“Idea to Prototype” Workshop

Published:
January 9, 2023
Author:
roundiumadmin
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For business owners who are not tech savvy, the idea of transforming their business model with a sophisticated website and or a mobile app seems scary, but it’s really about reframing things to reveal new opportunities. An easy-to-use web or mobile app can increase both efficiency and productivity, cut the costs down and help your business stay competitive. 

There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come. The first step is ideation and validation. In order to do this, you need something to share with your future users and even potential investors so that they understand what the product is and how it works; a prototype.

During this one-on-one workshop, led by senior product designer and start-up developer, our team will help you materialize your game-changing idea and transform it into a prototype to offer delightful experience appealing to your future users. 

How prototype helps you

A prototype is a preliminary visual mock-up that looks like a real app, and demonstrates an app’s fundamental design and function but does not contain working code. It has all the steps a user needs to take in order to perform certain tasks. 

Prototyping helps evaluate the value of a design idea. You can and may share the clickable prototype with your clients or other potential users of the app and get feedback, before investing a ton of money and building the actual app. It helps to spot and fix potential usability problems. 

A well designed prototype provides a much better idea about the purpose of the future app. It shows what the target audience of the app is supposed to accomplish with it. 

A detailed prototype helps to save both your time and money while keeping you and the development team on the same page.

Having an intuitive prototype dramatically reduces the risk of the investment in building an app. On top of all that, you can use the interactive prototype to pitch your idea to investors. Having a prototype not only makes it easy for them to understand your idea but it shows that you are serious about it. 

What you will learn 

Throughout this 8-week workshop you will take the steps necessary to build an interactive prototype. This builds a solid foundation for the next step in your entrepreneurship journey, which is building the Minimal Viable Product, MVP in fact.

This workshop has two major parts; research and design. 

Research

  1. User stories (user pain points) {4 + 2 hours}
    A user story is an informal, natural language description of features of the app. It is a short, simple description of a feature told from the perspective of the person who desires that particular capability. Users of your app can be your customers, admin, service provider (which usually is you).
    As the first step, together we will look at the features of the app from a user perspective. We will guide you to write them in the standard format while making sure you don’t get lost in details. Then we will help you prioritize them. At the end of this session, you will have the list of the user stories required for the prototype and later for the MVP. 
  2. Competition product/service analysis {4 + 6 hours}
    We will teach you a framework to review up to three competitor products. With this analysis you would know the pros and cons for each of them. This will help you clarify what makes you stand out of the crowd. Also this will be used as the base to prepare the marketing materials to convince potential users of the app to use this app and not the competitor’s. 
  3. User/Customer persona(s) {4 hours}
    A user persona is a fictional character which represents your app’s target users. Personas are an extremely valuable UX tool, allowing you to better understand your target audience and make design decisions accordingly. At their core, personas are about creating products with a specific, not generic, user in mind.
    In this session you will be guided to create user personas. Usually, a persona is presented in a one or two-page document. Such 1-2-page descriptions include behavior patterns, goals, skills, attitudes, and background information, as well as the environment in which a persona operates. User flows of the app must be designed according to the user persona. 
  4. Workflows / User flows {4 + 4 hours}
    User flow is the path taken by a prototypical user on the app to complete a task. The user flow takes them from their entry point through a set of steps towards a successful outcome and final action, such as signing up to the app.
    In this session we will guide you to draw flowcharts and diagrams that display the complete path a user takes when using your app. 

Design

  1. Hand sketching {4 + 8 hours}
    Now it’s time to start visualizing your idea. As you have found out it’s easy to come up with the idea, but the hard part is understanding how that idea will take shape in user interface form. This is where sketching is useful. Sketching happens in many professions that involve creativity and construction.
    You will learn to use easy tools to take your imaginative mind from the clouds to the user interface screen where you can start thinking about the user experience. You’ll be able to figure out how your app will work to get the desired result. Don’t worry! We will be there to help you with best practices and again not to get lost in details. 
  2. Low fidelity Prototype / Wireframing {4 + 2 hours}
    Prototypes don’t necessarily look like final products. they can have different fidelity. The fidelity of a prototype refers to how it conveys the look-and-feel of the final product; basically, its level of detail and realism.
    Low-fidelity prototyping is a quick and easy way to translate high-level design concepts into tangible and testable artifacts. The first and most important role of low-fidelity prototypes is to check and test functionality rather than the visual appearance of the product.
    In this session you will learn how to build a fast and clarifying prototype. Our team experts will help you to apply the skills you learnt to build your first prototype. 
  3. High fidelity prototype {4 + 20 hours}
    High-fidelity prototypes appear and function as similar as possible to the actual product that will ship. Now that you have a solid understanding of what you are going to build, it’s time to build a high-fidelity prototype. This will allow you to either test it with real users or share it with potential investors.
    The visual design and content will be almost final. Meaning that you need to spend time to write content, mostly titles and messages shown on the app as well as to find images and icons. We give you access to a paid repository to make your life easier.
    You need to decide about the colour theme, font, and logo. If you don’t have them, we will teach you how to make them quickly. Keep in mind that the design process is iterative and incremental. That’s why you get updates for different apps and softwares you use. 
  4. Making the prototype interactive {4 + 6 hours}
    The final step is to link different screens that you have created to each other. In other words you will make your prototype clickable or interactive. Your users will be able to interact with it, moving back and forth across different screens.
    High-fidelity interactive prototypes often look like real products to users. This means that test participants will be more likely to behave naturally, as if they were interacting with the real app.
    This type of prototype is also good for demonstrations to potential investors. It gives users and potential investors a clear idea of how the app is supposed to work. An excellent high-fidelity prototype gets people excited about your design. 

