Prototyping is an important part of the design process; it helps teams and organizations
visualize their ideas and test them out before committing to a final product before going live. Prototypes can be as straightforward or complex as needed depending on the project.
If you have integrated Figma into your design process or use other prototyping methods, you might have run into a situation where you create your designs and think it looks great, only to have someone else look and find all sorts of problems.
Figma designs are a great way to visualize concepts, but they must be as effective as possible to allow the organization to learn from the prototype process and gain actionable insights.
In this article, we will cover the best way to improve Figma designs before moving forward with the product.
The Best Way to Optimize Figma Prototypes
Attempting to design prototypes with Figma is a fantastic technique for evaluating ideas before launching them, but if you keep the designs internal or fail to eliminate bias when analyzing the designs, you run the risk of launching concepts that have issues that aren’t discovered until it’s too late.
The best way to improve these designs and improve your prototypes before going live is with usability testing. Usability testing prototypes can help optimize designs by identifying potential design issues before they become real problems.
Usability testing Figma designs will help find and fix usability issues, by adding a usability testing process to your Figma design procedure you will be able to use real user feedback from users that represent your target audience to create a better overall design.
This will ensure that your users will have a smooth and enjoyable experience with the final product once it does go live.
There are a few different ways to go about usability testing Figma designs, but the most time and cost-effective method is to use a remote, unmoderated testing
service. These platforms will provide you with a dedicated user panel or real people that will interact and give feedback on your prototypes.
Usability testing Figma designs is a valuable step in the design process that can help ensure you are launching the best product and that your designs are as good as they can be.
By finding and fixing issues that are identified by your target audience, you can match your designs and user experience with the needs and expectations of the user. Usability testing on Figma designs should be performed early and often during the design process to ensure you are constantly improving Figma prototypes, so you can convert Figma to HTML for a faster developer handoff.
When To Run A Test On Figma Designs?
There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question, then you should run a usability test on Figma designs will vary depending on the project and your organization’s specific needs. However, some general guidelines can help you determine the best time to launch a usability test.
It doesn’t matter if you are creating a new product or revamping an existing one, it’s best practice to run a usability test early in the design process. It will allow you to catch any potential problems with the interface before too much development work has been done.
Running a full usability test may not be necessary if you’re working on an existing product and making small changes. Instead, you could quickly check the new design to ensure it’s working as intended. If you’re unsure whether to run a usability test, it’s always better to be safe than sorry.
In most cases, it’s better to spend a little time on testing and fixing any potential issues early on in the design process rather than dealing with them later on when they may be more difficult and expensive to fix.
How To Run A Usability Test On High-fidelity And Low-fidelity Figma Prototypes?
As we know, Usability testing is an important part of the design process, and it’s imperative to test prototypes early and often. But how do you know when a prototype is ready for usability testing? And what should you do if you have both high-fidelity and low-fidelity prototypes?
In general, you should test the highest-fidelity prototype that is feasible. It means that if you have a high-fidelity prototype and a low-fidelity prototype, you should test the high-fidelity prototype. However, there are some exceptions to this rule.
If the low-fidelity prototype is more accurate than the high-fidelity prototype, then you should test the low-fidelity prototype. For example, if you’re testing a website and the low-fidelity prototype is a paper prototype, it will be more accurate than the high-fidelity prototype, which might be a digital prototype.
If the low-fidelity prototype is more user-friendly than the high-fidelity prototype, then you should test the low-fidelity prototype. For example, suppose you’re testing an app and the low-fidelity prototype is an early version simplified for ease of use. In that case, it will be more user-friendly than the high-fidelity prototype.
If you’re unsure which prototype to test, it’s often a good idea to test both prototypes. It will give you a better sense of how the design progresses and which prototype is more accurate or user-friendly.
So, how do you run a usability test on a high-fidelity Figma prototype? And how do you run a usability test on a low-fidelity Figma prototype?
Here are some tips:
Choose your participants wisely
When testing a high-fidelity Figma prototype, be sure to choose participants who are familiar with Figma and have experience using similar software. When testing a low-fidelity Figma prototype, be sure to choose participants who are new to Figma and have no experience using similar software.
Run a pilot test
It’s always good to run a pilot test before starting the primary usability test. This will help you test the usability logistics and ensure everything is running smoothly.
Start with an introduction
When testing a high-fidelity Figma prototype, start by introducing the prototype and explaining what you will be testing. When testing a low-fidelity Figma prototype, start by introducing it and explaining how it works.
Ask questions about the design
When testing a high-fidelity Figma prototype, ask questions about the design and get feedback from participants. When testing a low-fidelity Figma prototype, ask questions about how easy it is to use and get feedback from participants.
Collect feedback
When testing a high-fidelity Figma prototype, collect feedback from participants about the design’s usability. When testing a low-fidelity Figma prototype, collect feedback from participants about how user-friendly the design is.
Analyze your results
Once you’ve collected all your data, analyze your results and make conclusions about the usability of the high-fidelity Figma prototype and the user-friendliness of the low-fidelity Figma prototype.
Common Mistakes in Figma Design Testing
Usability testing is a great way to improve the usability of your Figma prototypes. By identifying and correcting common mistakes, you can ensure that your prototypes are as user-friendly as possible. This section will look at some of the most common mistakes made while running usability tests on Figma prototypes.
One of the most common mistakes is not allowing users to complete tasks. It’s important to give users enough time to experiment with the prototype and answer your questions as best they can. Otherwise, you may not get accurate feedback.
The second mistake is that we do not provide clear instructions to users. Users need clear instructions to understand what they’re supposed to do. If they don’t know what they’re supposed to do, they won’t be able to provide accurate feedback.
The other mistake is that we do not provide enough context. Users need to understand the context of the prototype to give helpful feedback. They won’t provide helpful feedback if they don’t know why a particular feature is being tested.
Finally, another common mistake is not utilizing consumer insights. It’s essential to dive into the respondents’ feedback and opinions to understand the test results fully. By fully understanding the feedback, you can identify and correct usability issues before they become a problem.
Avoiding these common mistakes will help you run more effective usability tests on Figma prototypes.
Conclusion
Figma is one of the best platforms for prototyping and evaluating concepts, features, designs, and more. As most designers, marketers, and businesses know, prototyping is important in implementing a new concept. However, it isn’t just enough to create a Figma design and launch. Getting real feedback through prototype testing is the best way to improve designs.
To find problems and fix them, usability testing should be done on your prototypes. When really should Figma prototypes be subjected to usability testing? How may high-fidelity and low-fidelity Figma prototypes be put through a usability test? What common errors do testers see when conducting usability tests on Figma prototypes? In this article, we addressed all of these questions and provided a simple guide to effectively testing Figma designs.
