When you’re creating a new app or revising an existing one, the most important aspect when it comes to the UI design is to solve a pain point and make it better than your competition at the same time.
Some of the best apps in the industry such as Twitter, LinkedIn, and AirBnB owe a good portion of their success to the focus on user-friendly UIs and logic UX to deliver above-average user experiences.
People, when they look at an app UI, are likely to think that it looks easy to design. Little do they know it takes more than one design round and the designer also has to understand your audience and how they behave before even getting started.
To design a well-functioning app it’s critical to understand the characteristics of functional design elements (hit point sizes, native button placements, etc.) as well as the logical and functional UX flow.
Let’s take a look at the basic steps for mobile app design, what features can make an impact on the budget, and how much an app can cost to develop.
What are the basics of good mobile app design?
The mobile application design process entails creating apps that load faster, accessibility, and provide a better user experience.
Adobe defines good app design as “the combination of the user interface (UI) and user experience (UX)”. While the style of an application is generally defined by UI, UX emphasizes on how it works and whether or not it is useful.
The steps of mobile app design
The purpose of an effective app design procedure is to provide a positive user experience and problem-solving technique. The following are the basic steps in developing a mobile application: conceptualize, wire framing, designing, UI/UX, testing, and branding.
1. Conceptualize the app idea
App development begins with an app concept exploration and brainstorming. Initially, the app should be designed to communicate the app concept to the developers.
For this step, it’s important to do extensive market research. Get to know the demographic user, create user personas to understand your users, and use this information throughout each stage of mobile design.
Since this phase is the cornerstone for the rest of the app development journey, it’s critical that it is done right the first time.
2. Start documentation and wireframing of the app
After the initial conceptualizing phase has been completed, it’s time to take the ideas and document the requirements as well as wireframing the UX design.
You should focus on app usability, project complexity, and navigation in this stage. During this phase, you’ll work on Documentation, Wireframing, and User Experience (UX), as well as any App Animation that happens within the app.
Documentation
To make sure everyone involved understands the app requirements throughout the entire project, it’s important to document every feature and element of the app upfront.
Include information about button behavior, gestures, connections between screens, etc.
UX wireframing
Create black and white representations of the app’s screens and make them interactive. It will show what is envisioned for each app screen and show the connection between all the screens.
UI/UX wireframing makes sure that the app’s structure and style are correct, and it also aids in the visual development of an application.
Add distinct typefaces, animations, and user journeys as well as other native UI components, to provide a sense of the basic app interface and more thorough user experience wireframe.
3. Create the app’s user interface (UI)
In mobile app development, the user interface consists of UI mockups to try out different ideas before deciding on the final interface. The UI includes how the designer envisions every element on the screen is going to look, including but not limited to font size, font type, color palette, and shapes.
Of course, the app’s user interface must rely on the existing branding of the company and shouldn’t stray away from any branding book in existence. The app can have new branding included such as a new app logo, mobile app icon, and app icons.
Branding is an important part of the mobile app interface design as new elements are created to support an already existing website or printed materials.
Factors that will affect the cost of an app
The parameters that will affect how much app development costs.
Hiring an app designer or developer
You can hire a freelance designer or an agency for their app development services. The cheapest option is to go with a freelance app designer, but it’s frankly also the most work and you’re never sure of completing the app. An app development company costs a lot more, but they will also do all the work for you and have experts in all areas of the development process.
You can expect a freelancer to cost about $50/hr whereas an Android or iOS app agency usually charges $150/hr or more depending on location.
Region of the app developer you choose to hire
Services will vary depending on the region that you decide the app developer to work from. There are app developers all over the world and pros and cons to each.
If you live in the US for example, you may want to use a domestic developer, but expect to pay upwards of $100/hr for a freelancer and more for an agency.
If you don’t mind outsourcing to a cheaper labor country, countries like China, India, and Ukraine are popular choices with hourly rates much lower at $15/hr for a freelancer and only slightly more for a mobile company.
Be mindful of the time zone differences when you schedule meetings etc.
The complexity of the app affects cost as well
Regardless of if you are designing or developing an app, they are both priced based on the complexity of the app.
Think about how many devices you are targeting, if there are servers to connect to, personalized settings for each user, and much more.
The more complex the mobile app, the more it is going to cost.
Every app requirement is different and the technologies used varies, but as a general rule of thumb, expect a simple app to cost from $60,000, a typical app to cost $110,000, and a complex app to cost $200,000 or more.
Consider how many app platforms and devices you are targeting from the start
This is another cost parameter. How many platforms will you be launching the app on (Android, iOS or both?). Is it a native app for only iOS devices or Android or is it a hybrid app that works on both platforms?
Does the app need to work on mobile phones only or should it also be compatible with tablets and smartwatches?
The workload will increase the more platforms and devices you add, and that will of course also affect the overall app cost.
With a limited budget, you might want to scale down and start with just one device type and then scale up from there once revenue starts coming in.
Final thoughts
To be able to make solid decisions you need to consider your target audience before starting any of these phases. The target audience is the deciding factor for everything that happens during app development and knowing them will answer many of the questions brought up throughout the design and development phases.
Once you know your target audience it sets the tone for the entire user interface design and user experience journey and to make it right for your audience will ensure higher adoption rates and usage satisfaction.
