A Step-by-Step Guide To Design A Mobile App

In today’s world, one of the best ways to reach people is by creating a fabulous mobile application. Mobile applications have special advantages over websites. Psychologically an average person would prefer using a mobile app that is installed on their phone than visiting a website for making a purchase decision. That is because a mobile app is more robust to use and loads faster because of already available offline content stored on the phone. Also, it is perceived as more personalized and secured. Having said that, the challenge is to get the mobile app installed on the user’s phone and to ensure that they use it. An app should be designed so that a user feels comfortable and cheerful to use the app. It should give them a sense of ease and safety. We have tried to list simple steps that need to be followed to systematically Mobile App Design.

Listing down final objectives is the most vital part of any project. The design and development team should be clear of the core objectives that the mobile app is aimed at. The objectives could be customer retention, influence buying, strengthening brand, increase usage of app, enhance repeat business or anything else. The objective listing exercise to narrow down core objectives involves face to face interviews, clear brief by client or exchange of messages and mails. Before the team starts working on the design and development side, it is important that definition of objectives is in place.

Once the wireframes are ready, they have to be arranged in a logical sequence that the users are expected to follow. The flow of sequences will decide which screens would be visible to users when. It would also decide which are the decision points in the flow and where to lead the customer in case of either decision. It is also important to list down the features of the mobile app at this stage. Clients have to do decision-making on which features to be included at which stage and which features to be avoided. Technology might give several additional features, but, having all the features on an app increases the load of the application. It will also increase the development time frame and resources required. So it would be the call of the management to optimise the number of features to be provided by the application. As the flow and features are finalised, it will also give us a fair idea of what technology is best suited for the development. It would also give insight on the compatibility and availability of talent most suited for the particular project. It will also give indications if any additional cost and resources are required. There are some features and functions that require either one time or recurring payments to government or other bodies. Viability of payment required and its assessment is a must-do process.For example, a live feed of Forex prices would require an additional regular payment. However, a feed delayed by a few seconds could be available free.

Also Read: Reasons why UI/UX design is important for business growth

Based on objectives, client requirements and user behaviour a series of wireframes are created. These wireframes are simple line diagrams that would give an idea of which screen will have which elements, functions and facilities to interact. Preparation of wireframes is a key task as it would form the base of the entire app. Only once the wireframes are finalised the design and development team can come into action. The wireframes will give an idea to the client about what exactly he could be expecting at the end of the development process. Skipping the step of wireframe preparation may lead to lots of confusion during the production process. This may cause waste of resources and energy and lead to dissatisfaction.

The project starts for the design team at this stage. Inputs on color combinations may be useful at the start of the design process. If the brand has colors which need to be followed, the designer needs to know about the exact colors and the weightage given to them. Choice of colors would change with the type of audience. For example, children users may get attracted to multicolor layouts, while executives may prefer soothing colors with less colors on a page. Colors and layouts are the two major components of a design. Design is the heart of the mobile app. It is the thing the users will see and experience whenever they use the application. Design is a subjective art, it does not have boundaries. The design finalisation may at times consume more time and resources than expected. Hence, it is always advisable to keep buffer production time for this stage, to avoid any delays in meeting project deadlines. The current worldwide trend in design is ‘minimalisation’. Minimalisation means the concept of ‘Less is More’. People prefer minimum content and functionalities they need to handle while using a web. The design also needs to be insync with the target audience.

The actual programming only starts once the wireframe and design are on hand. The coders need to just integrate the screens and activate functionalities to meet the requirements. They need to use code that does not load the device and uses minimum internet data. In third world countries and in rural areas, there are limitations to data speed. So an app that requires more data to work automatically becomes less preferred. As it is important to use the latest modern technologies to give the customer the best user experience, it is also important to ensure that the technology used is compatible with the devices used by the target audience. For example, if the target audience also includes senior citizens, it could be expected that low configuration and old operating system devices may be used by some users. If the mobile app is not fit for this kind of device, the brand has a chance of losing those prospective buyers.

Once the mobile app is live, there are a lot of myths among the management about the usage of the app. Whether these myths are realities or not, that could be confirmed by the analytics. Analytics can also give most critical insights into the usage patterns and user behaviour and demographics. It is the responsibility of the development team to integrate backend analytics that track visitors and their choices among other things. Brand and business growth will largely depend on the management’s eagerness to study the analytics and take appropriate actions based on that. 

The above headers describe a broad outline to the step by step processes that should be followed in designing a mobile application. There are many finer points to the above discussion, which depends on the type of project, resources available and budgeting considerations.

Uaxe  is one of the most creative UI/UX design agency with a focus on enhancing the value of the brand through visionary intelligence. Uaxe assures through its over one million man-hours of experience in customer service, that the solution provided would be most appropriate in converting visitors into clients and drastically influence repeat business. We assure you that Uaxe would be the most awesome UI/UX design agency for your awesome brand and product.