What are the fidelity levels of prototyping and when is each appropriate?

1. Paper prototype: Hand-drawn sketches of screens. Takes minutes to produce. Best for initial ideation, team alignment, and testing gross navigation concepts. No investment wasted if the idea is wrong.
2. Wireframe: Greyscale digital layouts showing structure and content hierarchy without colour or imagery. Built in Figma, Balsamiq, or similar. Tests information architecture and layout decisions.
3. High-fidelity prototype: Full visual design with SLDS-accurate components, colours, and interactive hotspots. Used for stakeholder sign-off, usability testing, and developer handoff.
4. Coded prototype: A live sandbox org or LWC component with real data. Highest fidelity — tests actual performance, real API calls, and genuine interaction behaviour. Used for final user acceptance testing or performance benchmarking. Choose fidelity based on what you need to learn — lower fidelity earlier to fail fast, higher fidelity as confidence grows.