Mobile App Design Services

UI and UX in mobile app design services go hand in hand and cannot exist without each other. Put simply, this is the difference between the two:

UX stands for User Experience and defines why a user would interact with your app and how they feel while interacting with it. The term encompasses usability, accessibility, and simplicity. In other words, UX revolves around designing the actual experience a user has while interacting with your mobile app. Good application design means that users can easily use your application to achieve their goals.

UI is for User Interface. A great UI should be intuitive, engaging, and efficient to use, and it should also provide one of the most sought-after elements of any product – simplicity. After all, the more intuitive the UI design, the less friction there will be between customers and their engagement with your app.

The main principles of UI/UX for designing mobile applications are:

• UX should be easy to use and understand.
• It should be satisfying to use.
• The app design should always be consistent.
• It must offer the best performance.
• The app must meet the users’ needs and expectations.
• Learning how to use it should be straightforward.

If you’re getting your next app project started, you need to know what deliverables are standard for mobile app design services. It’s essential to be sure what they are and how they can be used. They make your life easier as a business owner because they help you visualize what your product will look like and how it will function. They also help communicate the outcomes with stakeholders better.

So, what are the app design services you should expect to receive?

• Competitive analysis report. Competitors’ features are studied to understand how they are functioning. This way, your app can be made better than competitors’ apps. It can be helpful for you at an early stage of the design process. With this, changes in the strategy can be made at an early stage of the app design services so that you can focus on creating an effective marketing plan before launching an app.
• User personas. A user or buyer persona is a detailed description of an ideal customer used to identify target audiences. It includes demographic information, goals, pain points, and other details to help companies provide mobile app design services based on customer needs.
• User journey maps. A user journey map is a diagram that visually shows the path a customer takes through your website or application to accomplish a goal. It involves the analysis of multiple factors and shows how customers feel at each step of their journey.
• User flows showcase specific steps taken by the user to interact with the product at different stages of the product.
• Information architecture (IA). IA is a necessary part of mobile app design service, used for creating a foundation for any software that needs a logical structure for organizing content and data hierarchy so that it’s easy for users to find what they need.
• Mood boards. By creating mood boards, designers can communicate their ideas to the clients to omit misunderstandings between them and the clients regarding the visual design. These boards showcase a visual identity for their product with the help of color schemes, typography styles, icons, textures, and other such elements.
• Wireframes and mockups. Designers use these tools to understand how an interface will look before designing it entirely or using programming languages for its development.
• Visual designs. Visual designs focus on aesthetics and define the look and feel of the app with the help of images, colors, fonts, and other elements.
• Prototyping and testing. Once designers have created a prototype of the product, they perform usability testing on it by conducting interviews with users or observing them as they use the product. They test whether or not users can easily find information on every screen of the product and whether its overall usability makes sense from their perspective. These tests help designers understand what improvements they need to make to ensure better usability for users and top-tier app design service.

At Limeup, we follow a streamlined process when providing app design service. This ensures that you get a unique application tailored to your needs. As a client, you should be aware of several stages of app design services, which depend on the project’s complexity and how long each step takes. Here’s how it works:

Research & strategy

User experience research is the first step in the mobile app design service of building an app. If you already have an application that needs improvements, we can start the process with a user experience audit—the fastest way to improve your product in the short term. You need to get the requirements and scope of the project in place before the designing and developing stages begin.

The next step is the strategy stage which is an essential part of the mobile app design service. It is necessary to have a deep understanding of users and industry standards. With this knowledge, designers can identify the most relevant core product features and prioritize them, as well as eliminate unnecessary ones. We typically plan the first 2-3 weeks for a smaller app, 3-4 weeks for a mid-sized app, and 4-6 weeks for a large-sized app.

Prototyping & design

In order to understand how an app works, it’s helpful to see how its components and user flows are represented visually. The next app design service is to build a prototype that can be shared with team members and stakeholders so they can give early feedback on the product idea and help fine-tune the implementation.

Having corrected all the design flaws in the prototype, it’s time to elaborate on the user interface design for the product. To ensure that everything is as it should be, provide high-fidelity documentation of your product before launching it onto the market.

Mobile application prototyping and design usually take 3-4 weeks for a small app and 6-7 weeks for a mid-sized app. For a bigger application, it takes 9-10 weeks to accomplish app design services. The more screens that you have, the longer this phase will take. Although, the UX/UI design stage can be done quicker if you have an extensive team with vast experience in mobile app design services.

