Сreating paper prototypes

When a designer thinks through the processes in an application, it is difficult to keep everything in memory at one point in time - you need to fix the train of thought. And in this it is difficult to rely on graphic editors that are sharpened for certain tasks - for example, to process photographs or create illustrations. In addition, when we immediately work in a graphic editor, we are forced to adapt to its limitations, that is, we do not control the tool, but the tool controls us.

There are many intermediaries between the idea in the head and its implementation: the interface of the graphical editor, the monitor screen, the keyboard, the mouse. And when working with paper, the idea becomes tangible faster.

When creating paper prototypes, it is better to use plain paper - lined sheets will distract from the essence of the action. We will not even notice how we will try not to go beyond the border of the lines or to unite them. In addition, extraneous lines distract from the discussion.

A simple pencil with an eraser will allow you to quickly correct mistakes and not distract your interlocutors and yourself with colors. With the help of a paper prototype, it is important to discuss the logic of the interface, and not why this button is red and the other is blue.

Design creation process

In fact, this is the creation of an application skeleton: the designer understands where the information will be, scatters the content across the screens and determines how many screens there will be in each user scenario.

To test this logic in practice, the designer assembles a draft of the application. There, he tests a bunch of screens, checks that the interface components are located in the right place and it is clear how to interact with them: something needs to be clicked, dragged, selected, or deleted.

At this stage, it is important not to go into visual design and not delve into questions from the series “what color will the button be” or “what kind of fillets should the image have?”.

For design, black-and-white prototypes are most often used - wireframes, which are created in a graphics editor.

Before wireframes, some people create paper prototypes - they make a sketch of the future application on paper by hand.

Paper prototypes are great for quick discussion of ideas to test yourself and sync with the team before you get to work in the graphics editor.

Paper and pencil are just as much a designer's tool as a graphics editor.