Ohio State University, Columbus

A UX prototype is an initial model of a product that is designed to understand, explore, or communicate what it might be like to engage with the product, space, or system we are designing.

UX Prototypes

Pernice, K. (2018, December 18). UX prototypes: Low fidelity vs. high fidelity. Nielsen Norman Group. Retrieved February 19, 2022, from https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ux-prototype-hi-lo-fidelity/ 

UX Prototypes: Low Fidelity vs. High Fidelity

These prototypes are ideal for early design testing to portray website page elements or screens from an application. They can be compared to simple versions of interactive prototypes where users can effectively test the design.

Click-Through Prototypes

These prototypes are utilized in the earliest phase of the design process. They are quick, easy, inexpensive, and flexible to make revisions. They commonly include the use of stencils and cardboard to produce effective models of website pages or app screens during user testing.

Paper Prototypes

Sketch prototypes can be made quickly with pencil-and-paper or a whiteboard. Similar to paper prototypes in that they are constructed in the early parts of the design process and often in collaboration with product and design team members to determine product goals and ideas.

Sketch Prototypes

Interactive prototypes are more sophisticated versions of click-through prototypes that generate responses to user actions during usability testing. They are assembled when the product’s design and functionality are completed. 

Interactive Prototypes

These prototypes are unique in that the responses to the users actions are performed in real time by a designer of the product. There are several methods in how this is achieved that is commonly chosen by the usability test overseer. 

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