10 Best Prototyping Tools & Software
This article will help you quickly compare and evaluate the best prototyping tools and other UX design tools that you can use to create a web mockup, website prototype, app prototype, and much more.
Quickly Compare & Evaluate The 10 Best Prototyping Software
Prototyping is an essential part of the UI and UX design process. Designers can create either a high or low fidelity prototype depending on their goals, allowing them to test a feature, application, or website. The goal of prototyping is to test ideas before fully developing them and design a better user experience.
The Best Prototyping Software List
Here’s a shortlist of the best prototyping tools:
UX Prototyping FAQ
Before you check out the best prototype tools, let’s talk about prototype software and what it does.
What are prototyping tools?
Prototyping tools help designers and developers build, demonstrate, and validate the design of a digital product. Today, many web projects call for interactive prototypes, which not only show the ideas and layout of a website or app, but also the interactions a user would have with it.
What are the types of prototyping tools?
Prototyping tools come in many flavors. Here are some examples where designers use prototyping tools:
- UI design tools: build page layouts and compose elements of a user interface
- Website mockup tools: quickly put together a visual first impression of a website
- Mobile app prototyping tools: build an interactive model of a mobile app
- Mobile app mockup: quickly put together a visual first impression of an app
Often, many of these functions are combined into a single UX design software. They provide a set of tools that you can use throughout the stages of the design thinking process, with features for web design mockup, web prototypes, app prototyping, user interface designing tools, testing, designing user flows, and more.
What is UI/UX?
UI stands for User Interface, and UX stands for User Experience. UI is concerned with the look and feel of a product, while UX is concerned with the usability and enjoyment in the customer’s interaction with the product. Both UI and UX are important for developing a product and both are part of the overarching design thinking field.
Prototyping Tools Comparison Criteria
What are we looking for when we select wireframing and prototyping tools for review? Here’s a summary of my evaluation criteria:
- User Interface (UI): Is it clean and attractive?
- Usability: Is it easy to learn and master? Does the company offer good tech support, user support, tutorials, and training?
- Features & Functionality:
- Broad Library of Assets — Does the tool have a robust collection of elements, images, videos, and more?
- Mark-up Tools — Does the software have ample ways for users to note, draw, and other mark-ups a prototype sample? Can both designers/teammates and clients/end-users contribute to the mark-ups?
- Collaborative Potential — Can the prototype design be shared, exported, and have changed viewed in real-time? Can multiple users work in the same document at the same time?
- Reporting and analytics — Are the reporting tools robust, customizable, flexible, and visually appealing? Can they be exported into different, popular file types for review?
4. Integrations: Is it easy to connect with other tools? Any pre-built integrations?
5. Value for $: How appropriate is the price for the features, capabilities, and use case? Is pricing clear, transparent, and flexible?
NOTE: Even though customer journey mapping is part of UX design, I didn’t specifically look for that functionality in these prototyping tools. I wrote a separate review of customer journey mapping software if you’d like to check it out!
Keep reading to see The Overviews Of 10 Best Prototyping Tools & Software.
Originally published at https://thecxlead.com/ on May 7, 2020.
