how to create a prototype

Page Contents

• Instructions
• Read
• Watch - how to storyboard your idea, how to create a prototype, the "pretotyping" manifesto
• Why prototype with an MVP? (customer validation)
• Eric Ries on MVP logic, 2009 - building the MVP

instructions

You will create a storyboard that shows the narrative occurring from the time your customer has the problem you propose to solve up to the point where they are using your brilliant solution and enjoying its features and benefits.

Then you will create some form of low-resolution prototype to test in front of potential customers.

1. View both slide shows below in "present" mode.
2. Create a storyboard using google slides or some other presentation package. Otherwise, use a large sheet of paper and draw your storyboard by hand (hint: use stickies so you can move them around your board if needed). Share your file with me at NVDBAMA@gmail.com with the filename <storyboard_your full name/>.
3. Create a low-resolution prototype. This can be a landing page, an app screen mock-up, a video, or physical product. Send images to me at NVDBAMA@gmail.com with the name <prototype_your full name/>.

read

• What I Learned by Prototyping With no Prototyping Experience: It’s going to be ugly… and that’s OK (Medium.com, 9/20/16)
• From Idea To Amazon: How To Make Your Product Design A Reality In 14 Steps, (UseJournal.com, May, 2018)
• Using spreadsheets for prototyping (Bogdan Litescu, May 14, 2019, Medium.com), includes an image of a spreadsheet prototype of a UX of a homepage proposal. (though I would probably use google sites to produce the same prototype... the examples get more granular as you continue through the article)

Can one-sentence descriptions of your product be effective prototypes? You make the call.

These two examples come by way of Dave Bailey on Medium.com, April 12, 2017

Why prototype with an MVP?

Build a prototype with the minimum set of features you need to test your assumptions about solving a customer problem. Why? Because the information you got from customer discovery does not by itself get you to launch full production and sales.

Customer validation is the process of making sure that you’ve understood your customers correctly, and that you’re developing proper corporate and product positioning. It is tightly connected with the Lean Startup concept created by Eric Reis in 2008. The concept consists of business experimentation based on hypotheses, iterative releases of different product versions and learning based on validation. So, as with Lean Startup, customer validation through creating the least resource-consuming product with basic features (MVP) and gathering feedback from real people helps to:

• Determine whether you’re ready to hit the market;
• Understand your customers better;
• Build a sales roadmap;
• Identify whether it’s time to scale up sales and marketing.

This is exactly the “work smarter, not harder” approach that prevents you from running out of money, failing and having to integrate costly changes into the completed product (Source: producttribe.com).

Resources

What I Learned by Prototyping With no Prototyping Experience: It’s going to be ugly… and that’s OK (Kickstarter Tips, 9/20/16)