Mobile app user acquisition and retention begins with how attractive the UI design is and how engaging the app UI is to create the best UX. Designers have passed through a roller-coaster of the evolution of app UI design along with the advent of mobile devices and designing tools.
In the early days, the designing process has a few steps, and designers have a handful of designing tools. Today, complexities have increased a lot in the designing process. New roles have been invented in the app design process to meet increased expectations of clients and end-users.
Intricate app testing and follow up of Agile Development methodologies are solid endeavors to make the app more consumable, cost-effective, and converting at the end. New terminologies seemingly announce solid betterment in our mobile app design process.
However, at the core, the mobile application designing process remained unaltered. Many designers or mobile app development agencies have renamed the steps of the process. Some have added sub-steps in it to make it more comprehensive to non-tech or some tech-savvy patrons. The same is true for novice app designers who just entered the field.
Here, I attempt to describe the core & common steps of the app design process to follow in your next project.
App Ideation Step in Mobile App Design Process
The idea is phantom of something, which might turn into a genuine product tomorrow. The idea may inspire in the mind of a client or client-side team. It may be an offspring of thoughts and business knowledge of developers of the development team.
Keep app idea malleable to shape while brainstorming process. Keep the following points in mind while participating in idea generation and brainstorming sessions for idea revisions.
- Financial Viability
- Technical feasibility
- Uniqueness
- Executable
You can get the help of Trello-like tools in the ideation process.
App Specification Step in Mobile Application Design Process
Once you successfully finished with the ideation process getting approvals of the majority in the team, now it is time to write your idea in a document called project spec or specification.
App spec document writing also open lacunae remained in your ideation process. So, don’t afraid of filling the gap immediately. Take it positively and correct the errors left in it. Of course, don’t overwhelm it; be logical in this step because most clients expect project spec documents as the base of estimation and project proposal preparation.
Wireframe Step in App Design Process
Wireframe, in other words, is a low-fidelity mock-up to provide primary app information architecture and UX design scopes to discuss. Wireframe offers opportunities to designers and developers participating in the process to place-
- Experiences of the platform conventions
- Skills on controls and interface paradigm
- Domain-specific knowledge
- Deep insights into the target audience and goals of the app
These all mingle into a strong foundation for the app architecture. Wireframe enables us to visualize what is missing in-app design like inconsistent navigational schemes, counter-intuitive app flows. You can take the help of Sketch or Omnigraffle like advanced tools or stick with Photoshop.
Preparing wireframe options based on idea and spec is tough. It involves hard work because you have to specify what you want and dive into gritty details of how you can execute it. It is good that you involve the client-side in the preparation and approval process of a wireframe. It can cut many fourth & back steps during the rest of the app designing process, right from the beginning.
Prototype Step in App Design Process
The prototype is an advanced step to wireframe preparation. So, going through the wireframe process before jump into prototyping makes sense. App prototypes enable the development and client-side team to visualize a bare-bone version of the app to test your hypotheses and get the stamp of approval from all.
Today, Invision & Marvel-like tools can convert your low-fidelity wireframe options into interactive apps simulating the final products at a glance. If you want to divide between visual and functional prototypes, the Framer and Figma are excellent choices.
Visual Design Step in App Design Process
With the approval of a prototype, client and developer-side teams have a visual product to validate their app idea for final graphic design. The proper visual design of your app creates a visual framework to provide coherent and consistent experiences. It also helps in engaging storytelling in your app.
You can differentiate your app from the rest of your competitors based on the visual design because it clarifies what is unclear in the app and leaves a long-lasting impression in the mind of onlookers/end-users. You can use Photoshop or Sketch-like visual design tools with advanced features and functions to create pixel-perfect app design for the subsequent phases of your app design and development process.
App Development Steps in Mobile Application Design Process
Many differentiate the roles of designers and programmers here once the visual designing process is accomplished. However, they oversee the significance of the participation of the programmers during ideation to prototyping steps. Without the help of the rest of the development team, a designer alone cannot decide which design option is practically viable and feasible for programming further.
Similarly, without designers’ active involvement during the rest of the development process, giving the app an enjoyable user experience through various interactions, navigation, and screen flow.
Designers can help programmers to select the proper color schemes, layouts, animations, and app interactions. UX design is not a job of only designers or programmers; both have to collaborate to place UI elements, decide white spaces, alter designs from screen to screen, and define app interactions to covey the app messages efficiently.
Conclusion:
When you design an app with beauty and functionality, an amalgamation of both resulting in a great design that can attract onlookers at first glance, if you are striving for a great app designing team for your next project, think about SysBunny to be your app designer partner for once and see the differences.
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