What Is Low Fidelity?

Key takeaways

• Low fidelity refers to a prototype that has just enough visual details and functionality to give you a basic understanding of a product.

• Low-fidelity wireframes are particularly useful during the initial stages of a design project.

• Using a low-fidelity prototype is cost-effective because it allows you to easily alter layouts throughout the design process.

A paper sketch is a common example of a low-fidelity prototype. Read on to find out how low-fidelity prototypes work and when they are most useful in user experience (UX) design. Afterward, consider enrolling in the Google UX Design Professional Certificate to learn how to apply foundational UX concepts, such as user-centered design, accessibility, and equity-focused design.

What is fidelity?

Fidelity refers to how closely a prototype resembles the actual product, including its visual characteristics, content, and interactability. When you design a prototype, it can have either low or high fidelity. Fidelity can vary across visual design, content, and interactivity, depending on the product lifecycle.

What does low fidelity mean?

Low fidelity usually means a prototype has minimal visual details and functionality, but enough content to share the concept with others. As a UX designer, low-fidelity prototypes can help you perform early user testing to gather vital feedback on product functionality. A typical low-fidelity prototype includes elements such as user journeys, annotations, and interactive components, including buttons and forms.

Read more: Glossary of UX Terms and Definitions

What is an example of a low-fidelity prototype?

Many low-fidelity prototypes are made from paper sketches or digital wireframes. Sketches are fast and easy to create and simple to discard. You can also refer back to them throughout the design process and make notations directly on the prototype for easy future reference.

Digital wireframes are reusable, digitally designed sketches that show the functionality and content of the product but not the visuals or interactive parts. They allow you to change and manipulate layouts easily.

When to use low-fidelity wireframes?

Low-fidelity wireframes prove most effective in the early stages of a design project. Featuring only basic yet essential design components, low-fidelity wireframes are great for testing ideas before committing to high-fidelity prototypes.

What are the pros of the low-fidelity approach?

One of the main reasons designers use low-fidelity prototypes is that they’re fast, easy, and affordable to create. Members of your team who aren’t designers can also create them. Low-fidelity prototypes are easier to make changes to and provide users with a basic understanding of a product or concept.

What are the cons of low-fidelity prototypes?

Low-fidelity prototypes can limit user testing to broad design concepts only, and there may be better choices for demonstrating a product or concept to stakeholders. They lack the ability to be interactive, and they may require a little more imagination than high-fidelity prototypes. You might typically need to remind users to ignore the lack of visual detail and focus on functionality.

Related terms

• High fidelity

• Pain points

• Task analysis

• User flow

• Human factors

• Information architecture

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