Knowing how to make a product prototype could set your final product apart from competitors and secure investment from potential investors.
Also, creating a prototype could ensure your product will work perfectly once the finished product launches to your target audience.
Prototyping statistics show that the global prototyping market will be worth over £2 billion by 2025!
It’s no surprise when you consider how the prototyping process can help you collect feedback and test software before developing the finished product.
Let’s show you how to make a prototype of your business plan or idea to create an original design that customers will love in real life without the need to pay countless dollars or pounds before development.
What Is a Prototype of a Software Product?
A working prototype is the first iteration of a product idea before teams develop your projects for the final product launch. The prototype iterations will showcase its practicality, functionality, core features, and dimensions.
A prototype designer produces early versions that show how your product works. A prototype built into the design process will feature and refine digital solutions before they fully function.
Product Prototype Different Types and Examples
Various types of product prototypes exist. Clients can often see these iterations for a team to design product prototypes to see their solutions function for real users before completing development:
Visual Prototypes
A visual prototype made for clients will typically show the size and core features with box layouts, etc. It’s a sketch more than a working prototype and lacks complexity. However, it shows the basic design of the solution a customer will see as part of a sketch. It simply represents the core dimensions.
Proof of Concept
The next iteration is a proof of concept prototype, which is a rudimentary version to show the feasibility and core functions and capabilities of the proposed technology. The prototype made by designers will have to prove that the concept can work, which is how proof of concept prototyping works.
Presentation Prototypes
The presentation prototype made by a design team will be ready to present to clients. It’s a higher-quality prototype with feasibility already measured. Teams typically manufacture the prototype with custom materials and manufacturing techniques. You can also attract investors with this prototype.
Pre-Production Prototypes
Designers will modify the presentation versions slightly to make a production-ready prototype for testers to test the solution. The working prototype typically has a technology stack in place and lets customers, manufacturers, and clients conduct thorough testing before development.
What Are the Benefits of Making a Product Prototype?
The prototyping process may help you realize early mistakes or discover cheaper and more efficient methods for previously developed ideas. Here are some benefits of product prototypes:
- Attract investors when you demonstrate your business ideas
- Make accurate forecasts of production and development time and costs
- Mitigate industry or business risks with initial usability testing
- Address related issues early once prototype testing occurs
- Identify flaws or weaknesses early enough to prevent costly budget overruns
- Incorporate improvement in every iteration to protect your brand
- Ensure durability of components and technologies with prototypes
- Gain feedback and better market insights with early prototypes to validate ideas
How to Make a Prototype in the Development Process
Decide to start creating a prototype from scratch before launching new inventions and software into your industries to generate sales or make more money.
Putting technology into a competitive world means you must manage tech, value, expectations, and resources with your development team. Here’s how you engineer a prototype with your team for success and to meet a vital objective.
Start With a Product Vision
Discuss your idea with other stakeholders, the development team, or anyone you hire for the job. Practice being a part of every step in your developed product prototype.
Ask about a minimum viable product prototype to save money and avoid time-consuming versions. Also, do market research to understand the target market for product ideas before the product development process.
Create a Sketch or Use Computer Aided Design (CAD)
A simple sketch or paper prototype works to show how you intend to build a tangible product prototype, but you can also use a computer-aided design or create wireframes with simple product concepts for the first version before a wireframe for the mobile app, for example, is designed.
Alternatively, consider outsourcing to custom software development companies in the UK. Ultimately, begin with a hand-drawn sketch or picture of your first prototype version.
Make a Proof of Concept
Fortunately, there are many ways to build a proof of concept. It must show that it’s possible and how to build the product but doesn’t have to resemble the final product.
Explore outsourcing or entrepreneurs who do this daily or who specialize as prototype designers. Adjustments to the first prototype must be made to ensure it simply works in this stage before using surveys and credibility tests.
Create a 3D Model (Optional)
A 3D model will only happen for physical prototypes that show a product made from wood or other raw materials. It prevents using expensive materials for the proof of concept stages.
You don’t want to spend a fortune and take the risk of expensive failure with a physical prototype in software testing. Besides, building 3D models of software prototypes is digital, not physical.
Make a Physical Prototype
It’s time to bring the first physical prototype or functional prototype to life. Building the kickstarter requires outsourcing your project to a prototype designer. Understand that perfection comes from experience.
Choose someone who has designed incredible prototypes before and start working with them. Listen to their advice if they spot issues, but inspire them with your proof of concepts.
Test the Prototype
Gathered data and feedback can lead to product improvements. Take all the steps necessary to test and gather feedback on your functional prototype. Testing will require actual testers, which you can find in beta testers, friends, family, or internet collaborators.
Start selling your idea by testing it for usability, durability, and baseline product features. Real users give the best feedback to advance products.
