There are many aspects to be considered during the development of the mobile app. Development of the idea itself, its improvement and determination of certain aspects are the main phases of the creation of the mobile project. Since interaction and features have paramount meaning during the process of design elaboration, there is an issue concerning the importance of app mockups and prototypes development. Construction of a perfect prototype is the best approach to a quality product that can be created without unnecessary additional expenses. Why is prototyping important? Let's note that a prototype is the version of your app that makes it possible to test all the main potential features and see how its design will look in the future. This idea is very close to the minimum viable product, that is you will see what design your future app should have. The difference is that a prototype doesn't function as a real app. Prototypes just allow for an opportunity to get a general impression due to the capability to click, move from screen to screen and see the design. UX prototyping tools are used to help in this.It is worth noting that it is almost impossible to find an app that was released without any modifications and amendments on the first try. Also, during the process of a product development, customers often want to add some new features or make changes that increase the scope of work, the amount of code and costs.
How prototypes are created As a rule, the development process consists of the following stages: ● description of the idea; ● development of mockup; ● design; ● coding; ● testing; ● bug fixing; ● beta-testing; ● getting feedback and app updating. This scheme has some disadvantages. For example, users receive the app too late since you worked hard and spent a lot of money. And you can realize that your project is already not in demand among your audience. That is why you need a UI prototyping first to get feedback from users as soon as possible and get a clear vision of the app before you are out of funds. Prototyping can help you determine the conception of the future product, showing its capabilities. Designers can build a mockup for a visual interface, and developers will
have the understanding of how each feature should function. Since it is a full-fledged working model of a final product, an app prototype will help avoid mistakes and eliminate them in the very beginning. And it will make that the user experience is much more convenient. Besides that, you will save on costs spent on the development.
Advantages of prototyping Now let's check out what strong sides prototypes have. Money saving App development can be a very expensive process. So if you plan your future project, you will be able to avoid a bad result. You won't need to start everything from the beginning, and it will protect your reputation. Unfortunately, users usually don't use the app again if they faced some bug or defect. So, if you build app prototype, you will not regret it. Instant feedback Feedback can be even one of the most important parts of the software development process. Developers can understand their users, they can define what they need to modify or change. Users' reviews can give unique and fresh ideas to understand the demands of users, and it makes them feel like participants of the development process. Branding use Business branding makes it recognizable and memorable. So you can design your brand in advance in your prototype. Why do you need it? When interacting with your users, your app could have already become recognizable, and it will allow you to draw many more users after your app release. Bugs prevention The main reason apps fail is that developers understand too late that they passed over something critical in the development stage. And it also gives an opportunity to test different platforms. If it works on the website, it doesn't mean that it will work on a smartphone or tablet. It is important to create app prototype for different devices to make sure it will function properly everywhere. And, of course, you should make your
app available for a few platforms, because it will increase your audience by default.
What advantages prototypes have Tools for prototyping If you want to know what tools you can use for prototyping of the mobile app, we suggest you learn them a bit better. InVision InVision is the tool for building prototypes on the Internet that allows designers to create interactive mockups for web projects and mobile projects. Although you cannot create projects directly in InVision, you can upload your static pages to this tool, and then use special features to transform pages into interactive mockups.
InVision tool for building prototypes Besides that, InVision can sync to your document in Photoshop or Sketch, and it allows you to update the prototype in a real-time mode within the selected design software. Justinmind It's one of the best app prototyping tools that allow you to create prototypes right in the platform. You need to choose design components that you want to include and create in the editing field. After, you can choose mobile gestures, web interactions and conversions from a large library of Justinmind for already existing widgets. There is a freemium model of Justinmind that offers you the combined use of the tool in the browser, but if you want to get access to all your team you will have to buy a premium account. After the update, a few users can simultaneously interact with the same prototype. You can distinguish different corrections very quickly since the color of comments for each team is different.
Justinmind tool will show you how to build prototypes Marvel A perfect tool for creating a prototype in the browser, and it contains the capability to simplify the prototyping process. After registration, you immerse in the interface and you can start working without hesitation. You can create a prototype, uploading images and adding gestures. The platform supports direct loading of specific types of images including PSD, GIF, and JPG as well as uploading via other services like Google Drive or Dropbox.
Marvel tool - create a prototype in browser Certainly, this is not a full list of tools that you can use for prototyping, however, we just showed you the most popular tools on the market. Now, when you understood what prototypes are and how can we create them, there are a few key moments that we would like to accentuate on the basis of our own experience. And it doesn't matter what alternative you chose for your app. Let's see key moments in the prototyping of the app.