Development

When planning the time-frames for the development stage, consider all the processes: technical architecture, UI coding, back-end setup, functional implementation, and integration. You can achieve the result in a simple application in 2 months, around 3-3.5 months for a mid-sized app, and 5-6 months for building a big-sized app.

Beta testing and deployment

The design and build of your product is only the first step. Your product needs to be tested, and you need to be able to support it once it’s on the market. Beta testing is the final stage before the product goes live, and it is aimed to find out possible bugs and eliminate them. Plan around 1-3 weeks on beta testing, depending on the size of your app.

Summing up

In a nutshell, after ordering mobile app design services, expect around 10-12 weeks for a small app, 23-25 weeks for a mid-sized app, and 35-38 weeks for a large-sized app.

Picking a great provider of app design services might become a vital component of your product’s success. So, what are the tips for choosing the right agency and ensuring top-notch mobile app design services before the start?

Ensure smooth process

Before signing a deal, be sure to understand their process and whether it is structured or free form. Avoid agencies that do not have a process because your idea may not be turned into reality, or the journey could be bumpy.

Review case studies

Reviewing case studies is the best way to determine whether the agency can provide the app design service that will meet your needs. You need to see apps from previous clients that impress you; moreover, you want to ensure that the agency has a varied portfolio of apps.

Mind the research process

App design services start from the research phase. Be sure to ask the potential vendors how they conduct research and what kind of data they gather before writing any code.

Efficient communication

Good communication is essential to successful projects. If you will be working together with your chosen agency providing mobile app design services, you should ensure open communication lines and make it easy to share ideas and suggestions.

Mobile app design service is a complex process that requires consideration of many factors. When selecting an agency to build your application, make sure they work at the highest level. Think about what customer experience you want to create, then opt for a reputable mobile app design service agency that delivers product strategies attuned to the needs of your business. Consider the full picture:

Business analysis proficiency

It’s important that your future design team has a solid grasp of your business requirements and needs. Not only will this help translate those requirements into appropriate visual solutions and development, but it can also help you ensure that the app design service you are building will work for you just as you meant it to.

UI/UX expertise

A well-designed, intuitive app is the foundation of a great user experience. UI/UX designs that are beautiful, engaging, and inviting draw users in, making apps easy to interact with and increasing repeat usage. You need a team with the right skill set to create first-class UI/UX designs; one that leverages design thinking and a human-centered approach to create unique, user-friendly experiences.

Cross-platform development skills

Mobile app design service agencies that can do more than just design apps but also develop and launch them can have a competitive advantage by providing clients with a team of developers who know how to leverage cross-platform development skills. A data science background is also an asset, so you can create valuable solutions for information gathering, analytics and data visualization purposes.

Collaboration with an agency implies building an app with a team of (minimum) six core specialists:

Project Manager

As the director of the development process, the project manager can devise a smooth and easy plan for assigning each applicable project to the corresponding team member. When considering business goals and budget constraints, the project manager will find effective ways to manage these concerns and help deliver excellent app design service.

UI/UX Designer

UI/UX designers are core members of the mobile development team. They’re responsible for both the user experience and user interface design, and their job defines the final outcomes of a mobile app design service for your customers. Designers are typically expected to create visual designs that are easily understood by the user.

Mobile Developer

Mobile developers are responsible for creating new technologies and applications for smartphones and tablets. These developers are usually tasked with updating applications to work with the latest operating system updates and implementing new features based on consumers’ needs.

Back-End Developer

Mobile app back-end developers are responsible for the smooth and efficient integration of an app’s database and operating system, ensuring that servers are running smoothly. They build a seamless dynamics network that responds immediately to user requests or search terms. Back-end developers will also be responsible for ensuring that all front-end dynamics immediately react to the back-end software.

DevOps Specialist

DevOps specialists are crucial to the success of an app development project. To ensure that coding initiated by the mobile developer is released and integrated correctly into the overall functionality of the app, DevOps specialists should be a part of the pre-planning and testing phases.

Quality Assurance Specialist

The quality assurance specialist ensures that a development project will be released free of bugs at the last stage of the mobile app design service. Development teams usually work on the final version, so the QA specialist is on board to catch issues early and point them out for immediate repair.