Prototypes and why you should use them before developing your final product
First, what is a prototype?
I usually say that prototype is the realization of an idea in something physical, tangible.
Just as to build a house we need a blueprint, to create a product / service we also need a “project” to show what we want to do. We call this project prototyping.
The prototype works as a “test” process before the development of the final product. Where we can use and interact with the project, validating hypotheses and improving the user experience, before loosing energy in the development of the final product.
This whole process reduces the risk of launching a bad or failed product/service.
Have you ever had the felling that you create something amazing, but when you show the results to someone, realize that the idea wasn’t good enough? Or could be improved… We get so excited about an idea that,
we don’t even think about the viability of it. This can happen because in ideation everything is possible. Everything works! You think that everyone will like your idea because you believe that everyone is just like you… Well, you are not always the target audience.
Why prototype is important
First, when prototyping is a fast and cheap method to test if the idea will be accepted by others. You save time, money, and people in the development of the product. New products and services not always have enough data to guarantee if they will be a success on the market. Uber, for example, on its first prototype believed that they would work creating black car services more affordable. Travis Kalanick e Garrett Camp, the co - founders, haven’t enough resources and data to prevent the success of the idea, it wasn’t developed by anyone yet. The easiest and fastest method to collect data was researching and creating prototypes, given life to the first MVP of the service. Little by little, the concept of how we know Uber today was born. We can learn from this story that the Uber’s developers didn’t spend years thinking and researching about how to develop the first perfect service to be released. They created their prototype according to the hypotheses they want to validate and test it, adapting the product according to their discovers and feedback from users. It took years to develop the concept of how we know Uber today.
The second point why prototyping is important, and why companies should do it, is low cost of development. During the prototype phase fewer teams are participating in the creation process, in the end the cost of the product is low. It is so much easier to change the layout of your prototype app than change an app in development. During the final development simultaneous teams get involved on the process: marketing, business, developers, customer service… It takes a lot of time to approve a change if something goes wrong on the product.
How to do an effective prototype?
Prototypes serve to test whether everything you imagine will work in the physical world. So for a prototype to be effective it is necessary to focus on the correct flow, interaction, or communication you aim to test. Remember is a “simulation of the reality” if I want to test all the flows and interactions of the Home page I have to focus on the development of this interaction and not the FAQ questions page. Therefore, the most important part is to understand what are you testing.
What goal do I want to achieve by testing some flow, interaction, etc.?
Only to create your prototype isn’t enough. It is necessary to know how to collect data and insights of your project in a way to develop a better quality final product. Test your prototypes based on information or hypotheses you are guessing during the process. The prototype aim to confirm if your questions are right or wrong. Testing produces concrete data, not a guess, helping you to improve your design and product.
In short, prototypes is to test, miss, learn and share with your team the results, making it easier to understand why a particular idea worked or not, before the team got too attached to a new product.
What about you? What methods do you use to collect data and insights of a prototype?
Here are some tips and references that I learn about effective prototypes:
Book: Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days — Jake Knapp
Course: Prototyping Techniques for UX Design, Pluralsight
Articles: The Story Behind Uber: How Uber Started — RideGuru Team
Why prototyping is a must for designers | by Alastair Simpson | Designing Atlassian
About Me:
I majored in Architecture with complementary courses in UX Design. I’m fascinated with the design process and technology, and I’m having fun working with UX/UI Design.
Currently, I’m UI/UX Designer at Avanade Brazil.
Portuguese version : Protótipos e o porquê de usa-los antes de desenvolver seu produto final. | by Beatriz Gonzales
