototypes as part of an initial project assessment. For this service, we conduct a thorough project discovery and test ideas before diving into custom software development.
Digital wireframes can turn into clickable prototypes, which are an interactive set of linked visual screens that mimic a working app or digital products.
The biggest advantage of a clickable prototype is that users can interact with it on a computer or mobile device. They click on buttons and move fluidly from one screen to the next like real software.
But the difference is that no actual coding has taken place. Nothing is happening in the background.
While they take more resources to create, you&#;ll have a clear sense of what the final software will look and feel like, but can still make changes as needed.
At SPARK, we often have clients sign off on a clickable prototype before we start the development work (actual coding) of a project. It gives the client and our team confidence that we&#;re aligned on the vision.
SPARK Tip: Since they&#;re fully designed, clickable prototypes are a great tool to test with future users and internal team members. They&#;re easy to share and you can get candid feedback on what works or doesn&#;t.
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Prototyping is an essential part of developing new software, here&#;s why:
Even if you have a clear idea of how your software should look, iterating on a prototype allows you to quickly and efficiently arrive at the best product design possible. You&#;ll be able to incorporate user feedback at each stage to ensure you&#;re spending time and money on the right features.
If you&#;re trying to raise funds or get buy-in from early adopters, a prototype can help you explain or show your idea effectively.
Would you rather be pitched an idea verbally or shown a working prototype? Which would inspire more confidence and action?
It&#;s also low-risk and cost-effective to create a prototype to test out if there&#;s any traction for your idea.
The best part of prototypes is that they&#;re different options of sophistication. Still in the beginning brainstorming phase with lots of ideas? Use paper sketches that don&#;t cost anything to make.
Ready to elicit future user feedback on a complex product? Build a clickable prototype that brings your idea to life.
If you&#;re working with a software development partner like SPARK, here&#;s what the process of creating a prototype would look like:
First, we take a deep dive into the client&#;s requirements and vision for the software product. This initial discovery phase involves different exercises that allows UX/UI designers to extract detailed information about the desired features, functionality, user experience, and overall goals.
Before any visuals are created, our team often creates a detailed map of the desired user workflows. These workflows help determine how users should move from one screen to the next.
Once the requirements are clear, the team designs an initial concept or vision for the software prototype. Using specialized software or even pen and paper, the team creates wireframes and low-fidelity prototypes. These initial designs focus on the layout, structure, and basic interactions of the software.
The team presents the low-fidelity prototype to the client for feedback. Based on the client&#;s input, the team iterates on the design, functionality, and user experience, refining the prototype to better align with the client&#;s vision.
Once the low-fidelity prototype is refined, the team proceeds to create a high-fidelity prototype. This involves adding more detailed visual elements, branding, and interactive components to provide a more accurate representation of the final product.
The high-fidelity prototype is then subjected to user testing to gather feedback from potential end-users. This feedback helps in identifying usability issues, refining features, and ensuring that the prototype meets user expectations.
Based on user feedback and additional client input, the team refines the high-fidelity prototype further. Once the prototype aligns closely with the client&#;s requirements and has successfully passed user testing, it is presented to the client for final approval.
That&#;s a lot of rounds of user feedback before any coding happens!
That&#;s the advantage of the iterative process of prototyping: you should have full confidence in the product you&#;re building and that you&#;re spending resources on the right functionality and design.
Already have a software product in mind? Reach out to the SPARK team and see how we can help you transform it into real software.
Take a look around your office, computer, and smartphone: most of the ingenious modern products you use daily started as humble prototypes. To create a prototype, designers use rapid iteration to make, test, and incorporate feedback into a product design.
"Prototyping is a quick way to go from sketches or wireframes to a simulation where you can get user feedback,&#; explains Tom Lowry, Director of Advocacy at Figma. "With Figma's prototyping tools, you can turn sketches into a series of interconnected screens, so you can see how a user can navigate through an experience&#;without having to write any code."
"The goal of a prototype is to ensure your design works in the hands of the user," Tom explains. &#;Getting feedback on a prototype is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to get feedback, before you spend a lot of money building something that might not meet user needs. Then you'd have to spend even more to course-correct."
Creating a prototype allows design teams to hone a product concept before it's built and launched&#;saving time, money, and headaches for everyone involved. Prototyping helps designers at every step of the design process, in three specific ways.
1. Validate early concepts
In a design sprint, you can bring your concept to life with a rapid prototype. This helps stakeholders align on what's being designed, giving everyone a realistic depiction of what the experience will be.
2. Facilitate communication
Whether you're working with clients or talking with your CEO about goals and needs, you've probably noticed that designers and non-designers often speak different languages. Figma has commenting features to share perspectives and feedback, so that everyone's on the same page&#;and nothing is lost in translation.
3. Refine features and flows
When you&#;ve designed something from the ground up, it becomes hard to see it with a fresh eye. No matter how much research you&#;ve incorporated into your initial design, rote data can&#;t replace user testing with a prototype. This will expose UX challenges that weren&#;t obvious during planning, and enable quick and easy changes to UI.
There are many kinds of prototypes, but most fall into two basic categories: low-fidelity and high-fidelity.
Designers use "lo-fi" prototypes at the beginning of concept development. A low-fi digital prototype might have simple transitions between screens, but nothing elaborate. Despite their simplicity, low-fidelity prototypes are powerful tools to inform design and development. For example, if stakeholders request new functionality, a low-fidelity prototype can validate (or invalidate) the idea before too many product design and development hours are dedicated to it.
Low-fidelity prototypes are usually:
"Hi-fi" prototypes are closer to the finished product, and may even evolve into the finished product. Midway through the design process, a high-fidelity prototype might focus on evaluating one specific, high-priority feature, while other features remain works in progress. Later project phases may demand higher fidelity prototypes, with more design polish, interaction fidelity, and logical flows.
High-fidelity prototypes require more time to create and revise, with designs that:
Different challenges in the design thinking process call for different prototypes:
&#;Prototyping is vital to successful design&#;and teamwork is the most critical piece of the prototyping process," says Tom. "Effective communication between all your project stakeholders is the best way to identify areas for improvement and find problems designers might otherwise miss." Figma makes it easier for designers and programmers to brainstorm and iterate in real time, with collaborative cloud-based tools that won't lag when multiple users work simultaneously.
"Without prototypes to quickly validate ideas and design decisions, you're investing a lot in your build before users even try it&#;and that's a big risk,&#; notes Tom. But building prototypes doesn't have to be hard. Tom recommends kickstarting your prototype with a FigJam prototype template, and using Figma's professional guide to prototyping to build, test, and refine your prototype for success.
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Sources
[1] https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/design-thinking-get-started-with-prototyping
[2] https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/stage-4-in-the-design-thinking-process-prototype
[3] https://blog.adobe.com/en/publish//11/29/prototyping-difference-low-fidelity-high-fidelity-prototypes-use
[4] https://careerfoundry.com/en/blog/ux-design/design-thinking-stage-four-prototyping/
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