Dave Cronin at Cooper writes about the benefits of prototyping:
1. Prototyping improves your designs. Apple are renown for innovative design. They made 100 prototypes of the MacBook prior to production.
2. Prototyping facilitates communication. Project teams have something to focus on and discuss rather than a 200 page document. Designers can explain ideas by doing rather than talking.
3. Prototypes can be tested with users and refined before the project goes into production – saving time and money.
4. Prototypes help assess technical feasibility and reduce development time. Development teams can see what they need to build, enabling more accurate quotes and planning.
Get the prototype right and the rest will follow…
Although not a prototype in the same way, I think all of these rules apply to non-functional (just HTML/CSS) mockups in web design. If you design in the browser instead of in Photoshop, you’re basically making a prototype.
Very true. It takes a certain level of visual design skill to go straight to HTML and a very high level of front end skill, so that it’s still quick and easy to jig things about. So pick the tools you are most comfortable with, whether that means working in CSS or MS Powerpoint…