Lo-Fi Prototyping

❓What is it

• Lo-fi or low-fidelity prototyping, is a technique used in the early stages of the design process to create a simplified representation of a product or system. The primary goal of lo-fi prototyping is to visualize and test ideas quickly, allowing designers and stakeholders to iterate and refine concepts without investing significant time and effort.

• Its primary advantage during the validation phase is speed and velocity and reach. Speed to get something in the hands of end users to quickly and cheaply validate key assumptions, which allows a number of prototypes to be tested in a small time window.

• Because they are quick and cheap to produce, there's less emotional or financial attachment, making it easier for the fail fast principle to be collaboratively adopted with the team and stakeholders.

👥Who

• UX or Service Designer

🛠 Running the technique

• Good lo-fi prototypes should have the following characteristics: Speed to enable fast iterations from user feedback; Simplicity to reduce effort in creating and revising future versions, with ruthless focus on the core feature being tested; collaborative to encourage involvement and feedback from users and stakeholders

• Common methods include:

• Paper Prototypes: sketched wireframes, paper cut outs, printed screens, or hand drawn images

• Storyboarding: Sequence of drawings or pictures to outline user journeys or interactions.

• Clickable Prototypes using standard UX design software such as Sketch or Figma