Design stage — Efficiency in UX Design: Embracing Lo-Fi Prototyping for Smarter Solutions
In the dynamic landscape of UX design, the mantra of “working smarter, not harder” rings truer than ever. Embracing a strategic approach to design, one that prioritizes efficiency without compromising quality, is essential. One such strategy gaining traction is the practice of starting with low-fidelity (lo-fi) designs before diving into high-fidelity (hi-fi) iterations. By creating and testing lo-fi prototypes early in the design process, teams can validate concepts, gather feedback, and iterate swiftly, ultimately saving time and resources while delivering more user-centered solutions.
Before moving forward and applying on my project I want to explain first what is the difference between Lo-fi and Hi-fi designs:
- High-fidelity (Hi-fi) designs: Detailed, polished, and realistic representations with refined visual elements, colors, typography, and interactive features, closely resembling the final product.
- Low-fidelity (Lo-fi) designs: Simple, rough, and abstract representations of a product or interface, focusing on core functionality and structure.
I created Lo-Fi designs first to reduce the amount of wasted effort and I came up with previous designs:
After finishing the previous designs. I tested it with real users (will talk about it in details in the next article). Then I came up with the second version in which I solved the issues from the first version.
After another testing I reached to the conclusion that this is a good design from a the functionality point of view. In the up coming article I will talk about the testing phase and what issues users went through in the first version.
