Table of Contents
Overview:-
- Explore the different types of prototypes that a designer must know.
- 14 types of prototypes are discussed in this blog.
- Learn why knowing about these different prototypes is necessary.
A prototype is really important for any product, even physical ones. It is like a sample representation of the final product that you are going to create which can be a web apps, apps, software, digital products, physical products, or anything.
Forbes highlights this process as the most important process in any kind of project because of its advantages
This blog will cover the types of prototypes with respect to user interface designs of digital products like an app, web apps, or a software. The reason why it is important to know about these types will be discussed later in this blog.
3 Basic Types of Prototypes
When you learn about prototypes, there are 3 basic types of prototypes that you should understand first before you see others. They are
- Low-fidelity prototype
- Medium-fidelity prototype
- High-fidelity prototype
These are the basic types that a designer should know about before they start to design a prototype for mobile app, web apps, software, or any digital product.
1. Low Fidelity Prototype
Low-fidelity prototype is the lowest level of a prototype which consists of only the simplest details. It is referred to as the bare-bones version or minimalistic version of the final end product, or in this case, the final design.
It is commonly carried out in the initial stages of prototyping and created either with a digital tool or drawn by hand with a pen and paper. An example of low low-fidelity prototype is a wireframe.
It is used to easily illustrate the structure and placements in a design. This is used mostly for brainstorming ideas and collaboration. This is an easy, quick, and cost-effective way to validate ideas in the early stages.
2. Medium Fidelity Prototype
Next, we have the Medium fidelity prototype. This is the next level of prototype and has a little more detail than the previous one. This prototype will have some design elements which starts to resemble the final designs but not completely.
This prototype shows us the navigation and interactivity of the final design. You need to create the medium-fidelity prototypes only after creating the low-fidelity prototype first and addressing the basic issues in that.
These prototypes will not have any fancy designs or elements that will be present in the end product. They will be designed using generic fonts, shapes, etc. An example of a medium-fidelity prototype is a mockup.
3. High Fidelity Prototype
The high-fidelity prototype is at the highest level where it resembles the final design of the user interface. It has all the features, designs, and interactivity that is to be present in the final design.
This prototype is used in meetings with stakeholders for presentation. The UI design is presented in the actual dimensions of the device. If the UI is designed for a laptop, then the high-level prototype will be displayed in the actual dimensions of a laptop screen.
This is the final step where all aspects of the designs are verified and the remaining issues are addressed before implementing it in the final product. A high-fidelity prototype is the one that is generally referred as the prototype or as a digital prototype.
Contact our expert teams today and make your prototype ideas into a reality.
Other Types of Prototype
Since the basic types of prototypes are completed let’s move on to other different prototypes that will be really helpful to know about. The prototypes that will be covered in this section are:
1. Sketches and Diagrams
This is basically a low-fidelity prototype.
Sketches and diagrams are the basic prototyping activities which are mostly hand-drawn on a paper either as a rough sketch or a formal and professional one using rulers and with perfect alignments. It can also be done with the use of simple tools.
Whatever the case, it does not need much artistic skills to draw one. This type of prototype is used in the beginning of a process to form a concept and share it with the team to gather more ideas.
2. Feasibility
This type of prototype helps to check the viability of a concept or a design and identify any issues earlier before implementing it in the final design.
If a designer discovers a critical component or idea that was overlooked, they can use the feasibility prototype to experiment and adapt the design flexibly as new concepts emerge. Basically, it acts as a testing ground for integrating and validating new features before incorporating them into the final design.
3. Working Model
These prototypes will help you to see the actual working of the product and check if the design works really well.
These are fully functional prototypes that allows a designer or the stakeholder to see and verify the designs and the functionality.
4. Video Prototype
Video prototypes can be either animated videos or a simulation of the user interface design.
It helps you to visualize the designs and the working of the product.
5. Horizontal
This prototype is used to show the front-end design as viewed by an end-user.
Using a horizontal prototype allows you to test the external functionality and the aesthetics (look and feel).
This type of prototype will have windows, screens, and menus to check how a user will interact with it.
6. Vertical
Vertical prototypes are used to check the complete functionality and working of the digital product.
This prototype is very much similar to the final product and is used only in later stages of the prototyping process.
This type of prototyping is used to verify if the final product works as expected and to gather the initial feedback, concerning both its design and its overall working.
7. Paper Interface
As you might have guessed, paper interfaces or prototypes are presented on a paper and is more or less similar to sketches and diagram prototypes discussed before. Paper prototypes are also useful at the initial stages of prototyping.
