How to Do Prototyping in Design Thinking

Tobi Moyela

Agile Product Development

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Have you considered creating a design thinking prototype during your design thinking process?

If not, you really should.

Skipping the prototype stage introduces unnecessary risk: risk of building a product that fails to attract or satisfy your intended end users; risk of design errors that tank your full-scale production efforts; risk of poor product market-fit.

So many SaaS startups find themselves in this situation, contributing to why only 40% of SaaS companies ever become profitable. Or even worse, all out failure.

So now that we’ve got your attention, how do you build a design thinking prototype, and why does doing so increase your chances of launching a successful product? Well, that’s what this article covers.

What is prototype in design thinking?

Design thinking is the product development stage where you and your team brainstorm your SaaS product's aesthetics, function, and usability. Part of the brainstorming process involves creating a mockup of your product. The mockup will provide a realistic representation of how your product will look and work. This mockup is what we call a prototype.

A design thinking prototype is an early iteration of your product – a preliminary or sample model. SaaS startups create prototype models to test and evaluate their ideas for a product. If end users and other stakeholders respond positively to a prototype, chances are the finished product will be successful.

Why is prototyping important?

Prototyping plays a crucial role in the design thinking process, especially when developing SaaS products. It allows teams to explore ideas, test assumptions, and refine solutions before committing significant resources to full-scale development. 

Here’s a breakdown of the importance of prototyping in design thinking.

1. Validate your product ideas early

Prototyping allows you to test your ideas in a real-world context before investing significant resources. By building an early version of your product, you can:

  • Validate product ideas: Prototyping helps test product concepts early so they align with user needs and expectations.

  • Gain user feedback: By gathering input from real users, you can make informed decisions about product features and improvements.

  • Obtain stakeholder approval: Early prototypes allow stakeholders to visualize the product and provide the necessary feedback for a quicker buy-in.

  • Prove product viability: Prototypes confirm whether the concept is feasible and valuable which helps you avoid costly mistakes later in development.

2. Reduce development costs and risks

The earlier you can identify potential issues, the cheaper corrective measures will be. Prototyping allows you to:

  • Reduce risk of failure: Prototypes help confirm that the product addresses market needs before full development, minimizing the risk of failure.

  • Save on development costs: Early testing of concepts helps avoid wasting resources on features or products that don’t resonate with users.

  • Perform early-stage testing: Prototypes allow you to test functionality and usability early so you can catch issues before they escalate.

  • Mitigate financial risks: By validating product-market fit and usability early, you reduce the chance of costly post-launch fixes or reworks.

3. Improve usability and user experience

Prototyping helps you refine the product's usability. Carry this forward and you’ll deliver a seamless experience. Starting with a prototype offers:

  • Identify usability issues: Early testing of prototypes reveals flaws in navigation, interface, and overall usability.

  • Enhance user experience (UX): Prototypes allow you to fine-tune the UX which ultimately produces a more intuitive and user-friendly product.

  • Test functionality: By testing key features with users, you can verify that the product works as intended and adjust functionality if needed.

  • Refine design: Iterating on the prototype helps polish the design and make it more efficient and appealing for users.

  • Increase customer satisfaction: A well-tested prototype that addresses usability issues leads to a final product that users find valuable and satisfying.

4. Optimize product-market fit

Aligning your product with user needs and market demands is a must. Prototyping accelerates that alignment through early stage adjustment and iterations. By starting with a prototype, you can:

  • Achieve product-market fit: Testing prototypes with real users helps confirm that the product effectively addresses their needs.

  • Iterate and optimize: Continuous feedback allows you to improve the product, enhancing its ability to fit the market.

  • Solve real problems: Prototypes help validate that your solution addresses a genuine pain point for your target audience.

How does prototyping fit into the design thinking process?

Multiple sources list no product-market fit or lack of a market as a leading reason most SaaS products fail. A SaaS company identifies and researches its target market or end users during its design thinking process.

Understanding the target user provides insights into their needs and problems. Once you identify a problem you can solve, you can create a product to deliver the solution. However, creating SaaS products can be expensive.

Before investing in creating a market-ready product, it is prudent to create a prototype to test-run your product idea and verify that it can deliver value. A prototype that cannot deliver value or get the desired response from target users is not ready for the market. Launching that iteration of your product as it is can tarnish your brand reputation and cause financial losses.

