Following are the factors which one should consider to identify the right candidate (wireframe vs prototype or even both) for your requirement —
- Prototypes are helpful when you want to create & present a feature, design, screens, etc. along with some functionality. For example: A dynamic shopping cart along with some flavor of how the user will be able to interact with it. While wireframes, due to their static behavior, can be developed to present ideas along with some supporting documentation like Design Specs or Requirements Specs, etc.
- Develop prototypes when customer is expecting a working model of the end product but settle for wireframes if the expectations are limited.
- If the customer or its team is technically inclined then go for wireframes as its a faster, neat & cost effective approach of presenting the ideas. However, if the situation is otherwise then avoid scope for imagination & perception as your ideas presented in the form of wireframes may not be interpreted exactly the way they should be.
- Usually in content development (E-Learning) projects, prototyping approach is recommended and the team finalizes the UI & navigation with the customer after a couple of iterations. Also, usually multiple options of UI are presented while keeping the basic layout treatment & elements similar across the options.
- I personally believe that a couple of wireframes depicting various layouts & look'n'feel shall be developed prior to presenting the UI and prototype shall be the last in this queue. This reduces the risk of prototype or the UI from undergoing several rounds of changes; usually most tedious tasks are the ones which are related to changes in the layout (positioning of the elements on the screen) or even the type of elements used.
- Sometimes when you have a well prepared customer and the requirements are well documented, you receive the specs along with use cases, etc to start with. In such cases, if the specs are covered well and there is not much scope for ambiguity then developing a prototype need not be required. Instead, the requirements document could be topped with wireframes (though optional) wherever suitable just to introduce better clarity.