Fidelity of Prototypes
Low-fidelity and high-fidelity prototypes each serve a different purpose in product development. Here are the tradeoffs of each approach.
Prototypes serve to test a product or solution with real users and, based on the results, make the necessary improvements to guarantee the success of the development launch cost-effectively. Prototypes can be low or high fidelity. In general terms, the first one can be a hand-drawn drawing that shows the underlying architecture of the interface, while the second one refers to an entirely navigable representation and very similar to the final product regarding interaction, functionality, and design.
Low Fidelity Prototypes
Advantages: low development costs; very fast creation; easy to change/edit. Users, being aware of the ease of the changes and the low economic cost, feel comfortable commenting and proposing changes. Useful for evaluation of multiple design concepts, for the general design of interfaces, and to identify requirements.
Disadvantages: limited for error correction; unspecified specifications; directed by the evaluator. Its utility decreases when the requirements are well established, and navigation and actions flow are limited.
High Fidelity Prototypes
Advantages: complete task functionality; completely interactive; directed by the user; full navigability; appearance similar to the final system. It can serve as a specification, and as a marketing tool for sales demonstrations.
Disadvantages: high development costs; they take a long time to implement; greater difficulty changing; can create false expectations; less effective for collecting requirements.