According to the report, there are 6.64 billion mobile phones, and it’s been used by 83.72% of people around the globe as of today. The usage of smartphone users is going to be the next level that would lead to an unprecedented percentage, and there would be no boundaries for it.
Since there is a huge number of mobile users, it will ultimately lead to more productions. Let us take you 10 years back. There would be only 4-5 big companies that we just know about, and they just started Android/iOS operating systems. Now, dozens of smartphone companies are available with the rebellious competition.
With this, the demands for building mobile applications have been raised immensely. You can manage and structure the entire operations of any business over this small piece of device, which is known as a smartphone.
Applications like tracking your business reports like Chartmogul, MixPanel, and much more. On the other hand, you can also work on the scheduling part of your official social media page and the product you can use for it Social Champ, Hootsuite, Buffer, etc.
Not only that, but you can also connect with your 24/7 by using communication applications like Slack, Skype, Matter Most, etc. So, if you are looking to build your own app and wondering how you can kick it off, this guide is for you. You can also look for an app design company if you have enough of the budget or don’t want to build an in-house team.
Table of Content
Brainstorming Session within Your Team or Stakeholders
Research, research, and research: this phase needs to be a time taking one, and we would also like to recommend investing your energy in the R&D session. The reason is when you start working on any project, and you want to make changes or have an order to rethink the discussion. Arrghhh… this becomes really daunting. We believe a lot of you can relate to it.
Therefore, bring your entire team to the discussion and divide the task, and it could depend on the different functions like design, development, business analysis, or product owners.
In this stage, you need to focus on the following main areas:
Check for your Competitors
Competitor analysis is an art to make full use of it. You can test the platform from scratch and get inspiration on how the workflow looks like within the applications. Besides, you also got the idea of designs, layouts, buttons, and a lot more.
Define the Scope of the Application
It’s imperative that you must set the end goal of the application before starting it. We know that many times, the scope becomes wider and starts representing the bigger aspect of the different horizons. The developers also understand that the technology stack expands, and clients bring up more requirements to make it a big success.
Use & Define the Task Management Tools
Well, this is also important since you need to manage all tasks and the feasibility of the application on the deliverable dates. So, if you want to have the proper accountability on the application or project, you can test these task management tools like Jira, Assembla, Proofhb, Trello, etc.
Plan the Process: Application Development Life Cycle
Below are the steps for application design and development. Let’s start from here:
Create a Wireframe
Let’s first understand a wireframe:
A wireframe is a two-dimensional illustration of a page’s interface. It could web-based application or mobile that is specifically based on the alignment element prioritization, functionalities of the app, and intended behaviors.
In this phase or while creating the wireframes, technically, you don’t include any styling, color, or graphics. With this, you must have a question that pops up in mind about why wireframe and how it will help in the further process.
Actually, a wireframe saves time and reduces the additional efforts by helping to connect the app’s architecture to its actual visual or design by showing the paths between pages. Basically, it’s a more clarification and consistent process that allows the team to rounder what the workflow of the application would be. It also helps you to intend the functionality of the application.
Design and Development
Once you get the idea of what the application looks like and what the workflow would be, more importantly, the purpose of the application. The next part is the design phase. Here the designer has the choice of which platforms they want to use. But they only need to ensure that the creative process and user experience should lead them to use what they have to do next.
Alongside this, the design team did with the design and layout of the application. The development team kicks in to make the application functionality and give the live presence of the design created by the design team.
Options for Getting Your App Designed
Over the years, many application development technologies and a great number of expert designers and developers have emerged. If you are working for apple devices, Swift is the best option because they have a strong community over the internet. And you can be assisted by anyone at any time. If we talk about Android phones, the best pick is Andriod Studio, or you can also go for Kotlin.
Collect Feedback on Your Application Design
You can collect feedback from your current or from the community like Reddit or Discord by sharing a few screenshots from the application. Besides, you can also bring a customer over to the demo call and ask how they can define the user experience of the upcoming mobile application.
How to Accomplish your Mobile Application?
Well, there could be many schools of thought depending on the end goals of developing an application. But here are the few ones that help you:
- Build your own in-house design and development team if you are an agency
- Second, hire an agency to get things done from them
- If you don’t like hustling much, then you can purchase built designs to make things easier for you
Final Words:
Designing and developing an application has been a dominant aspect of this modern. And why should it not be? Because it has changed the life of many of us. We know it’s a complex process, but if you follow the right that we mentioned above in the article, we are pretty sure you won’t find jargon and problems around it.
