Issue 1 – Jan 2018
Saving your Web workflows with prototyping, vague but exciting, prototyping as a scientific method for business, and InVision Studio

Links

Running in Circles – Why Agile Isn’t Working and What We Do Differently

This great piece isn't only about prototyping but also about iterative processes in general. Ryan Singer explains how, at Basecamp, they use the so-called uphill phase to learn – through prototypes – what’s hard and what’s possible in a project.
https://m.signalvnoise.com/running-in-circles-aae73d79ce19

Why You Should Start Prototyping—Right Now

A nice piece by Pedro Andrade from IDEO about how prototyping can provide a fresh perspective and spark an early conversation.
https://www.ideo.com/blog/why-you-should-start-prototyping-right-now

Generating Wireframe Boxes with CSS and HTML5

Eric Meyer, the grand seigneur of CSS, shares a nice technique to create wireframe boxes with CSS and HTML5. Really useful for your next HTML prototypes.
https://meyerweb.com/eric/thoughts/2017/11/27/generating-wireframe-boxes-with-css-and-html5/

Rapid Prototyping Process and Fidelity: A 10-Minute Guide for UI and UX Designers

If you want an overview of how prototyping fits in the product design workflow and are looking for a concise introduction into various prototyping techniques and best practices, this article by Jerry Cao has you covered with a lot of useful advice.
https://www.uxpin.com/studio/blog/rapid-prototyping-process-fidelity-10-minute-guide-for-ui-ux-designers/

Laws of UX

When building your prototype, it can be extremely helpful to consider design principles like contrast or visual hierarchy. Laws of UX by Jon Yablonski is a beautifully designed collection of 10 maxims and principles that designers can consider when building user interfaces – and prototypes as well.
https://lawsofux.com

Saving Your Web Workflows with Prototyping

Shameless plug: I wrote an article that explores the role of prototyping to explore different materials and the importance of prototyping in web workflows when building resilient, performant experiences.
https://matthiasott.com/articles/saving-your-web-workflows-with-prototyping

Talks

Vague But Exciting – Dave Rupert

Last November, Dave Rupert gave a wonderful talk at beyond tellerrand Berlin exploring the role of prototyping in our workflows. He particularly concentrated on lessons from the field of game development, where prototyping plays a vital role in the iterative development of a unique game feel and innovative characters.
https://vimeo.com/242036572

An Event Apart: Prototyping The Scientific Method of Business – Daniel Burka

Daniel Burka, a design partner at Google Ventures, talked at An Event Apart Denver about how to use prototyping to create value for businesses. Luke Wroblewski, the author of the book Mobile First, shares his notes from the talk:
https://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?1983

Success stories from Kenya's first makerspace – Kamau Gachigi

In an interesting TED talk, Kamau Gachigi, a technologist from Kenya, shares some of the extraordinary projects and innovations coming out of his fab lab Gearbox. A great example of the importance of prototyping for economies facing the challenge of industrialization in the 21st century.
https://www.ted.com/talks/kamau_gachigi_success_stories_from_kenya_s_first_makerspace

Tools

InVision Studio

InVision already is a popular solution for creating online prototypes out of static comps but now they are joining the screen design software game. InVision Studio, advertised as “the world's most powerful screen design tool”, is now rolling out and it looks really promising. Responsive prototyping, animation, and shared design systems all in one tool – it sounds almost too good to be true. I guess many of us are eager to test it out and we will see if it holds up to the high expectations.
https://www.invisionapp.com/studio

Framer Update

Framer started as a mainly code-based tool for interface prototyping with its great strength being interactions and animations. But for quite some time now, the team has been expanding Framer into a powerful screen design tool. In December, Framer received a major update, adding advanced path editing, boolean operations, adaptive layouts and much more.
https://framer.com/features/design/
Prototypr.io has written an in-depth review of the new features: Unwrapping the new Framer

Zeplin now integrates with Adobe XD CC

Adobe is continuously adding new features to Adobe XD, their design and prototyping tool. The January update, for example, brings batch object export, radial gradients, and the possibility to switch color models. But most importantly, Adobe XD now integrates with several third-party tools. The most interesting one may be Zeplin, a collaboration and design hand-off tool. More details on the Zeplin blog:
https://blog.zeplin.io/zeplin-now-integrates-with-adobe-xd-cc-726c8a4b2f22

Tracy

And last but not least: Florian Schulz created a neat little tool to convert monochrome sketches to SVG. You simply scan your drawing with your smartphone and Tracy syncs it to your computer as a vector graphic. Magic! ;)
http://www.usetracy.com