As a proponent of prototyping myself, I really appreciate this attempt to add structure to the practice. Can't agree more that it has to be okay to write code that won't be used in production, as this process is totally separate. Pure gold: “If a picture is worth 1,000 words, a prototype is worth 1,000 meetings.”

totally agree. I design for startups, all 6 of them i worked for, convinced them to use Webflow or Framer for their prototype, built it in a week or two - all raised over 2M or contracted a heavy hitter client. Seeing the product/app/ client website rather than talking about it is so much better. PURE GOLD

thanks for this article! it helps to map verbs and nouns to the different processes we experience in building prototypes.

Rules of Engagement > No production code.

I agree and disagree. As a former designer/developer, I could write far better UI code than most developers. I agree that components may be replaced, but the style code (CSS for web, XML for Android, etc) will be far more optimal from a single designer who understands the full design system and can code it effectively.

When I'm rapid prototyping, I'll take shorcuts with the layout but not the design system, because it's faster to change one line of style code than each instance that would use it.