Designing a clickable prototype is an essential part of the UI and UX design process. It is considered a preliminary interactive sample of the idea before it becomes a complete product, serving as a bridge between the design phase and the final product. In this article, we’ll explore one of the best tools in 2021.
Mockplus RP
— to help you create a clickable prototype faster and easier.
What is a Clickable Prototype?
At the very beginning, I should make it clear that neither a wireframe nor a visible mockup may be known as a clickable prototype. Anything static isn’t a prototype. A clickable prototype is a high-constancy layout version created in a layout device like Mockplus. After the advent of the mockup, hotspots (or clickable areas) are implemented to particular factors at the screen/page, triggering a transition to any other screen/page — a characteristic that mimics actual virtual products. It can display a visible illustration of the personal interface of an internet site or software program utility and gives an interactive enjoy very much like a finalized utility.
Why is it Important to Create a Clickable Prototype?
A clickable prototype isn’t always the handiest vital for the product proprietors however additionally vast for the customers or stakeholders, due to the fact they now and then need to make a few decisions, which include approving the design, the format and the capability earlier than the implementation. Moreover, a clickable prototype can assist the improvement group to get a clean attitude on what must be constructed earlier than they begin operating at the product capability. Therefore, it’s of exceptional significance to create a clickable prototype for the subsequent reasons:
- For product owners or decision makers, clickable prototypes can help to generate support, gain agreement or even investment for the project.
- For developers, a clickable prototype can help to bridge the gap between developers and product owners or UX experts.
- For end users, using a clickable prototype can let them realize and confirm what they want and also help to prevent drastic late changes or even rejection of the finalized product.
In a nutshell, using a clickable prototype can make the software development process faster and more cost-effective. Therefore, the most valid argument as to why we need to have a clickable prototype is minimizing wasted effort on unwanted functionality, and at the same time, achieving maximum efficiency and quality.
How to create a clickable prototype?
Now we know exactly what a clickable prototype is and why it’s so important and valuable. There’s only one thing left to do: create your own.
Here are some pointers that will help you along the way:
- Set concrete goals. You need to have a clear idea about what you want your prototype to accomplish. In other words, what are you looking for when testing your prototype? Remember to pay attention to the user’s needs and always remember the problem statement.
- Use templates. It is unnecessary to build from sratch, because there is a huge set of templates for different industries. You can select the right templates, edit them, and create prototypes quickly and easily, which helps you to save a lot of time from starting from scratch.
- Choose the right tool. With the overload of currently available design and prototyping tools, it is difficult to find the one that fits your needs. Don’t worry, we’re here to help you. In this article, we’ll explore one of the best design tools–Mockplus–to help you create a clickable prototype easily and efficiently.
Take action. Design thinking is about generating ideas and testing them, so create prototypes when you need them. You should always bear in mind that the process of design thinking is not strictly linear, so you can create a prototype at any time.
The Best Tool for Creating a Clickable Prototype
A clickable prototype now no longer best represents the visible format of a virtual interface however additionally gives a positive diploma of interactivity. Moreover, it consists of such things as photo and textual content placeholders collectively with buttons and navigational elements. However, getting the proper clickable prototyping device is the maximum important step and has to now no longer be taken for granted. If you’ve got been searching out the first-class device to create clickable prototypes, then this text is your home. In this part, we will come up with an in-depth manual on a way to create clickable prototypes on your undertaking with one of the first-class layout tools — Mockplus RP.
Mockplus is an easy-to-use layout platform, which presents a big set of layout icons and templates that may be edited and shared and reused. It offers your group an easy manner to create and take a look at clickable prototypes. It permits you to effortlessly transfer from Design to Prototype mode in a click, after which drag wires among artboards/pages/additives to show your wireframes into interactive prototypes in no time. More than that, the platform capability covers the complete system of product development, from ideation to execution. Mockplus’ real-time collaborative surroundings manner that your group individuals can paintings on clickable capabilities simultaneously.
Features:
- Rapid prototyping – it is a lightweight prototyping tool and you can simply drag-and-drop components to complete a design.
- Tons of pre-designed components – it offers 3,000 icons and nearly 200 components for you to use directly.
- Interactive and animated prototyping – it allows you to create interactive gestures and many kinds of animations (Artboard interactions, Component interactions, State interactions and Page interactions).
- The feature of Connect Mode – it allows you to make a flowchart quickly and easily.
