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Altius

Launch — Design Prototype

Design Prototype

Turn your idea into a clickable prototype — real enough to test with users, show investors and hand to developers, at a fraction of the cost of building it.

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The problem

Why ideas stall between the pitch and the build.

Most ideas die in translation — between the founder’s head, the investor’s imagination and the developer’s estimate.

01 — Challenge

People keep picturing your product wrong

You describe the product in words and everyone imagines something different — investors, teammates, developers. Most ideas die in translation between the founder’s head and the developer’s estimate. A prototype puts everyone in front of the same thing.

02 — Challenge

Investors want more than a slide deck

Another pitch deck asks investors to imagine what you mean. A clickable product demo lets them experience it. When you need to raise, win over stakeholders or prove the concept, something people can tap through beats any slide.

03 — Challenge

You’re about to fund an untested idea

You’re about to spend serious budget building something no user has touched, and the team is still debating features a prototype would settle in an afternoon. Meanwhile a developer quoted months of work just to see the idea take shape.

The sprint

How a few weeks become a clickable product.

A typical sprint, shown for a three-week prototype. Fewer screens move faster, and you get a firm timeline before we start.

  1. Days 1–201

    Idea & scope session

    We work out what the prototype has to prove, and to whom — users, investors or your own team — so every screen we design earns its place.

    • Goals
    • Audience
    • Screen list
  2. Days 3–502

    Flows & structure

    We map the screens and paths that tell your product’s story, focusing on the journeys that matter instead of every possible edge case.

    • User flows
    • Wireframes
  3. Week 203

    Visual direction

    Look and feel set on a few key screens first. You approve the direction before it gets applied across the rest of the prototype.

    • Key screens
    • Style direction
  4. Weeks 2–304

    Clickable prototype

    Every screen in the story designed at high fidelity and linked into a Figma prototype that feels like the real product on any device.

    • Figma prototype
    • Share link
  5. Week 305

    Test & hand off

    Rounds of feedback from users or stakeholders, fixes made in Figma, then an organized file set any development team can build from directly.

    • Feedback notes
    • Handoff files

Mockups vs prototype

What a folder of mockups can’t tell you.

Static screens are a fine start. They just can’t answer the questions that decide whether the product is worth building.

What people see
Static mockupsSeparate images, viewed one at a time
Clickable prototypeA product they tap through, screen to screen
User testing
Static mockupsUsers guess what they think would happen
Clickable prototypeUsers try the task while you watch where they stall
Investor demo
Static mockupsAnother set of slides to imagine around
Clickable prototypeA link they click through on their own phone
Flows & gaps
Static mockupsGaps between screens stay hidden until development
Clickable prototypeEvery path in the story is linked, so gaps show immediately
Team debates
Static mockupsOpinions about pictures
Clickable prototypeBoth directions prototyped and tested — clicks settle it
Developer handoff
Static mockupsDevelopers guess how screens connect
Clickable prototypeScreens, flows and states already agreed — the spec for the build

You leave with

What’s in your hands when the sprint ends.

  • Prototype01

    Clickable Figma prototype

    A high-fidelity, interactive version of your product that looks and behaves like the real thing — shared as a link that opens in any browser, on any device.

  • Figma file02

    Organized design files

    Every screen, component and style laid out and named so a development team can build from them directly, without reverse-engineering anything.

  • Flow map03

    User flows

    The screens and paths that tell your product’s story, mapped so developers and stakeholders can see how each journey connects from end to end.

  • Notes04

    Test findings

    What users and stakeholders did when they clicked through — where they hesitated, what they asked and what we changed in response.

  • Document05

    Scope notes for the build

    Which features the prototype showed are worth building and which quietly got retired — a grounded starting point for an MVP or full build estimate.

Tools

Prototyped in Figma, ready to build in Next.js.

Proven, well-supported technology — so the next developer to touch your code is glad they did.

  • Figma
  • Interactive prototypes
  • Shareable browser links

See your idea before you build it

Bring the whiteboard sketches and we’ll turn them into a clickable prototype you can put in front of users and investors.

Let’s talk

FAQ

Before you start a prototype.

Something else on your mind? Ask us directly.

01What exactly is a design prototype?

A high-fidelity, clickable version of your product built in Figma. It looks and feels like the real thing — screens, flows, interactions — but there’s no code behind it. Anyone who clicks through it experiences your product the way a user would, which is the whole point.

02Prototype or MVP — which do I need?

A prototype proves the concept and the experience; an MVP proves people will actually use it. If you’re still testing whether the idea lands — with users, investors or your own team — start with a prototype. It’s faster and cheaper, and if it validates, it becomes the blueprint for the MVP.

03How long does a prototype take?

Typically a few weeks, not months. The exact timeline depends on how many screens and flows your product story needs, but this is deliberately the quick, inexpensive end of product development — that’s what makes it useful. You get a firm timeline before we start.

04What tools do you use?

Figma. You get a shareable link anyone can click through in a browser on any device — no software to install, no accounts to create. That makes it easy to put in front of users, investors or teammates wherever they are.

05Can I use the prototype for investor pitches?

That’s one of the best uses for it. A clickable demo beats a slide deck — investors stop imagining what you mean and start experiencing what you’ve made. If you’re preparing a raise, it’s often the strongest thing you can put in the room.

06What happens after the prototype?

If it validates, the prototype becomes the spec for an MVP or full build — screens, flows and states already agreed, so nothing gets thrown away and redone. The files are yours: build with us or take them to any development team.

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