Universal Principles of Design, Updated and Expanded Third Edition

151 Prototyping

Building low-fidelity models to explore ideas and deeply understand problems.

Prototyping is the creation of simple, incomplete models or mockups of a design. Prototyping provides designers with key insights into real-world design requirements and gives them a method to visualize, evaluate, learn, and improve design specifications prior to delivery.1

There are three basic kinds of prototyping:

1. Concept prototyping — Useful for exploring preliminary design ideas quickly and inexpensively. For example, concept sketches and storyboards are used to develop the appearance and personality of characters in animated films well before the costly processes of animation and rendering take place. This approach helps communicate the concepts ...