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Ask HN: How to mock up UX flows?

2 points by armagon ↗ HN
I'd like to be able to build and test user experience flows/different user interface layouts, cheaply and quickly.

I need to be able to: - build and test and idea quickly; see what a user does, and then iterate - see how it works with different screen sizes and aspect ratios

I would prefer: - to do things in a low-fidelity way. (If I have to open up photoshop for a UX mockup, I'm doing it wrong!) - to have a native application on my computer for building the UX [macOS or Windows].

I'm not quite sure if I need a tool or a technique, but my current process is way too slow.

4 comments

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rchaud
You can use a prototyping tool like Invision UX and create different different storyboards (screens) to show different parts/features of the app, then link them together to create click maps. Invision can stitch these together so you can hand someone a phone/tablet and they can navigate through it as though it was a working site.

In terms of iterating to different browser viewports etc, you are talking about testing working HTML code, not mockups. Try to limit the number of device types you're optimizing for (e.g. 2 phone types, 1 tablet type, 1 laptop type), and create responsive breakpoints using their screen width/height measurements.

armagon
I'm not actually developing UIs for web pages or using HTML, but rather using a game engine (which, honestly, makes the UI work especially tedious, and is a large part of why I'm looking for a faster way to iterate). Nonetheless, I expect your point stands about needing to test real code, and on making the job simpler for yourself.

Thank you for the reply. I'll look into Invision.