Designing a clickable prototype is an essential part of the UI and UX design process. It is considered a preliminary interactive sample of the idea before it becomes a complete product, serving as a bridge between the design phase and the final product. In this article, we’ll explore one of the best tools in 2021 — Mockplus RP — to help you create a clickable prototype faster and easier.
What is a Clickable Prototype?
At the very beginning, I must make it clear that neither a wireframe nor a visual mockup can be called a clickable prototype. Anything static is not a prototype. A clickable prototype is a high-fidelity design model created in a design tool like Mockplus. After the creation of the mockup, hotspots (or clickable areas) are applied to specific points on the screen/page, triggering a transition to another screen/page — a function that mimics real digital products. It can clearly show a visual representation of the user interface of a website or software application and offers an interactive experience very similar to a finalized application.
A clickable prototype is not only important for the product owners but also significant for the clients or stakeholders, because they sometimes have to make some decisions, such as approving the design, the layout and the functionality before the implementation. Moreover, a clickable prototype can help the development team to get a clear perspective on what has to be built before they start working on the product functionality. Therefore, it’s of great importance to create a clickable prototype for the following reasons:
- For product owners or decision makers, clickable prototypes can help to generate support, gain agreement or even investment for the project.
- For developers, a clickable prototype can help to bridge the gap between developers and product owners or UX experts.
- For end users, using a clickable prototype can let them realize and confirm what they want and also help to prevent drastic late changes or even rejection of the finalized product.
In a nutshell, using a clickable prototype can make the software development process faster and more cost-effective. Therefore, the most valid argument as to why we need to have a clickable prototype is minimizing wasted effort on unwanted functionality, and at the same time, achieving maximum efficiency and quality.
How to create a clickable prototype?
Now we know exactly what a clickable prototype is and why it’s so important and valuable. There’s only one thing left to do: create your own.
Here are some pointers that will help you along the way:
- Set concrete goals. You need to have a clear idea about what you want your prototype to accomplish. In other words, what are you looking for when testing your prototype? Remember to pay attention to the user’s needs and always remember the problem statement.
- Use templates. It is unnecessary to build from sratch, because there is a huge set of templates for different industries. You can select the right templates, edit them, and create prototypes quickly and easily, which helps you to save a lot of time from starting from scratch.
- Choose the right tool. With the overload of currently available design and prototyping tools, it is difficult to find the one that fits your needs. Don’t worry, we’re here to help you. In this article, we’ll explore one of the best design tools–Mockplus–to help you create a clickable prototype easily and efficiently.
Take action. Design thinking is about generating ideas and testing them, so create prototypes when you need them. You should always bear in mind that the process of design thinking is not strictly linear, so you can create a prototype at any time.
The Best Tool for Creating a Clickable Prototype
A clickable prototype not only represents the visual layout of a digital interface but also offers a certain degree of interactivity. Moreover, it includes things like image and text placeholders together with buttons and navigational elements. However, getting the right clickable prototyping tool is the most crucial step and should not be taken for granted. If you have been looking for the best tool to create clickable prototypes, then this article is your home. In this part, we shall give you a detailed guide on how to create clickable prototypes for your project with one of the best design tools — Mockplus RP.