Product and interface
Wireframe, mockup, prototype
Three different artefacts, each answering a different question, routinely used as if they were three levels of polish.
A wireframe answers what is on the page and in what priority, deliberately without visual design so that the conversation stays on structure. A mockup answers what it looks like. A prototype answers what it does — it is clickable, and it is the only one of the three that can be tested with a person.
Choosing the wrong one wastes the review. Showing a mockup when the structural question is unresolved produces feedback about colour; showing a wireframe when the brand question is open produces anxiety about how plain it looks.
A static image cannot answer whether someone can complete a task, and a person shown one will politely describe what they think they would do. Only a prototype produces behaviour, and behaviour is the only usable signal.
A definition is free. Being answerable for the figure it produces is the part that is bought, and this term is a working part of the engagements below.
- UX, UI and user flows
- Model states, don’t multiply screens.
The definitions are the easy part. Whether the figure on your dashboard was computed this way is a different question, and usually the more expensive one.