Design a Production-Ready Prototype
The final step is to design the production-ready prototype before developing your final product at the end of the prototype development process. The final version of your product project must perform for businesses, respond to customers, and validate your idea as its reality performance hits the target.
You can track and measure a production-ready prototype’s services, data, and progress because it’s fully functional with optimal performance for everyone involved. The cardboard cutout of your intended finished product must detail every shape and define every function for companies and manufacturers.
Product Prototyping Process Tips for the Prototyping Stage
Our product prototyping tips will help you identify issues early, stay within budget, and take an important step toward reducing costs and competitors. You’ll showcase ideas that sell, a tool for daily improvement, and essential product prototypes without flaws but only in exceptional form.
Use Benchmarking and Competitive Analysis
Benchmarking and competitive analysis help you understand the market you wish to enter with your design products, functionality, model, or new product invention in the specific steps of the prototyping process. For example, gathering data can improve software invention functionality and determine production tools, technologies, materials, and marketing efforts in small batches.
Create a List of Priority Features
Always create a list of priority features and functions for your prototype model to test the idea of the concept from a practical point before creating software. Prototyping lets you test a product idea with due diligence, so list the features you want testers to experiment with first before you create a working model. Customers could determine a lack of tech in your current prototyping for priority features.
Conduct Market Research
Act as a marketing manager who conducts research to solicit feedback from audiences before you make a prototype for an online store or the final design of your software. The failure to research your target market or audience could lead to time-consuming mistakes that cost more money than is necessary. Find the value proposition of your intended product prototype before any prototyping starts.
Protect Your Design
Protect your product prototype when you sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) or patent the idea. A product prototype patent can share vast aspects of your intellectual property, and you don’t want anyone stealing concepts from your final version. Instead, ensure prototyping concepts are patented and you’ve signed NDAs with any outsourcing companies that have created your product prototypes.
Use Standard Manufacturing Techniques
Indeed, software isn’t truly manufactured. However, the tip still applies. Use standard prototyping manufacturing techniques and processes to deliver a final version to solicit feedback and create optimal software. The cost of manufacturing or developing software can range, but standard prototyping techniques reduce the cost of unexpected tech stacks (or the cost of your manufacturing materials).
Manage a Cost-Effective Strategy During the Design Process
A prototype manufacturer or developer can cost more than you budget unless you created expectations about the costs involved with the product prototype upfront. Set a figure, and frequently meet with your designers to ensure the designing phase won’t exceed those costs. Put your figure on paper. Many development companies prefer having budgets before designing a product prototype.
Tools To Help You Create a Prototype
Fortunately, the first step to creating the ideal prototype starts with our online tool called Requiment. Some essential benefits of using Requiment include a guided process and demo videos to demonstrate our tools. Learn more about us to see how to turn your product idea into a digital prototype.
Showcase the best prototypes and sell your software concepts with the right tools. Requiment offers many benefits, including pricing to fit all budgets and a free trial period.
Sign up for our free trial today, or book a demo to see us demonstrate the product in action. Of course, we will help you gather specifications and produce reports with the tools. Our product management tools will give you a kickstart to demand the best from your prototypes in a way you can afford.
Summing Up How to Create a Product Prototype
You should be able to demand only the best from your product prototype. The benefit of understanding the prototyping process is that you can oversee the effort of designing partners and evaluate whether you’re in the right place. You can track tasks and the funds related to prototyping while closing a gap.
Everything must be optimal on the surface and below to build the best product prototype. Any sense of a supposed gap may scare others away from investing. Instead, present hope and refer to proven functionality. It begins with Requiment. Sign up for that free trial today for online skill and expertise.
Creating Prototypes for Software Products FAQs
How to Create a Product Prototype?
Follow these steps to avoid expensive mistakes and stick to the best method to improve a product idea:
Visualize your product idea
Create a sketch
Make a proof of concept
Create a 3D model (optional)
Design the physical prototype
Test and adjust the prototype
Make a production-ready prototype
What Is An Example of a Product Prototype?
Concept cars are an example of a product prototype. However, wireframes offer the ideal example of a software product prototype made with tech stacks, functions, and features. You can draw a wireframe with pen and paper, or create wireframes in minutes with our online tools to resolve steps faster.
Good Read: What Are Wireframes In Software Development?
What Is An Example of a Suppliers Prototype?
Suppliers and manufacturers could produce 3D model prototypes of concept cars or other machine-related products, mechanical devices, and factory-issued products. Concept cars have mass examples with mass social media coverage from the likes of Super Car Blondie and others. The closest tasks we can mimic in software prototyping is by creating a prototype in a 3D software frame.
Can Anyone Learn to Make a Prototype for Software?
Yes, our Requiment tool will help you create wireframes, which are perfect answers to the prototyping steps you require before designing the final version. Step up to the plate, and choose to sign up for a free trial to learn more about our product. Turn heads, and guarantee fluid work on your mass concept. Schedule your work with our product to reach the number one spot in your industry.