From making an improvement to attract investors, here are the benefits of prototyping for your business while planning an upcoming project.)
Wikipedia defines prototyping as “an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be replicated or learned from.”
Simply put, prototyping is a sample to test the functionality of any products before launching them on a large scale. These samples are put into real-world scenarios. Any product can be prototyped, from a hair product, musical goods to a mobile app.
Automobile designers build a prototype of new cars to see if their idea works in real. Software companies build the prototype of their new software to see if it works.
If you are a product based company, you should have a practice of prototyping in place. You will get an idea of what would work as you see the sample of your product in action. The behavior of the sample will be reviewed and tested by the experts. Such evolutions help you identify key areas of improvement so that you can fix up the things before a final release.
Here’s how prototyping can help you build a great product.
It Lets You Create a Visual Representation of Your Project:
From a simple sketch diagram to a prototyping tool, there are many ways to create a prototype of a product. Once you get the look and feel of an actual product, you can fine-tune it. For example, a mobile prototype app lets you see the key areas of improvement in a mobile app so that you can fix them to make a better app.
It Provides You an Active Feedback System:
You can share your prototype with clients and stakeholders. They can review it and drop their feedback. This ensures you that the final product would get thumbs-up from every involved person. There are many prototyping tools where you can create a real-time feedback system for a timely review at every stage of development.
It Clarifies Production Issues and Costs as Well:
How the production will go? How many steps are there to be changed or removed? Prototyping helps you get an idea of the process and associated costs as well. You can address the issues beforehand to keep the project as streamlined as possible. Besides, you can have a rough estimation of the cost associated with a certain step.
It Lets You Incorporate New Ideas:
With prototyping, you get the freedom to experiment. It lets you think from every angle. What if you remove point A or you connect point C to point E? At the same time, you know what to do if any problem occurs.
It Helps You Attract Investors:
Many investors want to see how a product acts out of the papers. A working model of your product will let them test the “feel of your product” so that they know if it is worth their investment. However, they are likely to make an investment when they see how a live model works. A prototype also shows the lenders that your products have been thoroughly tested for market conditions.
LAST WORD:
On the basis of above-given benefits, prototype lets you sit at the top of the process. You can review, test and experiment the product before full-scale production. This way, you can create an intuitive and user-oriented product.
And all these benefits lead to one big benefit—to minimize the risk of failure.
What do you think about prototyping? Would you practice it for your next product? Let me know by dropping your comments below.
Author Bio: Athar is a co-founder of Savah App, a product that helps teams with all-in-one platform for prototyping, design collaboration, and workflow.