Introducing Inktrap
We're a London-based team of digital product designers and developers who specialise in making B2B products easy to use.
Your experienced product design and development team
After initially focusing on designing and building MVPs for early-stage startups, over the past 10 years we’ve grown to work with larger companies like Tysers, humn.ai and PwC’s innovation team. We deliver new products and features, or, work as an embedded team improving existing software, making sure it delivers what users actually need.
We’re all about making the digital world easy to navigate, building interfaces that are intuitive to use, maintain and allow people to get the job done. We’re a small, highly effective team all based in and around sunny(ish) London who love things design and tech related.
Our values are the core of everything we do
We’re problem solvers
We make products that solve real business problems. They look great doing it too, but function comes first.
We put people first
People are at the core of everything, whether they’re a user of your product or a member of our team.
We take pride in our work
We pay attention to the details, and make sure things are done right, not just done.
We’re open and honest
We’re honest about our opinions, and transparent in how we work. We value fairness, clarity and integrity.
We protect the planet
The planet is burning and we have a duty to protect it. We work to reduce the environmental impact of our business.
Our experience
Having worked on well over 100 products in the past 10 years, we have a broad range of experience across industries and technologies. We’ve designed risk insight platforms for startups, built membership platforms, created learning tools for multinational corporations and everything in-between.
We take pride in our ability to really understand the goals of our stakeholders and the users of their products which leads to a better solution in less time, using our tried and tested process we can apply to any brief.
Prototypes
What is a prototype?
A prototype is an early version of a product or service that is created to test and evaluate its design, functionality, and/or usability. It is a tangible representation of an idea or concept that helps to identify and address potential design flaws and usability issues early in the development process.
The prototype can be created using a range of no-code tools (including wireframing tools and prototyping software) or directly with code. The purpose of creating a prototype is to you visualise and test the product's features and interactions and commercial feasibility before further developing an idea.
Once the prototype is created, it can be tested with users and stakeholders to get feedback and make any necessary improvements. The feedback collected during this phase can then be used to inform future product design and development, making sure that the end product is tailored to meet the needs of the users, minimising future risks and improving quality.
A prototype is used to prove or disprove a theory. For example, you have a new idea for a product but you’re not sure whether people would use it. You therefore make a version of that product which communicates enough of the idea that you can test its usability by running user tests, checking your theory with the minimum of time and effort.
Types of prototypes
From our decade of experience we know that each prototype fits into 1 of 3 categories
Models
A picture paints a thousand words
These are useful if you need to persuade others that you’re onto a good idea. The outcome is a feature-rich visual prototype, normally a series of high-fidelity mockups linked together in an interactive flow which communicates the product’s features. It gets everyone on the same page regarding what the product will do and in what form it will be delivered (mobile app or website for example). The interactive prototype can be used on marketing websites, in pitch decks or handed over to stakeholders to play with.
- Visual only (it’s not connected to a database) with a high level of polish
- Highly interactive
- Feature-rich to communicate your vision for the product
- Created by designers
Proof of concept
Does the tech exist to make my idea a reality?
A great idea to figure out if the available technology can power your new idea as there’s no point pursuing a concept which just isn’t technically feasible to create. These prototypes are all about hacking together a technical solution which proves that your idea is realistic. There’s not a shiny user interface overlaying it - this one’s all about substance over style.
- Tech only - interface design/usability not considered
- Functionally works
- Built to prove a point, not to be released to the intended users
- Created by developers
Validation
Setup a test rig to gauge customer interest
What seems like a good idea to you may not necessarily translate into a product that people want to engage with. With a validation prototype, you are aiming to find out one of three things: Will people use it? Can people use it? Will people pay for it?
Usability prototypes focus on whether your solution can actually be successfully accessed, for instance, if you’re adding a new plan to a sign-up flow, do people understand what they’re signing up for based on the information you provide?
Whether people want to use or pay for a new product or service can be tested with prototype landing pages linked to an Adwords campaign. This is a quick way to test out marketing messages, audience size and budget online.
- A focus on usability and communication of a concept
- Decisions guided by customer input/feedback
- Created by designers and developers
Process we follow
Discussion with you to identify the kind of prototype required
A conversation to understand what you’d like to achieve. We can then put a plan of action together.
Define a specification for the work
This puts everyone on the same page about what’s going to happen. Each point on the specification needs to be scrutinised to make sure it’s a task essential to the prototype fulfilling its objective. Any fat must be trimmed or time and money will be wasted!
Create a clear plan for delivering the prototype
Each prototype has a custom delivery plan but generally each of the three types adheres to the following processes and timeframes:
- Models (1-2 weeks)
- Stakeholder interviews
- Userflow and wireframe design
- Feedback updates & UI rollout in an interactive prototype
- Proof of concept (2+ weeks)
- Tech team interview
- Define system map and tech stack
- Build & validate solution with tech team
- Validation (2+ weeks)
- User interviews
- Userflow and mid-fidelity wireframe design, user testing
- Front-end build & styling
Examples
Tillit
Prototype category: Model
Duration: 2 weeks
Investment raised: £1 million
Tillit is a fintech startup that’s making personal investing interesting, easy and accessible. Their founder had a clear idea of the potential market opportunity but needed to explore how the product would look and work and produce assets to demonstrate the platform to potential investors.
We worked with them in a remote two-week design sprint to understand the user needs and create an interactive prototype of the mobile product, later expanding the prototype to include desktop screens.
The resulting model prototype was used in investor pitches to communicate the concept and collect feedback on the features. With the help of their interactive prototype, Tillit went on to successfully raise £1m before building their thriving fund investment platform.
zBot
Prototype category: Proof of concept
Duration: 4 weeks
We worked with the Zeidler Group, a financial law firm, to prototype and launch several new modules on their Swift platform. One of these modules is the Global Knowledge Hub (GKH), a wiki containing information about fund registration around the world. zBot was an idea to use the magic of AI to find answers to users’ questions using natural language processing, built with the Microsoft Bot Framework.
We first built a basic version of the chat interface to test it could connect to the bot network and successfully power the tool’s front-end interface. We then updated the Content Management System within Global Knowledge Hub to enable zBot to detect the information as it was populated, starting with one data set, which was just enough to prove the technology worked.
After proving the technical viability of combining GKH with a chatbot interface, the product was built and an entire country's registration information was added. However, the bot required too much time to train to give accurate answers, so the project was paused. Using an iterative prototyping approach, Zeilder Group quickly learned that zBot was not commercially viable. By prototyping first, they were able to avoid making a large investment in a fully-fledged product in order to discover this.
Security Research Tool
Prototype category: Validation
Duration: 2 weeks
A research tool for a security analytics firm which analyses media associated with individuals or companies to determine their risk factors. It examines different news content from a variety of sources to establish whether an entity is safe and reliable to work with. The tool highlights conflicts of interest or security issues at speed by bringing together a variety of different APIs.
In just 12 days we designed and built a front-end prototype to validate whether this tool would speed up the workflow of security research professionals. This prototype could then be tested with them to see if it included the correct features implemented in the right way.
After successful user test results with the research professionals, the product has been developed and is now a key tool used across the firm.
Next steps
More info about Inktrap can be found on our website.
If you have any questions or would like to know more about prototyping, please drop a message to james@inktrap.co.uk or schedule a call if you’d like to chat.
