Can you imagine your life without a smartphone? If you are reading this, the answer is, most of all, no. In that case, you don’t differ from other millions of users whose lives are densely connected with smartphones. In such conditions, rivalry in the mobile-app market has increased significantly. Each developer tries to impress users by creating something out of the common. They pay great attention to the mobile app design because even the sweetest candy won’t be so attractive without a proper wrapper.

(Image: https://ibb.co/C7ytG6k).

Why design is so important when developing a mobile application?

As it was already mentioned, the substance doesn’t matter if the appearance is not able to attract customers. That is why you should emphasize on a user interface (UI) while designing your app. UI means how your application looks like. The interface has to look smart and simple. You should also think of possible combinations of colors and fonts. That’s what will make a great first impression on the customer. To create a magnificent user interface one can use special mobile app design services, for example, Free Flat UI Kit.
Another important component is the user experience (UX). That is what user faces just after downloading your app. UX is responsible for interaction with the user. It includes usability, functionality, response time, etc. By improving these characteristics, you will increase the app’s rate as well as general profit and traffic. The key to success is in combining both UI and UX.

How much does it cost to design a mobile app?

There are 3 stages to design a mobile app from scratch. They are:
1. Information analysis.
2. Prototyping.
3. Visual design.

Except for these stages, there is a big list of factors influencing the cost of designing an application. Complexity, number of platforms, graphic design, app logo, and usability are only one of them. A price can vary greatly depending on what designer you hire. However, we will try to calculate an approximate cost basing on the $25 hourly rate. At first, let’s determine what kind of app you exactly want.
(Image: https://ibb.co/92NbWjb).

• Simple app. It usually created for a single purpose without any backend logic. The simple app has a primitive design as well as user interaction. Promotional and educational applications are great examples. This kind of application needs about 100 hours to be designed. Consequently, the price starts at $2,500.

• Medium complexity app. This one requires about 200 hours and $5,000. It is provided with limited backend logic and a more developed UI design. The medium complexity application still completes only a single purpose but has wider functionality. This means a customer gets personalized feeds as well as the ability to send and receive messages. Ratings and Reviews applications can serve as an exact example.

• Complex apps. They cost at least $10,000 and take 400 hours to get ready for exploiting. Brilliant examples are social networks and applications providing services for startups. The complex app has complicated backend, user profile, administration tools, etc. It can even require two complementary applications to be developed at once.

Finally, the tips for mobile app design.
1. Know your customers
If you want your product to be successful, you should target it at a specific group of users. It is up to you to find out who your clients are and what activity they are occupied with. This can be done by making surveys and interviews online or offline. The next step is to understand their needs. There are several tactics to do this:
• figure out what drives user’s decisions while using your app;
• think about the average scenario of how the user acts;
• reveal what steps users are most likely to take and why.

Following these principles will save you a lot of money in the post-release period in the process of advertising your app. When marketing begins, the design itself can become an excellent selling tool. Think about the logo, name, and style. To make your application unique, invest some resources in graphics. Beautiful custom illustrations and branded elements will definitely attract users. What is more, the screenshots of your app can serve as a brilliant advertisement. All of these components should be styled according to the demands of your potential customers.

2. Stick to the traditions
Users are more common to use familiar patterns (toolbar at the bottom, splash screen, etc). The app should seem simple and well-known to the client. It is a bad strategy to make your customers spend time thinking on what button to tap.
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On the other hand, creating something out of the common won’t be harmful for your application. Take common patterns as a basis to build simple navigation through the app. Everything else is up to you.

3. Make your design responsive
If your app is worthy, customers expect it to be available on both Android and iOS platforms. It doesn’t matter which of them is more profitable for your company because losing another part of potential users is just unacceptable. That is why you should count on a 50/50 split between both platforms. This is one more reason to think of possible problems, which could arise while using the application.

4. Try it out
When the project is on the final stage, you should ask your potential users for feedback. In such a way you can discover all the flaws of your app. Of course, everyone has their own opinion and remarks can be different. So try to engage as many people as you can. Everyone is welcomed: from teens to CEOs of large businesses. Then, find joint notes in all received comments and make conclusions. Completing all this stuff after releasing the app would be of a much bigger cost.
(Image: https://ibb.co/XSrNVwq).

5. Choose colors and fonts carefully
Both of these elements are crucial for designing a mobile app. Color is the first thing that catches your eye. Overloading a page with different colors will badly influence the user’s impression.
What is more, be especially careful with color’s undermeaning. Stick to the hierarchy. This means you highlight the most beneficial offer with the strongest color and gradually weaken the tone according to the importance of the proposal.
Fonts have the same influence on the appearance of your app. It is acceptable to use 3 kinds of fonts on one page: for Heading 1, Heading 2 and main text. You should also arrange some pieces of text in lists and highlight the most important thoughts.

6. Consider the finger’s size
There should be a distance between buttons, so the user could tap them accurately. The best item for defining acceptable space are grids. They help to ensure if buttons are not located too densely.
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It is recommended to set up a target around 44 pixels square. However, this number can vary depending on the way your users keep the phone. 44 pixels will be enough for a novice who manages a phone by two hands and one digit. Nevertheless, that will be inconvenient for an experienced customer.

7. Follow the trends
Let’s imagine you have completed Step 1. This means you already know who your potential clients are and what they expect from your app. The next step is to keep staying modern. The smart designer has to keep up with the last trends to create a mobile app design, which satisfies the demands of their clients.

Overall, no one can teach you how to design a mobile app that will definitely succeed. Only you can with prominent ideas. That was only a piece of brief information aimed to help those, who have a great will to create great content.
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