How to Essentially Design a Mobile App
For some designing an App is an easy and quick process, but for others it takes time to create an aesthetically pleasing and user friendly App. Regardless of the difficulty of the process, it’s important to follow each step of the design process thoroughly. While working on a project with 5 other people, I learned the importance of working together and following each step of the design process. As a team, we helped the Loveland Living Planet Aquarium design a virtual aquarium App. The design process included planning, research, design, and testing.
Having a design process is important for a team because it will keep everyone on the same page. Even though you may work on a project by yourself, it’s still important for you to have a design process because you will avoid the question what do I need to do next? A design process takes time but it will pay off in the long run by finding errors and mistakes earlier in the process. The process will save time and money and that’s what a client wants. Not all the processes have to be the same but the process we followed is what you essentially need or the foundation of every design process.
Process
After 3 months of working together, a high-fidelity prototype was created to present the design of the Mobile App and it all started with planning and discovery.
Planning is a critical part of the process. This is where everything begins, it’s where the purpose of the project is established. The first thing we did was to meet as a group.
Not only did we establish the purpose of the project but we also decided on the audience, usability, functionality, user goals, and project goals. We also met with the client who is developing the App.
All the meetings led to brainstorming and getting pieces for the puzzle. We knew the idea of the project but we didn’t know how to make it a reality until we planned and discovered. Whether you’re making a film or designing an App, plans are inadequate if they can’t be verified.
Research is used to verify plans and ideas. Since we had an idea of the audience that would be using the App, proto-personas were created and as a research method, we interviewed people who fit the proto-persona profiles.
Each team member interviewed different people and from the results of the interviews we verified the audience. This part of the process made it clear who the intended audience was which made it easier to design for them the people who would be using the App.
After weeks and weeks of planning and conducting research, we finally start thinking of design and putting the pieces of the puzzle together. Each part of the design process can follow different methods and the design part is no exception.
Thanks to the design process so far, everyone knew what to do but we had different ideas for the design of the App. Each team member made their own version of the App.
We each made sketches, surface compositions (high-fidelity wireframe), flow charts, design guides, and prototypes. As a group, we choose the best design. My design was chosen for improvements and final design.
In the design part of the design process you can follow different methods, we didn’t make digital wireframes and you don’t have to choose the best design what if you are working on a project by yourself? Whatever method is followed, it needs to be tested with potential users.
The last but not the final step is testing. For testing we made 3 scenarios the user will be in. We observed the actions of people using the prototype and we took note of their comments at different sections of the prototype.
The prototype was created using Invision App, this made it easy to have users test it but the Invision App is limited in features; nevertheless, we gather enough information to make necessary changes to our Mobile App.
Fortunately they were minor changes but if we didn’t test it and just shipped it on day one without going through the design process, we could have had major app breaking bugs. Testing is a valuable tool, it should be used each time in the design process. Testing is not the final step because there can always be improvements and updates to any Mobile App.
Conclusion
The design process for any project is beneficial. The process saves the time and money of clients and it keeps you and your team on the same page. For each part of the process you can follow different types of methods including those you may already use but you must have the essential parts of the process: planning, research, design, and testing. Each part of the process is as important as each leg of a four-legged stool. Even though the design process takes times, it always pays off at the end and all the pieces of the puzzle are placed correctly.
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