Prototype – an experimental model of an idea. Prototyping helps to see if an idea has value. You can prototype your idea in many ways:
Sketching – at the beginning, to visualise the initial idea, to explore different layouts, basic structure and user flow; during further development, more detailed sketches with buttons, images, colour to show your product to customers for feedback, or to redesign layout
Paper prototyping – to plan and simulate user interactions (how users navigate in the app, website or game) and to explore the use of colour, elevation and shadows
Digital prototyping – to show how the final product looks like, to pitch your idea, explain it to people that help you develop it, or test it on your customers. Attention! No coding skills needed! There are many digital prototyping tools – check them out, watch the tutorials and choose your favourite.
Native prototyping – to explore actual technology, to show how the product really works and test it on customers, to get the most accurate feedback to your idea and vision. Attention! Coding skills are necessary!
See videos on different ways of prototyping:
Low–fidelity prototype – sketchy and incomplete prototype for testing, has some characteristics of the final product but is simpler and quicker to complete
Hi-fidelity prototype – interactive, has most of the functions of the real product or design details
Mock-up – a model of a design or product. A mockup is a prototype if it has at least some of the functions of the real product and enables to test it. Mock-ups are used by designers or developers mainly to acquire feedback from users.
Validation – asking yourself and your customers questions about the idea or product, researching the market, learning from feedback and mistakes, collecting and evaluating data in order to check if you are moving in the right direction, and developing a quality product
Wireframe – basic structure of an app, system or website