Choosing the Ideal Prototype for your Digital Business
Sanam Malhotra | 23rd May 2019
Testing saves time, efforts, and most importantly money. Digital designers understand the value of rigorous testing cycles in producing an appealing and functional design. The process behind responsive web design services involves countless rounds of prototype designing before releasing the final product.
However, the choice between a static and fully interactive prototype largely depends on the digital requirements of your business. An ideal prototype must reflect the brand’s core objectives and simultaneously engage the user until the desired goal is achieved.
This blog post simplifies the choice between a low and high fidelity prototype in web design services.
Understanding Prototypes and their Fidelity
A prototype is a demo version of the final product. Prototypes are used to test the content, functionality, features, and navigation of the final design. The process of creating a prototype begins right after the synchronization of business goals and user preferences. Testing usability with prototypes is the most critical phase in designing. The process brings all the design failures to the surface before it is set in code.
Generally, random users are selected to test the design’s usability. However, the methodology of designing a prototype differs from one industry business to another.
There are multiple ways to design a prototype. For instance-
- Simple hand-drawn sketches on paper.
- Static screen displays created with Flinto or Brief.
- Clickable or interactive prototypes built using Axure and other tools.
Fidelity of a prototype is measured by its level of responsiveness to the user’s actions. It means that if the flow from one screen to another is directed manually, it is called a low-fidelity prototype. However, tasks, animations, and other design elements of a high-fidelity prototype are clickable and respond to every possible user action automatically.
Your Ideal Prototype for responsive web design services
Business Requirements |
Low Fidelity Prototype |
High Fidelity Prototype |
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Content |
It includes only a brief description or dummy content of the actual text, images, and icons.
They are best suited for projects that require a minimal role of content to accomplish final tasks.
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The content appears in its actual and entire form, including the images, text, and other design elements.
Businesses should invest in hi-fi prototypes if their websites support dynamic content that needs thorough testing to map user engagement.
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Visuals and navigation |
All major and minor animations, color schemes, and design effects such as hybrid and parallax scrolls are omitted here.
If users are least affected by the white-and-black experience of the product, businesses can consider low-fi prototypes as a reasonable option.
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It presents the alignment, spacing, hover effects, and other minuscule design elements just as it will appear in the live design.
Furthermore, it is a time-taking and expensive process. Thus, even with the right amount of resources and expertise, it stretches project completion indefinitely.
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Interactivity |
The buttons and links are not active and thus the user flow is controlled by another person.
It breaks user navigation after every click and thus makes the process comparatively slow and difficult to connect with.
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All the buttons, targets, and links work automatically, hence smooth UI.
The user flow is maintained without human errors, while interaction can be improved simultaneously.
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Conclusion
It is indispensable for a UI UX design company to first understand the urgency, resources, and the expertise required for a project. Although paper prototypes are both time and cost effective, designers may not be able to fix the issues accurately. On the other hand, high-fidelity prototypes are the closest replica of the final design. Therefore, it requires substantial financial and time investments. Consequently, the decision depends on the business objectives, product’s utility span, and the bandwidth of UI/UX design and development services.
Oodles Studio provides responsive web design services for diverse online businesses across the globe. Talk to our UX experts to evaluate which is a better choice to meet your online business requirements
