Prototyping

Prototyping is a development method in which simple models of a product or feature are built early on to test function, usability and acceptance. Prototypes are intentionally incomplete because they serve as learning tools, not as finished products. The method is standard in UX design, product development and agile software engineering.

Levels of prototypes

Prototypes range from low fidelity sketches on paper through clickable wireframes in tools like Figma to high fidelity designs with realistic visuals and partial real functionality. Functional code prototypes that already run in the backend but only stub the UI also belong here. The right level depends on the question the prototype is meant to answer.

What prototypes are for

Prototypes test hypotheses about user behaviour, usability, scope and technical feasibility before significant development budget is spent. They provide arguments for design decisions, a basis for user tests and enable fast iterations without a large codebase. Skipping prototyping often leads to products that miss user needs, with errors only corrected after an expensive live launch.

Practical use

In day to day marketing, prototyping is mainly used for landing pages, lead funnels and new website areas. Instead of building the final page right away, a wireframe is first created and validated with small user groups. For newsletter templates, a simple HTML prototype tested across various email clients before rollout pays off, since fixing issues later is time consuming.