Why we love clickable prototypes so much

Almost every Yusmp Group case has a link to a clickable prototype. We share them so that you have an idea of how our products work. However, interactive prototypes are created during development — at the stage of analytics and design. The article explains why this artifact is so important when creating new products.

What a clickable prototype is

A clickable prototype is an interactive diagram of a future application that simulates user interaction with the interface.

Prototypes can be of varying degrees of accuracy. These can be just black-and-white sketches (wireframes), they are used when you need to check interaction scenarios and quickly make adjustments.

High fidelity prototypes are ready-made application layouts where all components (cards, images, texts, buttons) are in their places. It uses a design concept approved at the discovery phase or a color scheme. Such a prototype can actually serve as the main one for application development.

This is a fairly flexible tool that can be adapted to the current tasks of the project: if you need to test hypotheses and get a general feeling from the product, we limit ourselves to a schematic version. If it is important to focus on improving the visual design, then a high-precision prototype is created.

Why it is needed

The main task of the prototypes is to show the work of the future application or other system and diagnose possible problems in the way of business and user goals at an early stage.

The prototypes also demonstrate the operation of the application in dynamics, and we can assess the state of the flow, that is, whether everything is going smoothly, quickly, and clearly.

Such a tool makes it possible to get cheap and fast feedback from the customer, and, importantly, from the target audience. It is user testing that makes it possible to make changes to the final product.

Advantages of using clickable prototypes

The tool allows you to check the usability of the product being developed before writing the code, which means reducing the development time and budget. It is much easier to make changes to prototypes than to ready-made applications.

With the help of a clickable prototype, you can visually and schematically see scenarios and user flow applications that help the user achieve their goals.

Often, prototypes lead to unexpected discoveries and new ideas that can take the projected product to a new level.

What we use when working on a clickable prototype

Depending on the specific purpose, different tools are used to create a clickable prototype:

• If it is important for us to show user flow, tell a story, show scenarios, then we will rather use Figma or Invision. It is more convenient to create a design master plan in them, to see the whole project.
• If our goal is to demonstrate deep interaction, application behavior, and animation, then Protopie, Principle, or Framer are more suitable for this. These programs are focused on prototyping and animating micro-interactions: the behavior of elements during the interaction, transitions, animation, and other effects that also play an important role in the user experience.

What is important to remember about the clickable prototype

• A clickable prototype is an interactive diagram of a future product.
• There are two types of it: schematic one — just to see how the user will interact with the system. Detailed — show real screens and can become the basis for development.
• It provides an opportunity to see bottlenecks at an early stage.
• You can show it to end-users and collect feedback.
• Important changes and new ideas can be introduced quickly and inexpensively.