Mobile App Prototyping: Ideate, Refine, Test at an Early Stage

 

“A Prototype is an integral part of an App Design and User Experience.”

Planning to create an app? Great!

Then you might be surrounded by words and concepts like:
App Idea. App Design. App Navigation. App Features. App Testing…

Wait. 

Did you miss the crucial element, App Prototyping?
An app’s prototype helps you shape the final designs of the App Idea before entering the Development phase.

If your business is pressing concerns upon deriving enhanced user experience via mobile apps, rapid app prototyping is an unavoidable part of the app development and plays a central role in making it a perfect and an ideal one.

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A Prototype?
Is an experiment done on a proposed solution to test and validate the ideas or assumptions or other conceptualization aspects cheaply and promptly to devise real-time feasibility?

App Prototyping?
Is the simplest technique to preview an application in its raw form, with attributes concerned with the most basic features like the look, design, elementary traits, functionality, color, etc. without the need to step into programming.

Rapid Prototyping?
Is a process of developing a full-scale, high-level schema or a detailed paradigm of a product as fast as possible which may involve 3D product models as per their feasibility. 

Why App Prototyping?
Can you imagine building an airplane without developing its reference visual model, priorly?

Likewise, it’s impossible to initiate or plan a project’s workings without constructing and concreting a roadmap of prototyping an application.

[Prefer Reading: “Top 10 Trends that Define the Future of Mobile Applications in 2020 & Beyond”]

Mobile App Prototyping: Advantages at their Best

“A Mobile App Prototype allows us to test and validate ideas quickly, thus, improving the overall app concept in an equally timely manner.” 

In all digital projects it is necessary (or would be highly recommended) to have a prototype, since these allow to experiment and turn a desire or a need into something tangible. In mobile app development, it has a supreme roleplay in building and creating the best of the app idea.

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How mobile app prototypes Fine-Tune the Application?

#Enhance App’s UI/UX

Prototyping helps shape customer requirements and user needs. Given that after the implementation of UX research techniques and the creation of the information architecture, it is possible to develop a more or less realistic version of the digital product in question.

#Interpersonal Communication

Creating an app prototype allows us to build digital products with certain fidelity, depending on the prototype, and it serves as a means of communication between departments or tech personnel involved in the same project.

#Far-Sighted Insights

Usually, prototypes are very useful for development teams since they allow a visual understanding of the project and its magnitude, helping to explore other options and allowing them to overcome problems in the future.

#Project Estimation

Likewise, they allow a better estimate of the time necessary for development taking into account all the functionalities involved in the project and also the visual design of the project.

#Truncate Unexpected Work

Making an app prototype saves loads of time and work and further eliminates the possibilities of rework, allowing designers and technicians to analyze closely the app infrastructure and functionality and whether it’s necessary to optimize its design, appearance, and usability.

The prototypes, in addition to being very useful for all the members of the project, save a lot of time spent preparing functional documents or holding long meetings. Since its elaboration specifies the functionalities in a timely manner and allows the validations of the functionalities to be easier.

#Mutual Client-Company Benefits

Furthermore, the dedicated advantage of investing in a prototype is that it adds value to all project stakeholders, both the client, the technical team, and the design group, thereby,  keeping everyone aligned and facilitating collaborative decision making.

[Prefer Reading: X-Purpose Ready to Use Online Delivery Mobile App [Grocery, Food, Pharmacy, And More]

The Realm of Prototyping

In the same way, as the end-users are the true protagonists of the UX research phase, the client must be an active participant in the prototyping phase. 

And as we proceed forward, it becomes significant to demonstrate, make presentations, explain functionalities, and basic features of the digital product to the target audience or the customers.

In parallel, it is also important that clients have the possibility of interacting with the prototypes themselves, once the presentation and doubts have been resolved. For this reason, it is vitally important that prototyping tools allow not only the easy sharing of prototypes but also generate a real sense of the final behavior of users.

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For this, it is advisable to include interactions related to the main actions or navigation of the tool in the prototypes. However, depending on the project requirements, low, medium or high-fidelity wire-frames can be created which require more or less dedication and time. 

The classification can be defined as:

#Low Fidelity

When an idea or draft is digitized with hands without including too much detail.
It’s less elaborated and focuses on representing less functionality rather than UI.

#Medium Loyalty

When product information, content, and some basic interactions are taken into account.
It generally focuses on visualizing app content and a few static/dynamic features.

#High Fidelity

When not only content is prioritized, but animations, visual design, and micro-interactions are also valued.

These are more detailed and interactive and show close resemblance with the final product and used to test the app’s usability to refine user experience at its best.

[Prefer Reading: “Growth Hacking: A One-Stop Solution for Rapid Business Expansion.”]

Why we need to Prototype?

Infinite Possibilities. Foreshorten Development Time. Awe-Inspiring User Experience.

Don’t start the house with the roof!
You must have a well-defined sketch or blueprint ready before you start programming a single line of code and this is the core principle followed by NetSet professionals while they are at work.

Early Research doesn’t Accommodate Everything

The early stages of collecting data and information form the foundation of the project’s success yet doesn’t inform everything that is needed to build an optimal solution. 

Well-done research and analysis, gathering significant data or ideation sessions can simply streamline the process, but verifying and validating that exceptional idea through testing is mandatory.

Prototyping reveals great assumptions and biases towards the app idea and can help in unfolding insights about its practical implementations and its impact on user experience. One can also explore problem areas in interfaces, products.services using prototyping as a form of research and eliminate ill-defined or unknown issues.

To Define, Ideate & Test

Prototyping enables you to explore alternative solutions. Whether you are defining, ideating, or even testing, you can get enormous possibilities to iterate or modify the initial idea based on real-time implementation. 

Thinking by doing and doing by thinking both runs in parallel in the prototyping phase and helps in deriving value from the actual purpose of app prototyping. 

• Exploring and Experimenting
• Understanding and Learning
• Engaging, Testing, and Experiencing
• Inspiring and Motivating

So, Why not Take the Road to Digital Rapid Prototyping?

Once you have the prototype validated, the hard work begins!
You can then get down to the development of the mobile application which will be aligned with the track of success. 

The rapid app prototyping model act as an ideal model to eliminate the loopholes of an app idea and helps represent a real picture of an app before its final build without robbing much of your time.

Still, looking for someone to take care of bringing a prototype to life?
End your search at 24Hours Rapid Prototyping where a prototype is built for enhanced conceptualization.

First Try It, then Build It!