Prototyping

A prototype is a draft version of a product that allows you to explore your ideas and show the intention behind a feature or the overall design concept to users before investing time and money into development. A prototype can be anything from paper drawings (low-fidelity) to something that allows click-through of a few pieces of content to a fully functioning device (high-fidelity). 

Benefits of Prototypes

It is much cheaper to change a product early in the development process than to make change after you develop it. Therefore, you should consider building prototypes early in the process. Prototyping allow you to gather feedback from testers while you are still planning and designing your product.