# Prototyping as a Quick and Cost-Effective Way to Test Hypotheses

DevFeed: [Prototyping as a Quick and Cost-Effective Way to Test Hypotheses](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/prototyping-as-a-quick-and-cost-effective-way-to-test-hypotheses-24588.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://medium.com/icerock/prototyping-as-a-quick-and-cost-effective-way-to-test-hypotheses-7ee185ef9095?source=rss-2f461fccc401------2>)

Author: IceRock Development

Published: 2023-02-09T10:58:46Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [Stories by IceRock Development on Medium](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/stories-by-icerock-development-on-medium.md>)

Topics: [Development](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/development.md>), [Mobile](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/mobile.md>), [ui](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/ui.md>), [navigation](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/navigation.md>), [App](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/app.md>)

Tags: [android-app-development](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/android-app-development.md>), [apps](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/apps.md>), [cost](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/cost.md>), [design](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/design.md>), [effective](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/effective.md>), [ios-app-development](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ios-app-development.md>), [mobile](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/mobile.md>), [mobile-app-development](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/mobile-app-development.md>), [mobile-apps](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/mobile-apps.md>), [navigation](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/navigation.md>), [prototyping](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/prototyping.md>), [ui](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ui.md>), [ui-design](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ui-design.md>), [workflows](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/workflows.md>)

## AI overview

The article explains how IceRock uses wireframe and design prototypes during mobile app development. It argues that clickable prototypes communicate navigation, functionality, usability, and final behavior more effectively than screen maps, with fidelity varying according to client needs.

## Source excerpt

Businesses are always looking for ways to launch apps quickly and with minimal development costs. There are various ways to do this: sketch your app design, launch apps from scratch with frameworks, or use builders. Different situations call for different solutions. In this article, I will tell you about the approaches we use at IceRock. Our company specializes in outsource development of mobile apps, so we constantly look for new ways to speed up the development and enhance tried-and-true workflows. Why a Prototype is Better than a Screen Map Before we start the development, we prepare one or several prototypes of the future app. This is more efficient than going straight to design or starting to develop the app right away. A screen map is a set of images showing all app screens and their relationships. It visualizes the flow of the screens, but it doesn't allow you to get a feel for the result and understand how usable the interface will be. In other words, it is less illustrative. Clickable prototypes are more informative. We divide prototyping into two parts: we use a "wireframe prototype" before the design, and a "design prototype" after. A wireframe prototype is a schematic prototype that helps us understand the navigation and functionality aspects of an app. A design prototype is a product assembled once the UI design is complete. It is used to demonstrate the future app to the customer, for marketing purposes, and sometimes for testing. It also shows the developers how the final app is supposed to work. After the design, we make a clickable prototype. The level of detail in this prototype can vary according to the client's needs: it can be low-fidelity or high-fidelity. Low-fidelity prototypes consist of static images with active links to the next screens on the buttons. This is the type of prototype we used for the Snow4u project. High-fidelity prototypes are very similar to the app and fully interactive: you can type any text in the input fields, there are