This type of prototyping is used to see the basic layout and the user flow of the end product. You can create these types of prototype quickly and without spending much.
8. Storyboards
Storyboarding is a technique commonly used in movies and television. Similar to that, storyboard prototypes are used for visualizing and communicating user experiences.
By creating a sequence of images or sketches, designers can depict how users interact with the user interface.
When you use a storyboard you get a clear understanding of user needs, tasks, and goals. Moreover, you get new ideas and it improves collaboration among the team.
9. Wizard of Oz Prototypes
Wizard of Oz Prototypes, derived from the famous book Wizard of Oz, is a prototype where the functions of the digital product are faked. To be more clear, the functionalities or the interactions in the product may seem automatic (computer generated), but in reality, it will be controlled by a person at the back end.
For example, if you are going to build a chatbot, the interface can be designed and a human can respond to user inputs behind the scenes during testing. This helps to verify the flow and design of the interface before implementing the actual chatbot logic.
10. User-Driven Prototypes
In this type of prototype, instead of an actual designer, the end user is allowed to design the UI to learn more in detail about how the user thinks.
Using this user-generated designs, the actual UI designers will enhance the UI but the user’s exact design will not be used.
11. Digital Prototypes
Digital Prototypes is a type of high-fidelity prototype that is designed using special prototype tools like Figma. These types of prototypes are very much similar to the actual end product that needs to be developed.
They are used to test the usability of the end product since they closely resemble its functionality and design. These are also used in collecting accurate user feedback and presenting it to the stakeholders.
Conclusion
It is important to know about the types because it can help you pick the right one for your next project. Each prototype has its own advantages and uniqueness, so knowing about these types will help you easily choose the one that is needed for your project.
When you create a prototype that aligns with your project, the process becomes efficient and your designs will be a success. Remember, you do not need to create all types of prototype for your product, design only the ones that fits your project.
If you are still confused about the types of prototyping that you need; what to create or how to create it, we are here to help. You can contact Soft Suave, an offshore software development company with a decade of experience. Our skilled designers and developers can deliver high-quality prototypes, better than what you had in mind. So connect with our experts and share your requirements today.
Contact Soft Suave for Expert Assistance and experience unparalleled expertise!
Verified Expert
8 Years of experienceTable of Contents
Overview:-
- Explore the different types of prototypes that a designer must know.
- 14 types of prototypes are discussed in this blog.
- Learn why knowing about these different prototypes is necessary.
A prototype is really important for any product, even physical ones. It is like a sample representation of the final product that you are going to create which can be a web apps, apps, software, digital products, physical products, or anything.
Forbes highlights this process as the most important process in any kind of project because of its advantages
This blog will cover the types of prototypes with respect to user interface designs of digital products like an app, web apps, or a software. The reason why it is important to know about these types will be discussed later in this blog.
3 Basic Types of Prototypes
When you learn about prototypes, there are 3 basic types of prototypes that you should understand first before you see others. They are
- Low-fidelity prototype
- Medium-fidelity prototype
- High-fidelity prototype
These are the basic types that a designer should know about before they start to design a prototype for mobile app, web apps, software, or any digital product.
1. Low Fidelity Prototype
Low-fidelity prototype is the lowest level of a prototype which consists of only the simplest details. It is referred to as the bare-bones version or minimalistic version of the final end product, or in this case, the final design.
It is commonly carried out in the initial stages of prototyping and created either with a digital tool or drawn by hand with a pen and paper. An example of low low-fidelity prototype is a wireframe.
It is used to easily illustrate the structure and placements in a design. This is used mostly for brainstorming ideas and collaboration. This is an easy, quick, and cost-effective way to validate ideas in the early stages.
2. Medium Fidelity Prototype
Next, we have the Medium fidelity prototype. This is the next level of prototype and has a little more detail than the previous one. This prototype will have some design elements which starts to resemble the final designs but not completely.
This prototype shows us the navigation and interactivity of the final design. You need to create the medium-fidelity prototypes only after creating the low-fidelity prototype first and addressing the basic issues in that.
These prototypes will not have any fancy designs or elements that will be present in the end product. They will be designed using generic fonts, shapes, etc. An example of a medium-fidelity prototype is a mockup.
3. High Fidelity Prototype
The high-fidelity prototype is at the highest level where it resembles the final design of the user interface. It has all the features, designs, and interactivity that is to be present in the final design.
