Low-Fidelity & High-Fidelity Prototyping, what are they? And which one.

Design is the new black. The numbers do not lie.?

User Experience (UX) is a design-led approach to develop a product that will set you head and shoulders above your competitors.

Experience has shown us that user-centred design is the most effective and disruptive way to create a new product. The companies that practise UX outpace their competitors by as much as 25 per cent. Put it this way- companies that lead rely on UX! It's their competitive advantage! You can't just make a product and expect people to use it. Design is all about the user experience and gaining the trust of your audience, so they want to use your product.

Prototyping plays a vital role in the process of creating successful UX. It's a type of design that's so important but so confusing for many product teams. Prototyping is still one of the most confusing parts of the UX Design process and unclear. Let's say it can involve paper forms, sketches or trying to describe an entire app in two minutes.

So, what could we tell you about Prototyping? Well, let's see.

What is a prototype, and more importantly, what isn't it?

The word "prototype" is thrown around a lot in the product development world. It quickly gets lost in the mix, so we're here to help you demystify things. We can define a prototype in the simplest terms:

At its most basic level, a prototype is a proof of concept, a form of condensed speculation. It's a bridge between the design and development process. It allows designers to get their ideas into motion and experience them first-hand. It's an excellent opportunity for collaboration, creativity, and problem-solving. Prototypes are a great way of making sure you are going in the right direction before you start spending money.

In digital products, a prototype simulates the final interaction between the user and the interface. It's not exactly the product, but it behaves exactly like it. For example, a prototype is a simulation of what your app could be. You can compare your vision with what you've made to find the difference and then work towards perfection.

A prototype is NOT a mockup and although they have some elements in common, prototypes and drawings are not the same thing. Confusing wireframes, mockups, and prototypes are why people give for not getting started with user experience design.

Why are Prototypes needed?

Prototyping helps designers to communicate their ideas more clearly. It's a form of rapid Prototyping that quickly (and cheaply) create models to show others. They understand what you want them to do and feel more comfortable with the idea. The primary goal of Prototyping is to find out that your design is ultimately rubbish before you build the real thing. Prototypes are our way of letting ideas' taste test' before making them into a real product.

Your product's success lies in the hands of Pre-testing. When your product comes out to the public, it will be tested on a large scale. If it is launched without being tested, you are very likely to get negative feedback. It's best to do the testing before the launch, get the product flawless and then let it out to the world. It will save you a tremendous amount of time and money!

Prototyping is excellent when looking to ensure that the design concept works as intended. More often than not, this is an easy concept to test with real users. Once real users get a hold of your product, the product team will see exactly how the target audience wants to use the product and then adjust the initial design to suit based on these findings.

Prototyping is also great when you are trying to determine whether potential users can use your product. Prototyping is the solution for finding issues and flaws with your product before launching it. Using a prototype for testing reveals areas that need improvement.

So, let's move on to Fidelity. What is Fidelity?

The prototype of a product will most likely not look like the final product at all. The prototype will likely have a different fidelity, which refers to how it conveys the look and feel of an actual product—putting it very simply, it's level of detail and realism.

Now, Fidelity can vary quite a bit in visual design, content, and interactivity. There are many types of Prototyping ranging anywhere between High & Low Fidelity. Most of the time, product teams will choose the Fidelity of the prototype based on the requirements and goals of the Prototyping, design, and available resources.

Simply what is low-fidelity Prototyping, and what does it involve? What are the benefits and drawbacks?

So you are looking for a quick and easy way to translate high-level design concepts into tangible and testable artefacts? Low-fidelity is your go-to. The most significant rule of all lo-fi prototypes is to check and test functionality rather than the actual look and appearance of the product.

With lo-fi Prototyping, only some of the visual attributes of the final product are presented. Only the key elements are included to be simpler and look and feel different to the final product. An actual human can simulate lo-fi Prototyping. i.e., during a testing session, a human acts as the computer and manually changes the design's state in real-time.

Let's take a look at some pros and cons of Low-Fidelity Prototyping.

Pros:

-???????To put it simply, low-fidelity Prototyping is easy and cheap. It's a cheap, simple way of getting ideas out of your head and into a more tangible format.

-???????A good paper prototype is free, fast to develop, and allows you to get the look and feel of your app up and running in no time.

-???????Speed is a pro for sure. It's possible to credit a lo-fi paper prototype in just 5- 10 minutes and doesn't require anything significant. This is a great way to allow the team to explore ideas without any extreme effort.

-???????Lo-fi Prototyping, because it is so simple, does not require any special skills as such. Therefore, this makes it so more people can be involved, stimulates group work, and allows the team to be collaborative.

-???????It's also a great way to get clarification on a product. Both team members and stakeholders will have a much more apparent expectation.

Cons:

-???????Lo-fi Prototyping does require a large amount of imagination as it is so simple. It may be unclear to test participants what is supposed to work and what isn't. This limited the outcome of user testing somewhat.

-???????Due to the simplicity once again, it has limited interactivity. It's impossible to convey complex animations or transitions using lo-fi Prototyping.

Common ways to practise low-fidelity Prototyping.

There are two super popular low-fidelity prototyping techniques; paper prototyping and clickable wireframes. Both focus on speed and a quick way to iterate design ideas until both the project team and the stakeholders are happy with the basics.

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More on Paper Prototyping:

Essentially, a paper prototype is a whole lot of paper with a few simple instructions.?Paper prototyping allows you to prototype a digital product interface without using digital software.?Different interfaces of a product are created by hand drawing. Given its simplicity, this technique is excellent when the product team need to explore different ideas and refine designs in a short space of time or the early stages of design when a team is still dabbling in a few different approaches.

