An Overview of Low-Fidelity Prototype: Types, Best Practices, and Example

Introduction 

Product Manager is a cross-functional role responsible for the success or failure of a product. The Product Manager role is in high demand today, with an average salary of 246% higher than the average salary of other related jobs. In this role, you will be required to work closely with other departments, such as engineering, marketing, and sales, to ensure that the product can be delivered on time and match the expectations of customers. 

Product Managers require fidelity prototyping to make a preliminary drawing of the final result. To test new concepts and make adjustments, designers and product managers frequently create a prototype of the final product. It encourages innovation and creativity. 

What Are Low-Fidelity Prototypes? 

Low-fidelity prototypes are a great way to communicate ideas and test concepts. They allow you to test your product or service before it is fully developed, which can save time and money when the low-fidelity prototype is evaluated against the final product. 

Low-fidelity prototypes should be used when you want to test user flows or interactions. If you don’t need new information but want some validation on what’s been done so far, this prototype will work well for you. 

There are many reasons why we would use low fidelity prototype to test a concept rather than just testing the concept’s fine details, like animations. There is a reason for this since low-fidelity prototypes lack details and are less realistic than high-fidelity prototypes. 

Let’s discuss it with the help of the low-fidelity prototype examples. If we were trying to test the usability of an app using low-fidelity wireframes, we would find it difficult to do so, and in order to do so, we would need a high-fidelity and preferred interactive prototype instead. 

Types Of Low-Fidelity Prototypes And The Best Practices 

There are five different types of low-fidelity prototypes. They are as follows: 

Sketches 

Despite the fact that sketches are not technically prototypes, they can be extremely useful when it comes to making decisions. This is due to their ease of creation and their ease of discarding. This tool is great for designers and non-designers since we don’t need artistic skills to sketch well. 

Best Practices: 

• Rather than storing your ideas in your head, sketch them out! Action is at the heart of design thinking. You can better evaluate an idea when you have it on paper than when it’s in your head, so sketch it out whenever you have an idea, no matter how silly it seems. 
• Use diagrams to show the interrelationships among complex ideas or use cases. Several different mapping methods are available to help you identify complex situations, such as journey maps, behavior maps, and system flow diagrams. 
• Sketches should be rough and quick: use the right amount of detail. When sketching a quick sketch, avoid adding details that aren’t necessary. 

Paper 

A paper prototyping approach is a great starting point if you’re looking for innovative solutions. Because it’s all done by hand, it’s easy to create and modify. It avoids distractions with superficial detail. When you show customers higher-fidelity mockups, they sometimes think you’re very close to finishing without realizing that a great deal of work remains behind the screens. This technique prevents that impression. 

Best Practices: 

• You can make paper prototypes to explore novel solutions to check whether your solution is understood. 
• If you want to explore different solutions to a problem, use paper prototypes. 
• Paper prototypes should not be used if you are revisiting the same solution or applying a standard user interface pattern. The paper prototype can be skipped in such cases and moved to the next stage. 

Lego 

Every kid’s toy box includes Legos. A company’s success is driven by its versatility and ability to spark imaginations. The versatility of Lego allows designers to prototype ideas quickly and easily. If you use Lego pieces for your prototypes, you can easily take them apart, swap out the part for a different design, and play with it to see how it works. 

Best Practices: 

• A Lego prototype doesn’t require artistic skill, just like sketches. Include stakeholders and team members who are not designers in this process. 
• Make Lego prototypes of a physical product to mimic its actual size. 
• User journeys can be reenacted using Lego prototypes. You can use Lego characters to show your team what it would be like if you were your user. This is a great way to build empathy! 

Digital Wireframes 

A wireframe is a simple illustration of the app or website that shows the basic features. In this way, you can focus on your prototype’s content structure and functionality without being distracted by visuals or interactives. Low-fidelity wireframes (such as paper prototypes) are technically low-fidelity prototypes. 

Best Practices: 

• Use wireframes to flesh out your app’s information architecture and layout instead of focusing on visual elements such as brand colors and typography. 
• Rather than using animations and other visuals, use wireframes to focus on functionality. 
• In your wireframes, use only one font. Heading levels should be indicated with different font sizes. 
• A wireframe is a great tool for helping you determine how your product should look. Maintain consistency by sticking to a few layouts 

Wizard of Oz 

Prototypes with Wizard of Oz functions are called Wizard of Oz prototypes. Similar to the Wizard of Oz story, your product mimics some aspects of the story. They’re low-to-medium-fidelity prototypes, which lack the key functionality while designing other aspects such as visuals. 

By creating Wizard of Oz prototypes, you can test the prototype while saving time and resources by making users believe it’s fully functional. 

Best Practices: 

• Before you begin building your Wizard of Oz prototype, decide what questions you want to answer. 
• Specify how the wizard should behave. The wizard will know how to react and guide the user if it is provided with instructions for common and predictable scenarios. 
• Create realistic computer interactions using social media, instant messaging, videos, and other ready-made tools. 

Advantages Of Low-Fidelity Prototypes 

Some of the core advantages of a low-fidelity prototype are as follows: 

• Faster to create: Low-fidelity prototypes are quick and easy to create, which makes them a great option when you need to get something up and running quickly. 
• Cheaper to create: The fact that low-fidelity prototype uses fewer materials means they’re also more affordable than their high-fidelity counterparts. 
• Easy to change: Because there’s less involved in creating them, it’s much easier for you or your team to make changes on the fly as needed—no costly revisions or design work required! 
• Easy to share/visualize ideas: Because low-fidelity prototypes are easy to create, it’s also easier for you or your team to share them with others and get their feedback on what works well and what needs more work. This means that any changes made can be implemented much faster and with fewer headaches than they might otherwise have been. 

Conclusion 

So, now you finally have a clear overview of low-fidelity prototypes, their types, and their advantages. The time and money needed to produce and modify high-fidelity prototypes is their biggest drawback. When high-fidelity prototyping, think about concentrating on a specific element, such as flow, graphics, engagement, or navigation. While working on low-fidelity prototypes, focus on conveying the idea of the product with all its features and the necessary steps involved in completing the same. If you’re looking to dive deep into these product management concepts, then it is recommended that you pursue the UNext IIM Indore’s PG Certificate Program in Product Management.