This prototype is used in meetings with stakeholders for presentation. The UI design is presented in the actual dimensions of the device. If the UI is designed for a laptop, then the high-level prototype will be displayed in the actual dimensions of a laptop screen.
This is the final step where all aspects of the designs are verified and the remaining issues are addressed before implementing it in the final product. A high-fidelity prototype is the one that is generally referred as the prototype or as a digital prototype.
Contact our expert teams today and make your prototype ideas into a reality.
Other Types of Prototype
Since the basic types of prototypes are completed let’s move on to other different prototypes that will be really helpful to know about. The prototypes that will be covered in this section are:
1. Sketches and Diagrams
This is basically a low-fidelity prototype.
Sketches and diagrams are the basic prototyping activities which are mostly hand-drawn on a paper either as a rough sketch or a formal and professional one using rulers and with perfect alignments. It can also be done with the use of simple tools.
Whatever the case, it does not need much artistic skills to draw one. This type of prototype is used in the beginning of a process to form a concept and share it with the team to gather more ideas.
2. Feasibility
This type of prototype helps to check the viability of a concept or a design and identify any issues earlier before implementing it in the final design.
If a designer discovers a critical component or idea that was overlooked, they can use the feasibility prototype to experiment and adapt the design flexibly as new concepts emerge. Basically, it acts as a testing ground for integrating and validating new features before incorporating them into the final design.
3. Working Model
These prototypes will help you to see the actual working of the product and check if the design works really well.
These are fully functional prototypes that allows a designer or the stakeholder to see and verify the designs and the functionality.
4. Video Prototype
Video prototypes can be either animated videos or a simulation of the user interface design.
It helps you to visualize the designs and the working of the product.
5. Horizontal
This prototype is used to show the front-end design as viewed by an end-user.
Using a horizontal prototype allows you to test the external functionality and the aesthetics (look and feel).
This type of prototype will have windows, screens, and menus to check how a user will interact with it.
6. Vertical
Vertical prototypes are used to check the complete functionality and working of the digital product.
This prototype is very much similar to the final product and is used only in later stages of the prototyping process.
This type of prototyping is used to verify if the final product works as expected and to gather the initial feedback, concerning both its design and its overall working.
7. Paper Interface
As you might have guessed, paper interfaces or prototypes are presented on a paper and is more or less similar to sketches and diagram prototypes discussed before. Paper prototypes are also useful at the initial stages of prototyping.
This type of prototyping is used to see the basic layout and the user flow of the end product. You can create these types of prototype quickly and without spending much.
8. Storyboards
Storyboarding is a technique commonly used in movies and television. Similar to that, storyboard prototypes are used for visualizing and communicating user experiences.
By creating a sequence of images or sketches, designers can depict how users interact with the user interface.
When you use a storyboard you get a clear understanding of user needs, tasks, and goals. Moreover, you get new ideas and it improves collaboration among the team.
9. Wizard of Oz Prototypes
Wizard of Oz Prototypes, derived from the famous book Wizard of Oz, is a prototype where the functions of the digital product are faked. To be more clear, the functionalities or the interactions in the product may seem automatic (computer generated), but in reality, it will be controlled by a person at the back end.
For example, if you are going to build a chatbot, the interface can be designed and a human can respond to user inputs behind the scenes during testing. This helps to verify the flow and design of the interface before implementing the actual chatbot logic.
10. User-Driven Prototypes
In this type of prototype, instead of an actual designer, the end user is allowed to design the UI to learn more in detail about how the user thinks.
Using this user-generated designs, the actual UI designers will enhance the UI but the user’s exact design will not be used.
11. Digital Prototypes
Digital Prototypes is a type of high-fidelity prototype that is designed using special prototype tools like Figma. These types of prototypes are very much similar to the actual end product that needs to be developed.
They are used to test the usability of the end product since they closely resemble its functionality and design. These are also used in collecting accurate user feedback and presenting it to the stakeholders.
Conclusion
It is important to know about the types because it can help you pick the right one for your next project. Each prototype has its own advantages and uniqueness, so knowing about these types will help you easily choose the one that is needed for your project.
When you create a prototype that aligns with your project, the process becomes efficient and your designs will be a success. Remember, you do not need to create all types of prototype for your product, design only the ones that fits your project.
If you are still confused about the types of prototyping that you need; what to create or how to create it, we are here to help. You can contact Soft Suave, an offshore software development company with a decade of experience. Our skilled designers and developers can deliver high-quality prototypes, better than what you had in mind. So connect with our experts and share your requirements today.
Contact Soft Suave for Expert Assistance and experience unparalleled expertise!
