Validate the solution with users
Armed with an interactive prototype, get detailed feedback on a proposed user experience before a complex or expensive build phase.
Time & Effort
- 3-4 weeks
- 1-2 designers
- 1 product manager
Pre-Requirements
- Business Model Canvas
- User Problem
- 5 Potential Users
Expectations
- Focus on Customer Experience
- Visual solutions
- Testing mindset
- Potential invalidations
- Non-critical placeholders
Goals & Deliverables
- Hi-fi interactive prototype
- Product testing plan
- Consolidated test results
- Prototype iteration
- Development reference design
Everything that’s customer facing looks sleek... The thing that makes my heart sing is the word elegant, and we have received that feedback on more than one occasion.
Dr. Gabe Pappalardo, VP of Product, Scoutr
Our Process
Design Prototype
Using the prototyping storyboard, designers work hand-in-hand with product owners to mood, mock, visualize and prioritize features in the product.
Screens and sections are then interactively tied together using a prototyping tool like Invision to simulate a functional software product.
These high-fidelity designs serve as development reference files to provide pixel-perfect specifications to guide development.
Gather Feedback
We then validate the prototype that was created with Usability Testing, Surveys, and Fake Landing Pages. Usability testing brings 4-6 potential customers into the room to evaluate the prototype.
It's key to test our assumptions on how users react to the prototype. We'll have a plan on what we're testing and what success criteria we can use to measure against.
A fake landing page can collect email or pre-payment (refundable) to judge market interest with design of an app. This lean test is ideal for A/B testing of marketing messages.
Iterate Prototype
Based on the feedback received and consolidated, we pull critical themes and recommendations directly from customers. We then integrate this feedback into the original design, making small changes or even large pivots.
Sometimes an idea is completely invalidated at this point. This is a great point to pivot, as no code has been written and it's much easier to revisit the Plan with actual customer feedback.
Validate Improvements
If the original feedback was positive but needed small changes, we head back to testing in the field with users, to make sure we're continuing in the right direction and interpreted user feedback correctly.
This process can often continue indefinitely, but 2 rounds of validation is often the sweet spot for development to move in the right direction for real customer use.
