Testing Prototype

The biggest benefit of testing prototypes is being able to continuously iterate and launch products that accurately serve your user’s needs. However, that’s not the only advantage of this practice.

Testing a prototype allows you to learn rapidly and adjust accordingly, so you can launch successful products and release new features at any stage in the product lifecycle.

Why is prototype testing important?

By testing prototypes, you gather insights on:

  • Usability and accessibility
  • Design, fonts, and colors
  • User experience (UX)
  • Copy and messaging
  • Ideas and concepts

Your prototype doesn’t have to be perfect or fully functional at this stage, but it needs to have the basic functionality to solve your users’ main problem (or represent how it will do this)

Types of prototypes

Depending on where you are in product design and development, there are different types of prototypes that vary in complexity, these are:

Low fidelity

A low fidelity (lo-fi) prototype is an inexpensive and rough version of your product. It could come in the form of a wireframe, a homemade paper sketch, or a cardboard 3D model (if your product is physical).

With a lo-fi prototype, you’re looking to validate concepts and design expected paths for users. You want to keep cost and effort to a minimum, so some elements won’t be finalized or even included. For example, you might include critical buttons, e.g. add to cart, while the rest aren’t clickable yet. You probably won’t have a finalized copy in this version either. Lo-fi prototype testing happens at the earliest stages of the design process.

What to test at this stage:

  • If the layout of your design makes sense
  • Which version of your design performs best
  • The hierarchy of your information architecture (IA)
  • Basic interactions with the design

Medium fidelity (mid-fi)

A medium fidelity (mid-fi) prototype gives users a more developed view of how the product will work. It can be used to test paths and gather user feedback. They can click on buttons and explore the product, and you can even test out specific user paths. Key pages will have some copy and design elements already, but secondary pages may still use placeholders. You’ll also get to review the information architecture at this stage. Since a mid-fi prototype is closer to your final solution, it’ll be more costly and time-consuming to create than a lo-fi prototype.

What to test at this stage:

  • Whether user paths match expectations
  • If you’ve incorporated user feedback properly
  • The success and usability of specific interactions and actions
  • Performance compared to benchmarks or previous versions
  • How well your copy and design work

High fidelity (hi-fi)

A high fidelity (hi-fi) prototype is more expensive to develop, being very similar to the finished product. Hi-fi prototypes should be fully usable and have all the needed buttons, copy, and menus available for the user to review. You can also review the final design, fonts, and colors at this stage. However, it doesn’t need to show all your planned features, and some clicks or paths might still feel clunky. Typically, you’d use hi-fi prototypes to conduct usability testing and final checks before launch.

What to test at this stage:

  • The design direction of a new product or feature
  • Whether the copy adds value to the user experience
  • How easy people find it to complete user tasks
  • UI components, e.g. accordions, drop-down menus
  • Graphics and design elements, e.g. image quality, text readability