Data Nexus

Product and interface

Three different artefacts, each answering a different question, routinely used as if they were three levels of polish.

01/What it means

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.

02/What people get wrong

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.

Next

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.