8 Steps for successful prototyping

There is a structure for success. For instance, knowing in which phase of design thinking are low fidelity and high fidelity tools used can save a lot of time and headache. 

8 steps of prototyping

Step 1. Define the problem

Market research will help you understand target user needs. Once you understand your target market’s needs, you can create a problem statement that clearly defines the problems you want to solve with your product. The listed problems provide a yardstick for measuring how well your product solves those problems to satisfy target users.

Step 2. Ideate solutions

After identifying the needs of your target customers or intended end users, you can begin ideating solutions. The best solutions add value to a customer’s life within the shortest time. Quickly providing users with value speeds up customer acquisition and reduces the risk of churn.

Step 3. Create a low-fidelity prototype

Low-fidelity prototypes are one of the types of prototypes in design thinking. They are simple, early models that focus on the basic structure and functionality of your product. They are quick and inexpensive to build, allowing teams to explore ideas without committing significant resources. 

Examples of low-fidelity prototypes include sketches, digital wireframes, and basic UX mockups. These early models help your design team test ideas before committing to building more detailed versions.

low fidelity prototypeSketch Prototype

Step 4. Test the prototype with users

Testing your low-fidelity prototype is essential for identifying usability issues early on. Begin by conducting a UX audit. Make sure this includes reviewing user flows and accessibility to uncover potential design flaws. After the audit, share the prototype with target users and collect their feedback through user testing sessions. 

Step 5. Iterate based on feedback

After collecting feedback from user testing, it’s time to refine your prototype. Use the insights gathered to address usability issues and enhance the product’s design. This iterative process is key to improving your low-fidelity prototype, allowing you to make adjustments and retest as needed. 

Step 6. Develop a high-fidelity prototype

After refining your low-fidelity prototype, it’s time to create a high-fidelity version. This prototype should closely resemble the final product in both design and functionality. That way you can get more in-depth testing of user experience and specific features. 

High-fidelity prototypes include more detailed visuals, interactivity, and are often used to simulate the full user experience. At this stage, start to focus on the finer details so that the product meets the technical and aesthetic expectations of stakeholders and users.

Step 7. Conduct comprehensive testing

With your high-fidelity prototype in hand, it is time to throw the whole kitchen sink at it. Some comprehensive testing of your prototype to consider are:

  • Usability testing

  • Functionality testing

  • User experience (UX) testing

  • A/B testing

  • Performance testing

  • Accessibility testing

  • Security testing (if applicable)

  • Cross-platform testing

  • Error handling

Also consider testing by giving target users access to your prototype and collecting user feedback. The feedback will provide insights into how to optimize or upgrade the model.

Step 8. Refine and finalize the prototype

With comprehensive testing complete, it’s time to refine the high-fidelity prototype based on the results. Address any remaining usability issues, functionality problems, or aesthetic concerns that surfaced during testing—this may require a few iterations and repeated tests. Then conduct final reviews with stakeholders to ensure the product meets all expectations. 

By the end you should have a product as close to the market-ready as possible and ready for full-scale development.

5 best prototyping tools

Many SaaS startups skip prototyping because they consider it expensive and tedious. Fortunately, several affordable design thinking prototyping tools exist for simplifying the building and testing of prototypes. Top tools for building a design thinking prototype include:

1. Figma

design thinking prototype tool

Figma is a multifunctional web and app design tool. Since it offers everything you need to design, prototype, share, and collect user feedback, you can avoid the hassle of juggling multiple tools. Figma also has sophisticated collaboration features that simplify communicating and working with other teams.

Even better, Figma's intuitive interface makes it user-friendly enough for even beginner designers to use. In fact, you don’t need any coding skills to add or modify low, mid, or high-fidelity prototype designs. Lastly, Figma offers affordable monthly plans for large teams and a free forever plan.

2. Sketch

prototyping tool

Sketch is another user-friendly prototyping tool. You can use it to build low or mid-fidelity prototypes and share your work with teammates or clients. You can also launch prototypes to collect user feedback and use the insights to improve the product.

With Sketch, testing prototypes is hassle-free. You can test your app or web tool in the Mac and iOS app or web browser to fully understand how your product looks and works. On the downside, users can only create and edit Sketch documents on Mac systems.

