LET'S KNOW PROTOTYPE
Design Scholae
Design Scholae leading community of UI and UX professional. Connect for Sharing experiences, learning.
Getting to know Prototype
To begin any design process, a designer has to comprehend the purpose of the final product. From ideation, user flow, wireframe and mockup, the designer reaches the next crucial step prototyping. Earlier, we attempted to apprehend the stages wireframe and mockup. Now, let us extrapolate the prototype.
What is a Prototype?
A prototype is an experimental scaled-down version of the product or website or any application. It is the high-fidelity visual representation of the final product. In simple words, a prototype is an early sample or model of a product built to test its functionality. It gives the simulation of the final product.?
Simulation is the imitative representation of the existing or proposed system.
Prior, we understood that a wireframe becomes the structure of the design, mockups bring it to the next level with visuals and currently we will know what a prototype handles.
Why Prototype is Important?
Have a look at the reasons which make the prototype so crucial stage to follow.
As the word visualization implies, it is the visual representation of an object or set of pieces of information. A prototype helps the designers to show the operating progression of the design. It helps the stakeholders and clients to have a final look and the function of the assigned project.
Prototypes beget feedback from the stakeholders and clients. They interact with the working design and check the usability, i.e., how to navigate, and which button will carry to where. They become able to highlight any shortcomings and pain points associated with it; that should be changed to make the product user-friendly.?
The design team can then iterate the design before deploying the final product, saving time and money for both the company and the clients by catching issues that might be costlier to fix it later. Relatable with the phrase-
?“A stitch in time saves nine.”
领英推荐
Is Prototype Functional?
A prototype is a working model or sample of a webpage or an app. Prototypes are clickable which makes it easy for everyone to play with the product before it gets finalized for the marketplace.
?Prototyping answers these questions
Types of Prototyping
It works best during the early stage of the design where the team collaborate to get ideas quickly. Team members sketch ideas using lines, shapes and text, aesthetic is not given attention. It is a fast and inexpensive process. The changes can be done very quickly if needed.??
This is also known as a click-through prototype. This depicts the elements on a website’s pages or an app’s screens. It links various screens to have a closer look at the final product. They are not much detailed but give a feel of the final appearance. They are more functional as compared to low-fi prototyping.
They are highly functional and engaging. They include colour, text and other content and take the form of a fully working website; closer to the finished product. It is used in the later stages of the design process. They are computer-based and allow realistic user interactions such as mouse and keyboard.?
Best prototyping tools for UX designer
Having the right prototyping tool is the key to further process. Take a look at some of the best tools
“Developing a prototype early is the number one goal for our designers or anyone else who has an idea, for that matter. We don’t trust until we can see it and feel it.”
?????--Winfred Ng?
So, if you want an interactive simulation which enables the stakeholders, and the clients to go through a closer look and the performance of the final product, make your prototype that keeps the user’s needs in mind. Thus, we understood a prototype handles usability!