The standard mistake startup companies make is ignoring the value of UI/UX design. They put technology first, closing their eyes to the fact that the product has to be usable and functional. The specifics of working on the design part of young companies are based on budget and resource constraints. But there is a solution for that: design prototyping.
Being in the early development stage, startups can benefit from UX prototyping, which helps visualize the future finished product and get valuable insights from users. So, let’s see how design prototyping and testing can prepare you for entering the market with a high-quality application.
Why Startups Should Work on UX Prototyping
UX prototyping is the process of building a product design in a simplified form. Your sketches and drafts can serve a significant purpose by indicating how the future product presentation should be formed. Investing in this method of idea visualization will reward you with these benefits:
Saved budget. UX prototyping techniques aim to receive the most from user feedback. This is precious information, as it helps to understand end-user needs better and create solutions that will satisfy customers.
Saved time. Testing design strategies in the early development stage are easily adjustable while remaking something in the finished product can hold your project in time.
Fixing issues early. Design can shed light on potential problems that are not only design-related. For instance, compatibility between features that perform well separately but, if put together, are incompatible.
Simplified development. When developers clearly understand the layout and feature placement, they can get straight to programming without wasting time on planning and visualization.
Enhanced cooperation between teams. The benefits of UX prototyping relate to various teams, as the process of design planning and sketching requires gathering all members, including stakeholders.
What Is Included in the UX Prototyping Process for Startups?
The UX prototyping process is a crucial component in a startup company's development process. The importance of prototyping goes beyond creating the user experience and ensures the correct realization of business needs and the creation of a remarkable style for your product. Prototyping the users’ experience consists of many stages, and we would like to disclose some of them in the paragraph below.
Collecting the Feedback
Before starting the prototyping, the company must perfectly understand the current user’s needs. For that matter, it’s crucial to implement convenient channels for collecting the users’ feedback. It can be surveys, interviews, A/B tests, practically anything. But at the end of the day, your team has to obtain a clear vision regarding things that do and don’t work for your clients.
Wireframing & Prototyping
Afterward, the team can start providing possible ideas that can be fulfilled based on the collected data.
The initial stage is represented by wireframing when the design is presented as low-fidelity outlines without the ability to interact with the product’s interface. During the prototyping phase, developers gradually add the ability to interact with the interface components.
Testing Routine
Once the previous stage is finished, it’s time to evaluate the proposed solutions carefully during the series of tests. This phase is full of various testing routines, starting with the regular usability evaluations and finishing with prototype walkthroughs, eye tracking, first-click testing, etc.
Transfer for Development
If the provided results look good enough, it’s time to transfer the prototypes into the development process. During this stage, maximum communication between the design team and developers is necessary to ensure the proper implementation of the prototype.
Tools For Successful Prototyping Routine
So, what are the most critical UX prototyping tools? It’s a complex question since the design creation stage requires a complex approach. Still, in this section, we would like to provide you with some of the most common tools used in almost every project:
Prototyping tools. Tools for prototyping include programs like Vectr or Invision to help create prototypes that unlock clickable functions in your projection.
User flows & sitemaps. These tools ensure the creation of visual maps that exactly copy the behavioral principles of your users.
Accessibility tools. Tools like Lighthouse help your team ensure that your design is accessible to all users.
To Sum Up
All aspects should be well-thought-out when building an MVP version of the product, including the UI/UX design. To achieve the result of project visualization quickly, designers use UX prototyping, which encompasses different techniques. Creating sketches and drafts of the final product is a winning solution for startups, as it doesn’t require much spending but provides valuable insights into how end users see your platform.
