That’s My Type, That’s My Prototype
After completing many steps in the app redesign process, it’s now time to bring everything together in the prototype phase. This is when we create interactive elements within each page like the actual app would have. Prototyping helps us visualize what the final product may possibly look like and if there’s anything that needs to be fixed or improved. “The more interactive and realistic our prototype is, the more realistic the user will interact with our prototype so that the user will provide optimal insight as when they interact with the actual app” (Mardita). Despite being a prototype, it’s still important for the designer to focus on every detail so that the interactions are as similar as possible to the real application.
When redesigning my app, I wanted to keep the navigation simple yet effective. Each page has its specified purpose, but I made sure that none of them contain too many elements. “Simplicity is a technique that applies and emphasizes simplicity in design and tends not to consist of many visual elements. The challenge is with a simple design, we must be able to convey strong and very clear information that can be quickly digested by the user” (Mardita). Primarily being a moon calendar app, my redesign should still be able to show the moon phase on a specified date without being too visually cluttered. This is when visual hierarchy comes into play. “A good visual hierarchy helps us present information in an ideal way and has a clear structure. So, users can understand the order of information for each element” (Mardita). It’s important to utilize visual hierarchy because the user must be able to navigate with ease and in a certain order. “We can create a visual hierarchy by distinguishing size, color, contrast, fonts, and using other basic design principles” (Mardita). Like Mardita says, there are so many ways to create a visual hierarchy. For my redesign, I gravitated more towards distinguished color, contrast and size. Dark to light purples seemed to contrast well with light blues, so I continued with my color palette choice in the prototyping. It’s also important to mention that the layout depends on the designer and what they want the user to accomplish.
The prototyping phase is a challenging one because of how much thought and effort goes into it. After the general layout is figured out and elements begin to be applied, then interactions between pages have to be figured out. Even after all of that is done, there is a lot of finetuning that goes into the prototype in order to ensure a proper experience for the user. No matter what, the user is always the priority and must be taken into consideration. I’m completely satisfied and content with my Luna app prototype because there were many obstacles that had to be overcome in order for the redesign to look polished and aesthetically pleasing. Prototyping is definitely not an easy feat, and designers should realize how much is exerted when attempting something like this.
Below is my prototype app redesign, Luna.
https://projects.invisionapp.com/prototype/ckmegi3dr000yr101360e3y4f/play