Product Manager, Creatie · 10 min read · Aug 21, 2024
You’ve got a few ideas for what your final user interface is going to look like, and you want to see them in practice before fully investing and committing to code. Or maybe you’re already envisioning the perfect layout but you need stakeholder sign-off, and all the words in the world can’t help them see what you’re seeing.
In short, you need to create a design prototype.
In this article, you’ll learn exactly how. We’ll discuss what prototypes are and why it’s critical to create a functional prototype to work more efficiently, gain stakeholder buy-in, and integrate user feedback and data into the final design.
Then, of course, we’ll dive into ten steps to guide you through how to create a prototype for your next design idea.
What is a prototype in design?
In design circles, a prototype is an early version of a design idea that you build specifically to test something.
Most commonly, designers use prototypes to test whether or not the concept they have in mind actually works or whether it is impractical or ineffective. Design prototypes can also be used to test:
A new design process, workflow, or tool
Technical limitations associated with a concept
Usability and what users think
Designers often choose between two types of prototypes: low-fidelity and high-fidelity prototypes.
Low-fidelity prototypes are fast to create but are further away from what the final design will look and feel like. They can be simple sketches made with pen and paper or a tablet.
Digital prototypes may include some basic transitions between screens or other simplified interactivity like clickable wireframes. These prototypes are best for visually conveying an idea with just enough detail to provide proof of the concept.
High-fidelity prototypes are the opposite.
Traditionally, they take longer to create but are much closer to what the finished product will look like. They might focus on evaluating a specific feature during the design process—for instance, if there are potential technical limitations.
We use the term “traditionally” because modern tools are beginning to bridge the gap between low- and high-fidelity prototypes. They also provide enough fidelity for user testing so that designers can integrate feedback and user data into the final design.
Thanks to AI-powered design solutions like Creatie, producing high-fidelity digital prototypes is no longer time-consuming. This reduces the need to use low-fidelity prototypes as an initial option.
The point of developing a working prototype is to test and validate ideas without investing in the full design cycle. This allows you to iterate faster, try out unique or creative concepts, get user input at an earlier stage, and reach an effective final design more quickly.
There are a few important reasons why prototyping should be a regular part of your design process:
Concept validation
A working prototype can help you demonstrate that UI concepts are practical and that you can achieve them. You can even use low-fidelity prototypes to test core usability and validate assumptions before investing further resources.
User feedback and usability testing
Higher-fidelity prototypes can help you gather feedback on a UI’s usability, without finalizing specific design aspects like color palettes and call-to-action (CTA) highlights or converting it into code.
This helps designers make more user-centered UX and design decisions as your end users are involved at a much earlier stage.
Risk mitigation
A solid prototyping process can help your design team predict and prevent potential flaws before you have invested too much into a given project or concept.
This is especially important in very complex or novel designs, where technical boundaries and, perhaps, even resource limitations might render certain ideas unviable.
Stakeholder buy-in
Design prototypes play an integral part in the product development process, helping design teams better communicate ideas with stakeholders using their prototype as a proof of concept. Not only can this help you gain approval or budget to proceed, but it can also be an opportunity to capture early stakeholder feedback.
This is particularly helpful when your stakeholders aren’t design people and need to see your concept in a real-world context in order to properly understand it.
Enhanced creativity
The prototyping process can also give designers space to experiment with more creative or novel designs. Without the idea that what they are building has to be a presentable final product, designers have more creative freedom, which can yield unique solutions and more interesting design layouts that break the mold.
The 10 steps to create a prototype
Creating your first design prototype?
Your exact path might vary, but these steps are a good framework from which to start.
1. Define your objectives and requirements
Assuming that you’ve already got a new product idea in mind, your first step is to clearly define your goals for creating a product prototype as well as any core functionality that it needs to have.
What do you want the prototype design to achieve? Is the goal, for instance, to engage in early user experience testing or just to demonstrate the concept visually to seek stakeholder sign-off?
Your answers influence how detailed the prototype development process will be.
If you’re just looking for sign-off, then your first prototype might be a simple digital sketch. If you need to get your target audience involved, a more functional prototype might be in order.