- Prototyping on the cloud – it is a cloud-based prototyping tool that enables you to create, edit, share, test, and handoff on the cloud.
How to Create a Clickable Prototype with Mockplus Faster and Easier?
Here is the detailed guide to creating a clickable prototype step by step:
Step 1. Create a new Project
Visit the Mockplus website and log in with your credentials. When the main interface is displayed, hit the “New” button, and then you can select a specific device by selecting the options provided under the device drop-down icon. As for creating a clickable prototype, you can choose “Online prototyping” to get started.
Step 2. Add a new page for your clickable prototype
Now the project will display a prototyping window. To make it clickable, you should add more pages so that they can be linked with objects of different pages. To add pages, click the “+” button at the top right corner. Add as many pages as defined by the nature of your project.
Step 3. Add components and icons to the clickable prototype
Once you’ve got introduced the goal quantity of pages, you could upload the web page items you need, which include buttons, textual content fields, which will be used for interaction. Drag the additives into the Artboard and start drawing your shapes. Tons of Built-in Components and Icons are offered, that can make your layout quicker and easier. You can edit those Components and keep them in your asset library so you can reuse them the subsequent time you require them. Another precise function is that you could proportion your asset library together along with your crew contributors and for this reason those Components may be reused via way of means of them quickly, which facilitates to enhance the paintings performance of the entire crew.
Step 4. Create object and page interaction
The middle part of the interplay is linking your pages and objects. Once your layout is whole and satisfactory, click on the web page item and drag the hyperlink factor that looks at the proper aspect of the item. Drag it to the respective web page that the item has to hyperlink. What’s more, Mockplus now no longer handiest gives Page interactions, however additionally gives Component interactions, State interactions and Artboard interactions, making it one of the nice layout gear amongst product designers and UI/UX designers.
Step 5. Preview the clickable prototype project
Now which you are accomplished with the connection, it’s time to preview what you’ve got accomplished. Simply hit the “Preview” tab and have interaction together along with your prototype. You also can download an HTML prototype from Mockplus RP, which may be previewed offline.
By following the above steps, you may fast create a clickable prototype. Then you may offer customers and different stakeholders a ‘functioning’ prototype that allows them to click on thru a sequence of pages, that’s extraordinarily beneficial for riding layout conversations, permitting you to aspect your layout ahead thru discussion.
Here are some videos about design tips to help you quickly create a clickable prototype:
How to Make Eye-popping Transitions
All of these design tips can be of great help for your clickable prototyping. To find out more, please visit the website here.
Benefits of Clickable Prototypes
Creating a clickable prototype that shows the features and functionality of an app/a website in development can certainly make an impact on the final design as well as on the whole project. Here are some major benefits showing how clickable prototypes can help your design idea.
Benefits of Clickable Prototype:
- Saving a great amount of money. A clickable prototype allows users and stakeholders to see where they might have problems with their design in the early stages of the project, and can identify necessary features to save money. When problems arise, it is more cost-effective to fix them with prototypes than to continue the development process.
- Allowing users to provide valuable feedback. A clickable prototype allows users and stakeholders to use the entire application scenario in the right context to provide timely and valuable feedback, rather than requiring changes after the project implementation is complete.
- Acting as a useful reference tool for developers. Clickable prototypes can illustrate functionality in ways that screen specs cannot. For example, if developers need to figure out how a particular component or control works, they can use prototypes to answer functionality questions.
- Saving a lot of development time. It can be costly for developers to recode a website or application usability issues after production. Thus it is recommended to create prototypes at earlier project stages considering user’s feedback which is much simpler and helps reduce overall development time.
- Testing in the real world. The most beneficial aspect of an interactive prototype is the ability to test it on a target device using an actual working setting. Allowing developers to test the UI on devices in the real world will ensure they have better feedback on what works and what can be improved.
Conclusion
Tools like Mockplus RP now occupy an essential location withinside the consumer enjoy designers’ toolbox. It allows you to create clickable prototypes, and those can assist to check ideas in advance and extra regularly and creating a higher blueprint for development, which may be surprisingly beneficial to assist pass your wondering on and check your assumptions.
As designers paintings the manner thru the layout process, it’s essential to include the proper device for the activity at hand. Over a final couple of years, Mockplus RP has an increasing number of won recognition and is now relied on and utilized by designers all around the world. What’s extra, its Black Friday sale is going stay already!
