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Design and product work

Prototyping

Also calledPrototype

Building a working simulation of a design, from paper sketches to clickable mockups, to test an idea before it is built for real.

A prototype is a question in a form people can react to. It can be rough, to test whether a concept makes sense at all, or detailed, to test whether people can complete a task.

Prototypes are among the best value activities in design because they let a team find problems while they are still cheap to fix.

Fidelity

How closely a sketch or prototype resembles the finished product. Low fidelity is rough and quick; high fidelity looks and behaves like the real thing.

Usability testing

Watching real people try to complete tasks with a design or product, to find where they get confused or stuck.

Cost of change

The idea that a problem costs more to fix the later it is found: little in design, more in development and most after release.

Product discovery

The work of deciding what to build: understanding the problem, the people who have it and whether a solution is worth building, before committing engineering time.

See all 95 terms