No Coding Needed: Prototype Your Idea

   

Paul O’Connell

 

You have an idea. It’s a pretty great idea in your head. You can see market, you can see revenue models supporting project sustainability and you can see potential! But it’s just you. What’s your first step?

 

In this age of lean methodology, ironically most potential founders line up for the ‘find a CTO’ line. But you don’t have to go there yet. You don’t need a technical lead to validate your idea. You need an idea of structure and a simple prototype to talk to your proposed market.

 

While it makes it easier to have some basic html and CSS knowledge, it won’t stop you in putting together some simple tests and see if you are onto something. Paper prototypes have been part of User experience design since the term was coined. But with the myriad of tools to help you get something working from app to webpage there are so many usable solutions out there.

 

As a designer I’ve used quite a few methods of prototyping as I mention in another post. Dependent on the sort of idea I can simply put an open source foundation up such as word press / magenta or joomla, whatever is best for idea validation. I did this with Dutchstartupjobs. This was a blogging template that I put together in a weekend and sourced initial jobs and it took off because there was a whole community telling me that they needed a centralized jobs platform but were too busy to do it themselves. It was a quick solution that immediately took off. The nature of a product aimed at a startup community means it has some scalability issues but one year down the line that platform is the go-to site for startup jobs in the Netherlands. A pretty successful prototype.

 

Refine your feature set

 

Working with a Health product I used InVision for some High Fidelity prototyping. This was taking my upgraded wireframing designs and connects them through linked output jpegs. I can show hover states and from page to page showed flow for the complex site. It also allowed conversation with team members on paring back what we actually need rather than what I think we should have. This forced me to pare back the design. Make it simpler, compact and focus on the user. Design shouldn’t shine a light in the eyes of the user but point at a clear way to achieve a goal. Don’t hinder, enable.

 

On a side note within a team, arguments on what should be the killer feature are rife. This is always a divisive topic since it’s all invalidated opinion propagated by feedback from friends (most likely). Step in the prototyping idea.

 

Show the world

 

Once the prototype is created you output to a web-page or to your phone (the best use of a QR code) and get out into a train station or some people thorough fair and interrupt their day by asking them to look at your prototype. Gathering feedback from people who couldn’t give a shit about your product initially is very valuable and helps you refine explaining the idea and showing the product. Also remember not everyone’s opinion is useful. Gather all that collected data and look for patterns in response and also what resonates with you for product direction.

 

A prototype can be budget independent

 

Remember at this stage the only commitment you are making to this project is your time so this is very liberating as you have no ties to anyone and can build quickly and definitively. It’s good to keep the prototype within the realm of possibility but don’t let that hinder you from thinking big. Don’t ever be afraid to think big. We are at our best when we dream big and break expectations.

 

If it doesn’t work bin it and start again

 

The best things about creating a something people get to touch, interact with and use is that possibilities are unlimited to where the direction goes, what can be achieved and who the product could talk to. How many projects have dramatically pivoted after a few prototypes and some focused feedback. On the other hand if users don’t get it, don’t see the need or just don’t want it you can trash it and start again.

 

The prototype and learn mentality

 

I’ve seen founders get backing based upon the strength of vision and a fucking fresh focused prototype. It shows an ability to think around problems like ‘I don’t have a developer guy so how do I get my super startup idea tested?’. When the answer is ‘I learn to do it myself and continue to find good team fit members’ you know this guy will go somewhere. I know in a lot of Accelerators and Bootcamps a prototype is required for entry to demonstrate a working idea.

 

Currently I’m getting to grips with a great prototype tool called Framerjs. This takes a bit more knowledge than putting wire-frame prototypes together since it’s a bit more finesse orientated but I love the idea of building the small touches in a prototype building upon core functionality for more design aware markets.

 

There are so many possibilities where it comes to getting your idea out there you only need to be open to them.