What is prototyping?

What is prototyping?

Making ideas tangible is fundamental. This already starts in an ideation session when it comes to developing initial ideas. Instead of discussing an idea at length, it makes sense to look for rudimentary sketches and comparable visual examples so that everyone in the room is talking about the same thing. If an idea is only discussed in text form, this triggers a different mental movie for everyone, which makes it difficult to evaluate ideas and their potential.

How realistic a prototype should be depends heavily on the objective. Simple sketches and paper prototypes are sufficient when it comes to an initial response. If a product is to be tested on the market, then the prototype should be very realistic. 

Prototyping often involves creating a clickable UX design, but there are many more options. Prototypes are also needed for physical products such as new food & drink, real estate or service concepts. Valuable customer feedback should be obtained at an early stage, especially for products with high development costs. This can prevent a lot of money and resources being wasted on an idea that nobody wants. It is advisable to make packaging design mock-ups look very real or to create real estate renderings that convey the mood of the concept in order to obtain valid market feedback.

Definition of prototyping

Prototyping makes ideas tangible. It is an experimental process for testing ideas and concepts with customers. Companies that have integrated prototyping into their process save costs and resources as they test desirability and functionality at an early stage.

Tom and David Kelley from IDEO have perfectly summarized the importance of prototyping with the following words:

‍

"If a picture is worth more than 1,000 words, a prototype is worth more than 1,000 meetings."

The implementation of prototyping in the development process may initially be perceived by many companies as somewhat expensive and slow. However, the leading consulting agency IDEO has proven exactly the opposite:

‍

"By taking the time to prototype our ideas, we avoid costly mistakes such as getting too complex too early or holding on to a weak idea for too long."

- Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO

‍

‍

When does which type of prototyping make sense?

In the development of new ideas, prototypes make sense in every phase and prototypes should be built on an ongoing basis. Depending on the stage of the development process, the available resources and the sprint goals, it should be decided which form of prototype makes sense. 

If the goal is to give the team and potential users an initial idea of the solution, a paper prototype that still looks very schematic and abstract (low-fidelity) might be sufficient. If the goal is to test the prototype with end customers to see how desirable it is or how they interact with it, the prototype should look as realistic as possible (medium to high fidelity).

The advantages of the various prototype fidelity levels at a glance

‍

Low-fidelity prototype

Typically made from paper, craft materials, Lego, theater (for a service idea)

Objective: To test whether an idea has a solid basis and is fundamentally understood

Advantages of low-fidelity prototypes:

• fast
• inexpensive
• easy to revise
  ‍

‍

‍

Medium fidelity prototype

Typically implemented digitally with a focus on function and not elaborate branding design

Objective: To test whether an idea is understood and functional

Advantages of medium-fidelity prototypes:

• Screen Flows come to life
• Focus on functionality
• No distraction through elaborate UI design with branding etc. 
• Economic efficiency can be estimated

‍

‍

High-fidelity prototype

Typically a fidelity like a realistic purchasable product, a 3D model with branding, a clickable website/app 

Objective: To test whether a product is well received on the market before it goes into production. 

They are well suited to gaining real customer feedback. At this level, clear statements can be made about desirability, as the prototype feels like the final product. They help to release the design before production/implementation begins. 

Advantages of high-fidelity prototypes:

• Looks like the final product, except that it is not yet produced/coded at the factory
• Rich interactions with different customer journeys are possible
• The customer does not need any imagination. "What you see is what you get"
• Customer feedback is real, marketability can be tested
• Profitability can be calculated

‍

Pitfalls

High-fidelity prototypes can simply simulate things that are then costly and time-consuming in the final implementation. Ideally, a specialist from development is already involved in the iterations, who can assess the technical feasibility and costs.

‍

‍

‍

‍

Conclusion

Test early and with little effort to test the potential of an idea. Use the appropriate visual prototypes to obtain customer feedback. Customer feedback has become indispensable in the development of new ideas and should definitely be included in the process right from the start. This requires the right fidelity level of prototypes according to the issue at hand. Start early with simple paper prototypes. The more mature the idea becomes, the more realistic the prototype should be in order to test the marketability of an idea. This development process usually takes a few weeks. Prototyping can save a lot of time and money. This is because prototyping involves early testing and an iterative approach in order to create products and services that can survive on the market. 

‍

If you also have a great passion for prototyping, then let's talk! I look forward to hearing from you.