Mobile Design Creation Procedure
Your Role: Planning Your App
Before you can hire someone to build your app, you need to know exactly what you want that app to do! There are almost?9 million apps?on the market, so it's important that yours stands out.?Thorough research and a well-developed strategy can help make that happen.
Perform Market Research
The first and most important step is to identify pain points. You can?get a general sense of pain points simply by searching the web or drawing from your own experience. This will help you conceptualize what you want your app to accomplish.
If you already have an app concept in mind, that's great too. Look at what consumers are saying about existing apps with similar functionality. Chances are,?those apps aren't perfect, and consumers still have pain points?that need to be addressed.
That's where you come in. Ask yourself what problem your app will solve. Remember, you don't have to reinvent the wheel; if a solution to the problem already exists, your app can fix problems within that existing solution or put a fresh twist on it.
To discover consumers' pain points, there are several sources you can turn to, like conducting surveys or keyword analysis. If you're from a marketing background, analyzing keywords is a concept you may already be familiar with from SEO practices. This is also useful in finding out the most prevalent issues consumers have.
Finalize the Idea and Nomenclature
Now that you've discovered?the pain points that plague users, you can now determine the key functionality or feature of your app. This should be a solution to the most prevalent pain point within your niche, and all other functionality should address any underlying issues.
Once you've identified the key feature, create?user stories. These outline how your app will deliver value back to the user and answer the question, "why do people want to use the app?"?Having clear user stories?will help you further define your concept.
Identify the Target Customer
In any enterprise,?defining your target market?is key. Not only will knowing your target customer help you market your app, but it will also allow you to tailor its features to that group.
If your business has a customer base already, analyze that. What are the shared characteristics of the people seeking out your product or service?
If your enterprise begins with the app, think about what type of person is most likely to?encounter?the problems the app aims to solve. List?out its features and who is most likely to benefit from them.?
Another way to identify your?target is to observe what type of consumer your competition targets. Is there a niche market within that customer base that they overlooked?
Also, take a look at your competitors' qualities. Where does their app succeed, and where does it fail? Once you've identified this, define your competitive edge or make your app better than your competitors.
Finally, it's time to research demographics. For example, let's say you've identified?a market within people of a certain occupation. Now,?define the demographics (age, income, etc.) that people of that occupation likely fall under.?
Develop Your Strategy
Now that you've evaluated your target customer, research how to best?market towards them. What channels are they most likely to encounter? This will help you decide how to advertise, whether through social media, video ads, billboards, or other avenues.
For example, if your target customer?base is truck drivers, you may want to consider billboards bordering highways. Consider what channels the customer interacts with most frequently.
Next, consider how you'll monetize the app. There are several ways to do so, whether through advertisements, paid apps, subscription-based models, or in-app purchases.?Sometimes, even the?business your app generates will provide the return you're looking for.
Choosing a Platform
The final thing to consider is whether you'd like to pursue development for the?Android or iOS platform. Each has?its pros and cons, and the choice depends on?your market research and strategy development results.?
Compare Your Target Customer to Platform Demographics
Worldwide,?72% of?smartphones use Android, while iOS comprises almost 27% of the market. At first glance, it seems?like Android is the?better choice. However, if you narrow it down to just the United States, 57% of people now use iOS, and?43% use Android.?
If you're targeting consumers mainly in the United States, now the decision isn't as straightforward. To make your choice, look at other characteristics of your target customer base.?
iOS users tend to?make more money, have higher education levels, and spend more time engaging with apps. So, for example, if your target demographic is high-income individuals and your app is designed for long periods of engagement, iOS is probably the better choice.
Compare Your Pricing Strategy With Revenue Models
If your pricing strategy is based on immediate monetization, iOS could be a good choice.?Paid apps tend to be more prevalent here, and iOS users are more willing to pay for them.?
However, if your goal is to make?a bigger impact?and reach a larger market share (and?monetize later), Android could be a better choice.?The Android revenue model is more likely to revolve around in-app advertisement, meaning that the more people you reach, the more revenue you'll make.
Consider Your Budget and Development Timeline
Android app development?takes approximately 30% longer than the analogous?iOS app. This elongated timeline makes the development process that much more expensive. When choosing between the two,?consider your budget and when you'd like to?release?your app.