2. Research customers and competitors
Step two—before you begin the product design process itself—is to engage in market research.
Your customers are a good starting point here. Review historical data on how they’ve interacted with your UIs and consider capturing feedback using surveys or interviews.
Startups and small businesses that don’t have a large existing customer base can leverage competitors for the same research. If you’re designing a product, you might even engage in user research using a competitor’s tool to understand design flaws or UX issues. This will help you create a more competitive finished product.
3. Start with some initial concepts
Consider sketching out what you have in mind so you have something visual from which to work.
For example, you might pull out a pen and paper—or a tablet and stylus—and lay out a wireframe for your UI. You might even be able to convert this sketch into a proper design with an AI tool.
If you need to bring on some new tools to get the job done, here’s your moment to do so.
5. Develop a low-fidelity prototype
Depending on what you defined as your prototyping goals, you might decide to first build a lower-fidelity prototype.
For example, a simple wireframe, with limited coloration and imagery, might be sufficient to demonstrate usability, which could help you validate a design concept without spending too much time on it.
AI-powered design tools can help you create low-fidelity prototypes.
You can use solutions like Uizard to scan hand-drawn sketches and digitize them, for instance.
You could also take Creatie Wizard, drag a frame around an area you’re having trouble with, and generate dozens of realistic design ideas with just a few simple text prompts.
If you integrate your existing design library, Creatie will also bring over your existing components and design styles to the AI-generated suggestions it produces.
6. Gain stakeholder buy-in
If you have invested clients or internal stakeholders to gain approval from, this is a good time to get buy-in or feedback before you invest more time and resources into a higher-fidelity prototype.
If there are some changes requested, you can make them on the low-fidelity prototype and get a final sign-off, or you can simply integrate them as part of the next stage.
You might also wish to add a second approval stage after completing the higher-fidelity prototype, depending on how engaged your stakeholders want or need to be.
7. Prepare to move into the official design phase
Now that you’ve validated your concept with a low-fidelity prototype and gained buy-in and approval from stakeholders, you can move forward with the official design phase.
You’ll then leverage this design into a high-fidelity prototype.
8. Advance to a high-fidelity prototype
With your stakeholders on board, you can move forward to a higher-fidelity prototype.
Your goal here is to be able to validate designs with users and to facilitate a better handoff to developers once user testing is complete.
This might involve adding more realistic and detailed images, and other visual elements, experimenting with color options, or investing in making the prototype more interactive and closer to a finished product.
9. Engage in user testing and feedback
If user testing was one of your primary reasons behind creating the prototype—maybe just to get stakeholder buy-in—here’s where you can dive into that.
You might:
Set up a screen recording solution to watch how users interact with a UI.
Ask specification questions to gather feedback such as which elements were most poignant or memorable.
Use a heat mapping tool to see where the design attracts users.
Dev mode is a workspace in Creatie designed specifically to ease the design handoff. It’s completely free (unlike in other design tools like Figma) and supports a number of feature modules for improving dev effects such as unit settings and code snippets.
Leveraging your prototype for a more effective final product
As you start work on the design proper, your prototype can serve not only as inspiration but also as the basis for your final design.
Your learnings concerning feasibility and usability, as well as any feedback from user testing, all funnel into the final result. Modern design tools can help you integrate them with ease.
Say, for example, that a major learning during the testing phase was that your CTAs weren’t attracting eyeballs. You could use Creatie Wizard to suggest different design ideas that highlight CTAs and attract clicks.
Alternatively, you could go a step further and highlight an area of your current design with a marquee and tell Creatie Wizard exactly what your usability testing told you needs to change. Our AI system will then quickly generate additional options based on your design goals.
Enable rapid prototyping with Creatie
Knowing how to create a prototype is one thing. Having the tools to generate a high-fidelity prototype and then quickly iterate on it is another. You could do this based on user testing and feedback, which is what drives effective, scalable UI design.
Creatie, our AI-first design suite, helps designers lower prototype production costs and ramp up speed and scalability, using powerful features like:
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