Are prototypes enough when sharing design work?

Introduction

Recently, I've been trying to understand the best way to present my design work. I've come to the conclusion that sometimes prototypes aren’t enough. Don't get me wrong, I still use them when sharing design work and still believe they are the best option, but they need backup.

That's why I’ve started following a three-pronged approach when sharing designs to give my team a choice of how they can review what I’ve been up to.

Good things come in threes

After a few rounds of experimentation across different bits of work, I’ve found that following the steps of:

1. Creating a prototype
2. Creating a user journey map of said prototype
3. Recording myself talk through the designs
4. Putting all this together in a message

Always lands better with my colleagues. There's no groundbreaking ways of working here, but collectively, they provide a choice of how to review work. There's other benefits I’ll also talk about.

1. Creating a prototype

Fortunately working in GOV design, I can use the gov prototype kit to help me creating something hi-fidelity. Depending on what you’re designing and your team, it’s very likely a prototype is enough to share work and conduct user research. Even better if you’ve managed to make a prototype as realistic as possible, with interactions and logic. It’s also a great way to share an accessible way to build something with your team.

I’m not going to dwell on creating prototypes, they can often be the best way to present work and showcase how something should be built. However, over time I've noticed that creating a user journey map alongside it gives people the opportunity to ‘zoom out’. This allows everyone to get a sense of the broader context of your designs.

2. Creating a user journey map

Want to showcase the logic of interactions in complicated journeys? Put a user journey map together. Putting a user journey map together allows people to:

• understand the bigger picture
• give feedback at specific points, if your team can access it online
• understand complicated sections of a journey
• use it as an artefact for other work, such as creating tickets

Yes, they’re time consuming, but often worth it. Added benefits also include having something to use in workshops. They also provide a useful way to document your work and progress if you’re iterating the journey more than once. If you don’t have version control on your prototypes, it’s a good alternative.

If you're using something like Figma, it's likely you've got this already. Taking extra care in your design files to make a prototype and a user journey map could save a lot of time!

Depending on the work, I often try and put together a stripped-back version of the user journey map. This is often something we’ve already discussed at an earlier stage in the design process. That being said, I always like to have a simplified version of a journey to make it clear what the proposition is.

3. Create a video demo talking through changes

I wish I started doing this sooner, given it only takes minutes to do. Being able to talk through your designs and thought process at all the relevant points in a journey helps tell the story. It also reduces the amount of time needed for meetings.

I’m still working out the best way to do this, so I’m open to suggestions, but currently I’m using Microsoft Teams meetings,. I can record and create a transcript of myself talking through the work and share all this with people.

In terms of benefits, doing a video recording allows:

• people that are busy the chance to review it when they can
• work to be shared with stakeholders outside of your team
• you to talk through your thought process and decisions
• you to show how you’re interacting with your designs
• you to propose how something should be built
• you to look back on what you did and why at the time
• your team to get up to speed quickly on progress

4. Putting all this into a message

Once I’m ready to share designs, I’ll often put a message together like so and link to the relevant artefacts:

" Title of work

Hey team, sharing an update on X. I’ve made a video talking through the prototype, user journey and my thought process. You can view the user journey map, or alternatively check out the attached file. The prototype has also been updated if you want to take a closer look.

Things to look at:
- Point 1
- Point 2

Any thoughts let me know

I’ve found following this structure covers all scenarios of letting people be guided, look at things themselves, or browse the journey bit by bit.

Once it’s out there, I’m able to collate initial bits of feedback in a thread before a meeting. This allows me to cover main themes when getting a meeting organised.

I’m keen to see how others have been sharing their work so feel free to reach out and part with any wisdom!

If you want to discuss this post then you can find me on X (Twitter)link opens in a new tab, LinkedIn link opens in a new tab and the usual GOV slack channels.