Static Mockups vs Interactive Prototypes

Developers should learn to create or interpret static mockups to collaborate effectively with design teams, ensuring accurate implementation of UI designs and reducing rework meets developers should learn and use interactive prototypes to improve collaboration with designers and product teams, ensuring that technical feasibility aligns with user needs early in the project lifecycle. Here's our take.

Static Mockups

Nice Pick

Developers should learn to create or interpret static mockups to collaborate effectively with design teams, ensuring accurate implementation of UI designs and reducing rework

Pros

• They are essential in agile workflows for gathering feedback before coding, and in projects where visual consistency is critical, such as mobile apps or marketing websites
• Related to: ui-design, figma

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

Interactive Prototypes

Developers should learn and use interactive prototypes to improve collaboration with designers and product teams, ensuring that technical feasibility aligns with user needs early in the project lifecycle

Pros

• They are essential for usability testing, reducing rework by identifying issues before coding begins, and for communicating complex interactions in client presentations or stakeholder reviews
• Related to: user-experience-design, wireframing

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

These tools serve different purposes. Static Mockups is a tool while Interactive Prototypes is a methodology. We picked Static Mockups based on overall popularity, but your choice depends on what you're building.

The Bottom Line

Static Mockups wins

Based on overall popularity. Static Mockups is more widely used, but Interactive Prototypes excels in its own space.