The prototype itself determines the performance and usability of the project that we want to release to the market soon. Prototyping can be used as the first stage of experimentation in the product development process. For an entrepreneur, it is the first chance to show their idea to users. Prototypes come in many different forms, but each one is created to test the basic design concept.
Why use digital prototypes?
Apart from the obvious – testing your product idea with real customers – prototypes can be very helpful in gaining commitment from investors. Any funding proposal you make will be seriously boosted by a tangible version of your product. Because there is almost no coding in the prototype, it will be much lighter to fix these mistakes at this stage than to solve the same problem later.
Prototyping is the art of illusion, as you create something that only appears to be a product but isn’t (or is only one aspect of a product) in order to gather feedback that will tell you whether or not your basic concept is worth pursuing. With digital prototypes, you have the chance to save not only time, but also money in the likely investment of a project that could have been a failure.
If you have your idea for a digital product a very interesting solution for you will be the opportunity to test its full capabilities. In addition, prototypes can take different forms (paper, video, digital).
How does prototyping work?
During testing, a useful user interface (UI) concept is developed (possibly using a clickable mock-up prototype), which then leads to a product design for which options are tested using moodboards. Skeleton models are developed to explore different UI ideas and the basic structure of the product architecture is defined. Also very important in this process is the product foundation using tools such as business model canvas, product vision workshop.
Additionally, this is the first exploration of the product concept, building a strong and shared understanding of the product vision. At the very end, Boldare builds a clickable product prototype for presentation and testing, using HTML/CSS or JS to approximate the final product experience.