3. Balsamiq

wireframe prototype

For many developers, Balsamiq Wireframes is the go-to tool for creating low-fidelity prototypes during the ideation phase. You can use the tool to create the first iterations of your user interface, website, app, or desktop software.

The tool is intuitive and fast, thanks to its drag-and-drop interface that you can understand at a glance. Collaboration is just as simple with features for inviting teammates to view designs. Also, since wireframes created with Balsamiq are interactive, you can use them for demos or run usability tests to gain user feedback. The tool is affordable for small teams, and MacOS and Windows users can use it.

4. Webflow

design thinking prototype tool

Web developers use Webflow to build website prototypes. You can create low and high-fidelity prototypes, but you need at least a basic understanding of HTML5 and CSS to make the most of this tool. Each prototype created with Webflow can function as a real website, allowing you to easily test mockups to see how they look and work in the real world.

5. InVision Studio

InVision is basically a digital whiteboard for creating low-fidelity prototypes in the form of sketches. You can draw out ideas and map out features. You can also draw user flows to indicate what users will experience when interacting with different elements within your proposed product.

However, the prototype will not be interactive since users cannot click on any elements. InVision is free, and users can collaborate on the app by drawing and adding notes or feedback.

6 tips for creating better prototypes

SaaS companies create several prototypes before reaching the final product. Despite creating and testing multiple prototypes before launching the finished product, some companies still end up with products that fail. Avoid such an outcome by applying these proven tips when iterating and testing a design thinking prototype:

1. Use the right design thinking method

Design thinking involves identifying customer needs and ideating a solution for the identified needs. The process typically requires continuously testing and refining prototypes with users until you create a functional and user-friendly solution that provides desired outcomes.

Since several design thinking methods are available, the right one typically varies between teams. Commonly used methods include:

  • Role-playing: It requires simulating real-life scenarios to understand user behavior and needs.

  • Rapid prototyping: The process involves quickly creating prototypes to test and refine ideas to improve the solution until it is market-ready.

  • Diverge-Converge: This method requires generating several ideas and narrowing them down to the best solution.

  • Brainstorming: It involves collaborating with design teams and stakeholders to generate ideas. The team will then pick the best idea and create a prototype to test.

Increase your chances of creating a successful product by selecting a design thinking method that fits your team, product idea, and target users.

2. Leverage user feedback

Customer feedback is a valuable source of insights that you can use to improve your product and services. By collecting user feedback, you can learn the features customers want to see in your product and the ones they don't want.

When you create a prototype, share it with your intended end users to discover if your ideas are on the right track. The insights provided by these users will help you avoid investing time and money in creating a product or adding features that nobody wants.

3. Use existing tools

Several tools are already available for creating design thinking prototypes, and some are free. Use these tools to simplify your prototype creation and testing process. Some tools even have templates for creating low-fidelity prototypes, helping you save time and effort.

4. Prioritize user experience

The most useful product in the world is worthless if customers have trouble using it. Poor user experience leads to customer frustration, decreased satisfaction, and increased likelihood of churn.

Avoid losing customers by making your product as user-friendly as possible. Customers should have no trouble understanding how to navigate and use your product to experience value at a glance. Put yourself in your user's shoes and deliver an intuitive product that anyone can use without assistance.

5. Keep testing

Prototyping allows you to test and iterate your product idea to identify its flaws. As you continue testing and iterating, you will discover new ways to improve your product and make it more valuable to end users. You will also gain insights into security features to add to keep users safe.

6. Consider aesthetics

While functionality is important, do not sacrifice aesthetics for usability. 75% of users use a website’s aesthetics to judge its credibility. If your app, website, or web tool has an unattractive, cluttered, or outdated-looking interface, users will find it unappealing, leading to churn.

Even though it’s a mockup, make the interface of a design thinking prototype as visually appealing as possible. Convincing stakeholders or luring users to engage with your prototype is much easier if it is appealing at a glance.

Leave prototyping to the result-oriented experts

At DevSquad, we don’t just build prototypes — we craft successful SaaS products from the ground up. Our expert team validates every product through rigorous testing, starting with low-fidelity prototypes and refining them based on real user feedback. From there, we develop high-fidelity prototypes that meet user needs and exceed expectations.

Once your product is fully optimized through our proven process, we move confidently into full development, ready to launch a version one that’s not only market-ready but built to outperform the competition.

Ready to dominate your market? Let DevSquad help you turn your vision into reality.

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