Starting from scratch: Rapid Prototyping vs Iterative Product Design Sprints

We had some cases in our practice when the product founders came with an original request for services that seemed to be irrelevant at that particular phase of their product development journey. Usually, it’s about investing too much effort (and money) into design perfection in the very early stages, or, vice versa, trying to come up with some quick “mockups” for development purposes while avoiding the proper design process steps.

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Let’s dig deeper into some thoughts on when and why each path should be chosen.

Understand the Difference

Iterative product design sprints are more complex and expensive than rapid prototyping. They involve multiple rounds of design and development, often with extensive feedback loops. Only commit to this approach if you're confident in that particular functionality you want to build and already know how it may be engineered quite well.

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If you're starting with a blank slate or embarking on your first product development effort, rapid high-fidelity prototyping should be your best bet. Focus on creating a basic yet functional showcase of your product. Avoid spending excessive time perfecting every design detail, such as pixel-perfect mockups, several rounds of color palette iterations, switching fonts too much, or elaborate animations. At the end of the day, most likely these initial iterations will anyway be significantly changed later on based on the early user feedback or investors’ bits of advice.

Prototyping for Investor Demos

When prepping for an investor demo, prioritize a proof-of-concept (POC) prototype that covers key value proposition features. Highlight potential use cases as much as you can (and as many as possible), along with core features that are straight to the point. If you're deciding between a refined UI and robust UX, always focus your design team on advanced UX mechanics that solve user problems (and, accordingly, may help investors evaluate your expertise in the field and focus on problem-solving, making sure you are not just stamping concepts for the sake of concepts). Form means a lot here, but experienced investors will assess the feasibility of your product over the fancy layouts and hand-picked fonts.

Validating Hypotheses

Use rapid prototyping when you need to validate a hypothesis. Clearly communicate the goals of the prototyping sprint to your design team—whether it's user testing or creating an investor demo. Depending on your goal, the proper team should suggest specific tools or approaches, such as Maze for data-rich user testing or Protopie for smoother experiences that work better for pitch decks.

When Rapid Prototyping Isn't Enough

Rapid prototyping is not the thing you need, if the next step is starting the development effort. Engineers can't create a fully functional application based on a prototype alone because prototypes often lack coverage of all necessary design states, scalability considerations, and edge cases. That’s when the Iterative Product Design should be your focus instead.

When to Choose Iterative Product Design

Opt for iterative design sprints when you have a clear understanding of:

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• What you're building and why (not on the level of product in general, but on the level of particular feature sets);
• Your target audience, their needs, and willingness to pay for certain features;
• The tech stack and its constraints;
• Detailed product specs, user stories, and acceptance criteria;
• Third-party services and integrations you are going to use;
• Feedback from potential users;
• A prioritized product backlog accordingly;
• The resources to invest in a long-term design process (at least 2+ months).

Don't Cut Corners

Avoid diving into a full product design without a technical team available to answer critical questions straight away. Similarly, don't "save" on the design system in iterative design — it’s a key part of the process, akin to building a vocabulary when learning a new language.

So what?

Choose rapid prototyping to quickly test ideas and validate hypotheses. Move to iterative design sprints when you have a solid foundation of product knowledge and are ready to invest in detailed, development-ready designs. Don’t mix the two approaches without clear justification, and never skip critical steps to cut costs.