Do you want to raise funds for your online startup business? Or Are you afraid if your app idea will do the magic in the market?
Trust in mobile app prototyping is that all it takes to solve these two biggest challenges. From the investor’s perspective, an actual working prototype can last your impression rather than an architectural model.
Besides, a prototype for mobile applications demonstrates user flows depicting a functional design and layout. The overall process assists in identifying and resolving potential problems early when it’s less expensive to make changes. If it is not sufficient to convince you, there are more benefits of developing a Prototype for Mobile Apps.
Why prototyping for mobile apps?
Statista reported, 25% of users abandoned an app after only using it once, while the worldwide app retention rate decreased from 38% in 2018 to 32% in 2019. The main reason behind this fluctuation is a lack of adequate user engagement. Hence, providing continual user value becomes essential, but creating a mobile app with acute user engagement is intricate.
Testing an app prototype through potential customers is the most effective way to validate app usability and UI/UX Design. It produces intense insights that give a better understanding of the value propositions you can add to your final product. For example, Does this app solve an identified market need? Do customers understand what this product or service does?
Moreover, prototyping saves you from costlier improvements as they say, the closer you get to launch, the more expensive changes become. Early and iterative prototype research ensures strategic app design that users need and preserves the project ROI.
How To Prototype A Mobile App?
Now, before you wonder how you should Develop a Prototype for Mobile App, we have put down the ideal way to turn your hypothetical idea into a tangible prototype.
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Research on a key problem your app will solve
“Customers don’t care about your solution. They care about their problems”.
_Dave McClure (entrepreneur and angel investor)
You cannot build an app just because it seems a good idea. If you want to go beyond the number of downloads, your app must solve a problem. The problem depends on the market you want to go after, such as B2B, B2C, or P2P.
B2C, For example, your app aims to join grocery stores to people who want to buy groceries on-demand. Its USP would be that the app contains local stores to supermarkets so that users can order at their convenience.
After defining your target market, jump on the research to explore the easier app’s user flow. Conduct market surveys and create user personas to collect quantitative and qualitative data that help you to organize your app specifications.
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Define your app requirements
Once you learn your market and audiences well, start brainstorming over the app requirements. It includes prioritizing features and functionality in terms of what it should have and what is essential to your target audience.
Despite app features, an app prototype also encompasses gestures, animations, transitions, and UI elements like input controls, navigational, and informational components. Therefore, make sure you prepare an in-depth app requirements document.
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Create sketches of app screens
After figuring out the features set and app requirements, you need to ideate user experience and features layout. The best way to perform this practice is to sketch how the primary app screens should look. Just grab the pen and illustrate main screen functionalities roughly and add marginal annotations about the feature functions.
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Craft low-fidelity wireframes
Wireframing is a kind of skeleton of your app. It does not contain any design elements but the raw structure of the app. Traditionalists like to pen it on the paper like some sketches. However, there are tools like Origami Studio and Justinmind for crafting modern interfaces while wireframing.
Low-fidelity wireframes help designers to understand the fundamentals of the app UI. You can quickly determine how adequate the user flow is and if it needs to change. However, without wireframing, the app designing will be based on trial and error.
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Turn wireframes into a Click-through Prototype
It has become the trend to develop a working prototype to attract investors and receive user feedback in the meantime. It just takes some hours to turn low-fidelity wireframes into a high-fidelity click-through prototype. Such prototypes render the real app-like feel to your examiners as they can click buttons and enjoy gestures.
Further, it assists designers to work on the final app design with a better sense of the proposed UI/UX. After creating your app prototype, it is time to test its usability to examine if your app fits the users’ requirements. Whether a potential customer will like or dislike your app design.
Once the usability test carries out, you will have valuable information and unnoticed pain points of your app design. However, it is for good that we get to know at the early stages when we can fix all pain points. And that is why we recommend prototyping and usability testing before designing an app.
If you are not a tech-savvy or technical person, it might be hard to build an app prototype on your own. So, for a high-fidelity and pixel-perfect prototype for your app, hire an agile Mobile App Prototype Development Company.
Tools to Build a Prototype for Mobile App without coding
It is easier for people with technical backgrounds to comprehend and build app prototypes using a handy prototyping tool. Therefore, we have curated a list of top-notch yet easy to use mobile app prototyping tools. These tools do not require coding, so any tech-savvy can get on it quickly.
Do you not have time to create a pixel-perfect prototype on your own?
We serve a mobile app prototype development service to help you turn your idea into a tangible prototype. Your only task is to get in touch with us to discuss your app idea.