Since this is a one-on-one workshop, the content will be customized depending on the idea you have in mind as well as your skill level in using different tools that will be taught throughout the workshop. 

Some of the tools which will be taught during the workshop are: Figma, Freepik, PhotoPea, Adobe Express, etc.

You will also be given activities to do, however you will be fully supported by our team of experts in each step. The results of each activity will be used in the following session for the next step. 

Evaluation and certificate 

There will be 4 tests to assess your knowledge. The main assessment will be the final project, the prototype you will be building throughout the workshop. In order to get full points the prototype should be complete and interactive. Upon successful submission, you will receive a certificate of completion. 

Start dates

  • Feb 1st, 2023 
  • Mar 15th, 2023  
  • May 1st, 2023  
  • Jun 15th, 2023 
  • Sep 18th, 2023  
  • Nov 1st, 2023 

Fees and hours 

The price for the workshop is $10,900 + 5% GST 

The total hours is 80. This includes 32 hours of teaching plus 48 hours of supported work to build a professional prototype. This is the minimum. Since you are passionate about your idea, you may spend more time to add more details to the prototype and make it look more professional. We know you will! 

In this workshop you will learn by doing. We know that UX design requires expertise and experience. That’s why we have our team experts to support you so that the final product meets the requirements to be the foundation for the next step in your entrepreneurship journey. 

workshop prototype

What makes this workshop different

  • The ultimate goal of this workshop is to materialize your game-changing idea and transform it into a prototype to offer delightful experience appealing to your future users; not only to teach you to do so but to support you in every single step. We’ll take your hand and climb the mountain together. 
  • This is a one-on-one workshop. It’s all about you! You may even decide to take the course in-person (at our office) or online. 
  • This is not a UX design workshop only. You will learn a bit about branding, user story writing, marketing, and product design. 
  • This workshop is led by an industry expert with more than 10 years experience in business analysis and product design. 
  • You are fully supported by a team of specialists. They will sit down with you at each step and do the tasks together. 
  • You will learn a selection of the best tools you need in order to achieve the ultimate goal of the workshop.
  • We are not making money from this workshop but investing in you and your idea. That’s why our price is lower than other professional courses like BrainStation, CCTB, SpringBoard and GeneralAssembly. We would love to partner up with you throughout your entrepreneurship journey, from prototyping to building the MVP, launching and then bringing the product to the next level. This is just the first step. It’s too soon to think about money making. 

Who is qualified

You need to have a brilliant idea and entrepreneurship feeling in your gut! Undeniably, passion as well as expertise in your industry are next. If you have ever used your computer to design a Powerpoint presentation, then you have all technical skills required to take the workshop. We will teach you what you need. 

You will need a laptop and a cell phone. 

How to apply

You can apply by sending an email to workshop@twelfthdream.com and tell us about: 

  • Yourself 
  • Your profession 
  • The idea 

You must email us at least 10 days prior to the start date. We have a limited capacity. We will contact only the applicants who are approved. Then the tuition fee must be paid in full ($10900 + 5% GST) no later than 3 days before the start date. 

Meet the tutor

This workshop will be led by Mahdi Sahebnasagh, who is the founder of Twelfth Dream as well as senior product designer and business analyst. He understands both the business world and technical world and speaks their languages. He has been the cofounder of startups such as Kindermeals and Upplery

Mahdi has a Master of Science in Control Engineering. He has been working in the software and IT industry for over 20 years. He loves problem solving. His passion is to design and build software products that users love. 

Some of the latest projects he has been working on are: 

  • A payment platform for a freight forwarding company 
  • An app to learn hand embroidery 
  • A portal for an online interior design firm 

 

Ready to take the first step to make your dream app a reality? Apply Now! 

 

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