Mobile Design Deliverables
Once you've done some essential planning and chosen your platform, it's time to?develop the mobile design. This will fall under the responsibility of the designers at the app-building?company of your choice.
The umbrella of?digital product design?includes both the visual elements of the app and the user experience (UX). As a digital product, mobile application design employs both?UX and UI concepts. This design process can take several weeks to a?couple of months and must be completed before coding begins.
UX: Storyboarding
Storyboarding?is a rough sketch of every screen your app will include. Designers won't get too detailed here. At this stage, they're just trying to conceptualize the?flow?of the user experience.?
The storyboard will provide an idea of how users might move through the app and will indicate what the app's basic functionality will look like. It'll?indicate?features like buttons and other controls. You'll go over the storyboard with the designer to ensure your vision is being translated.
It's the designers' job to figure out what will make for the best user experience. UX design is all about usability, and the storyboard will be created with that end goal in mind. The easier it is for the end-user to navigate, the better the user experience and the better the mobile design.
UX: Wireframing
Wireframing is similar to storyboarding but a lot more detailed. Here, designers will fully define the structure, content, and functionality of the app. However, this is highly flexible and subject to change as the designer iterates through different versions of the experience flow.
A wireframe does not yet include any visual design elements. This allows designers to create many iterations of the design without worrying about constantly revising the visual design details.
Designers?usually create wireframes in programs like Figma, Sketch, or Adobe XD. These programs will allow for interactivity and visualization of the flow of the app.
User Interface (UI) and Visual Design
The user interface, or UI design, deals with typography, color theory, graphics, and other visual design components. This is where designers will work closely with you to decide what visual elements represent your brand.
If you already have an established brand, designers will incorporate that into the UI design. If not, they'll look at what your enterprise is trying to achieve and design accordingly. UI design often appeals to emotion and can differ depending on the?desired brand perception.
UX: Prototyping and User Testing
Prototyping and user testing can occur concurrently with the UI design portion of the development. A prototype is a higher-fidelity model than the low-fidelity storyboards and wireframes from earlier iterations. Here, designers can add animations and interactivity.
While the prototype may look like a fully functional app, it still hasn't been coded. It doesn't connect to the backend and so doesn't have any functionality beyond the surface level. This means any information inputted won't translate to the proper channels.
While prototypes allow you, the client, to see what the flow of the app will be like, the software development stage is still needed to produce the functional app. At this stage, designers will also put the prototype through user testing to ensure the user experience is the best it can be. The final optimized iteration is the one that?gets sent to the software developers.
Software Development Deliverables
Once the UX/UI design portion of the app development process is completed, software developers integrate front-end and backend code to turn the final prototype into a functional app. The timeline for completing software development can vary immensely depending on the scale of the project but is always the longest phase of the process.
Builds?or Sprints
Builds, or sprints, are simply iterations of code that developers will release every few weeks for evaluation. Each build will focus on a different function of the app. By breaking up the project into these smaller sprints,?you can give feedback to your developer more quickly, and they can make the necessary changes.
Quality Assurance and Testing
When you outsource an app development company, they'll have a dedicated quality assurance?specialist to test each build. At each stage, they'll test every possible interaction a user may have with that function, including invalid inputs. This tests for bugs in the code but also ensures usability, proper performance, and security.?
At this stage, each build?also undergoes regression testing. Since sprints are built on top of one another, the newest one may have caused issues with the previous sprint. Regression testing identifies and fixes these problems.
Beta Testing
Finally, once the last build is?coded and the last regression testing phase is complete, you have a?minimum viable product?(MVP). The last step before publication to an app library is to undergo mobile application testing or beta testing.
In this stage, a small sample of the target audience will test the app. You'll use analytics to discover how people interact with the app in the real world and how the app functions.?This will allow you to identify and resolve any remaining pain points and/or bugs in the code.
Summary of Deliverables
Let's go over the deliverables you should be receiving from your designers and developers:
At each stage, frequent and open communication?with your app development team will?streamline the process for both parties.
Outsourcing App Development
Now that you've got a firm handle on the process of?mobile design and software development, it's time to find an app-building company to bring your app to fruition.
When starting your search, consider your budget and timeline. It's important to look for companies that provide end-to-end development, including the design and software development aspects.
Nizek does just that:?contact us?to learn more about?how to service your project and bring your ideas to life.