Paper prototyping is excellent for several reasons. Everyone can sketch! Whether it's a readable sketch is to be debated! But in the end, everyone can sketch. This means that using this paper prototyping technique, everyone can build their version of paper prototypes.

It's also a huge benefit to test your prototypes early; it lets the product team identify the flaws and problems with their product before they become too advanced to handle. Due to the speed and simplicity of Paper Prototyping, this makes an excellent choice.

It's amazing what you can do with Paper prototyping. Different user interface elements can be drawn, cut out, copied, and then assembled. It's even possible to mimic complex interactions such as scrolling! This supports rapid experimentation, which again is excellent for speed.

Paper prototyping is very versatile. Unlike digital prototypes, paper prototypes can be used as a reference for future iterations. Revisions or edits can be written either directly on the prototype or, even better, written on sticky notes and attached to the paper prototype. This can assist in documentation. Seeing the notes and revisions will help designers when they come to create the actual product later down the line.

Change is easy, and even during the testing session, changes can be made with paper prototypes. If designers need to change a part of the product design, they can quickly edit or erase parts of the paper prototype.

However, as marvellous as it sounds, there are natural limitations, and these need to be understood. For example, you will need at least two people to conduct the test. More many, this is no issue. However, it does mean you need an extra staff member on the job. So, for example, tester one will be controlling the prototype and tester two will be testing the product.

If your product is visually complex or highly interactive, then paper prototyping is probably less suitable.?

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More on Clickable Wireframes

What exactly is a wireframe?

It is a visual presentation of a product page that you, as a designer, can arrange page elements. Clickable wireframes are created by linking static wireframes together. They are interactive but the simplest form of an interactive prototype. They are great to use as a foundation for lo-fi prototypes.

Bear in mind that this prototype will not look like your finished product. They do not require a separate person to work as a facilitator during testing, which is a plus against the paper prototypes.

So, what are some of the benefits of Clickable wireframes?

1.????Wireframes can be reused.

2.????Layouts can be easily changes. You can easily edit and adapt your wireframe prototype based on user feedback. Great for testing and repeating the process.

A way we can create low-fidelity prototypes is through using tools for presentations such as PowerPoint or keynote. Although creating these prototypes with tools explicitly made for Prototyping has a considerable advantage, you can move from low Fidelity to a high-fidelity prototype without even switching the prototype tool!

Moving on to High Fidelity (hi-fi) Prototyping

Hi-Fi prototypes appear and function pretty much the same as the actual end product. You will find that teams create hi-fi prototypes when they have a solid understanding of what the end product is likely to be; they will need to either test it with real people or get final design approval from stakeholders.

Hi-Fi Basic Characteristics

-???????Hi-fi prototypes are realistic and detailed in design. The spacing, graphics and interface elements will look precisely like the actual product.

-???????The hi-fi prototype will include most if not all of the content on the final design.

-???????Hi-fi prototypes are incredibly realistic in their interactions.

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Pros of Hi-Fi Prototypes:

The Hi-Fi prototype will often look like actual products to the users, which means that testers will be more likely to behave naturally during usability testing sessions, therefore giving better test results.

-???????It's possible to test graphical elements with Hi-Fi prototypes such as animated transitions and micro-interactions.?

-???????Hi-fi prototypes are great for demonstrations to stakeholders and potential investors, giving them a clear idea of how the product is meant to work. A quality high-fidelity prototype is an easy way to get people enthused about your design in a way that the Lo-fi prototype will not be able to do.

Cons of Hi-Fi Prototypes:

-???????Higher cost. The prototype is a more effective one but doesn't come without the attached price tag. Compared to low-fidelity prototypes, creating a Hi-fi prototype implies higher costs, both temporal and financial.

The Approved techniques

The fact is that every digital prototype is created using a unique tool. Digital prototypes are by far the most common form of Hi-Fi Prototyping. The software allows designers to create visually pleasing powerful prototypes. These prototypes if are full of interactive effects and complex animations.

Why should you use this technique?

First off, specialised software allows designers to preview a prototype digitally. Either in a web browser or on any desktop or mobile device. This is a great help for UX and UI designers to achieve optimal layouts on different devices.

Secondly, High-Fidelity frees the designer from having to clarify concepts during testing. In a nutshell, it's overall more minor clarification during usability testing. It allows the designer to focus on observation instead.

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Coded Prototypes

The closest a prototype can get to the ready-to-release version of the product is a hi-fi coded prototype. Such a prototype allows test participants to explore the products different features. It is a technique recommended for designers who are confident in their coding skills.

One of the main benefits of this technique is familiarity with the platform's constraints. The coding technique allows designers to understand the proper abilities and limitations of the platform they're designing for. For a fully functioning app, the coded prototype can be a good foundation. Unless you build a one-time throw-away prototype, what you build will provide the groundwork for the final product. It will save you a lot of time and energy to use a prototype code for your final product. However, you must understand that Prototyping is all about speed. The goal isn't about creating a useable code; it is more to implement a design that will suit the use and enable them to interact with it as quickly as possible.

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Overall...

Your main overall goal should be to deliver a good user experience. If this is so, then prototy[ing must be a part of your UX design process. It is critical to choose the most suitable and effective method of Prototyping. Ensure that it is minimising workload but maximising learning.

Your overall result? An overall improved design that is based on prototype testing.

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