Modern technology design requisites a high degree of interactivity: navigation bars change with a user's scroll location, boxes expand on click to show and hide supporting information, lists are dragged and dropped to re-order, etc. Designers must consider all possible user interactions to create the most streamlined, intuitive user experience in their products. Sharing and delivering interactive designs can take a variety of formats depending on what you are trying to accomplish, and who you are delivering to. The Importance of Prototyping In this post, I'll walk you through various prototyping approaches, and describe in which contexts one would choose each. Ultimately, the different methodologies described below have three facets you should consider when deciding upon which route to embark: The level of communication between departments The timeline you have to deliver upon Your stakeholders’ degree of what I call design elasticity : the ability to conceptualize abstract visual / interactive ideas from verbal or written communication I'll use illustrations demonstrating the levels of each of these for all the prototyping methods we cover. Paper Prototypes (Static Deliverables) The early web was state-based: clicking a link took me to another page, which had a collection of links that took me to subsequent pages, and so forth. An understanding of Javascript was an advanced skill set, and frameworks had yet to be developed that would facilitate easier use of the language. As such, interactive components were rare. Designers’ static deliverables fit the needs of these technological products: since there were few interactive, moving components, the designs could be effectively represented by static comps created in Photoshop, InDesign, and other print layout tools. As technology has progressed, an understanding of the benefits of a higher degree of interactivity in user experience has led towards more user experience design being contingent on interaction
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