How To Design a Mobile App if You're a Beginner

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If you are reading this post, then chances are you’re the someone with a great mobile app idea & now you’re wanting to take a next step.

First of all, I must congratulate you for taking a step forward to your dream. Many people have big ideas but very few actually act on them & searching about “How To Design a Mobile App if You’re a Beginner” is definitely a step forward.

Now you may feel like you can’t design a good mobile app because you don’t a have a good design sense or your drawing skills are poor, but Wait, Who said you that to design a good mobile app you have to draw well?

That’s not true.

Designing a user interface of a mobile app may seem like a daunting challenge for a beginner like you, but believe me it’s not that hard. You don’t need to know a professional UI designer to prepare a good mobile app design, you can self do it.

Yes, Mobile app design should be pleasant to eyes. Iconography, Typography have their importance, but a good mobile app design is not just confined to colors, fonts, icons. According to us, Designing a mobile app by keeping app’s end users in mind is 10 times more important than app’s theme, colors & fonts.

That’s why we believe that user experience (UX) design is more significant than user interface (UI) design.

Take the example of a restaurant. In the restaurant business, the utensils, plates, tables, chairs are user interface & the food, service, ambiance, are user experience. You must have seen some successful small restaurants on busy street corners that don’t have a big location, whose furniture are pretty ordinary or at times old, but they are successful due to their food & service, in short due to the experience that they provide to their customers.

So how can you self design your mobile app idea? Below are the steps that will guide you to prepare a good mobile app design.

1. Define

Define your mobile app, the problem it is solving, it’s end users & revenue generation model. Answer the following questions.

What is your mobile app idea?

Which problems are you trying to solve?

Who will benefit from your mobile app idea?

Who is your target customer?

How will you make money with this idea?

Take a piece of paper & write down every answer.

2. Persona Building

Persona building is an activity where you will be writing the representation of your mobile app’s end users. Try to put yourself in their shoes. Ideally, give him/her a name, write about his/her age, demographics, habits, motivation, dreams, family status, social status, economic status. If possible, have a conversation with some real people that are similar to your persona. It will help you to design for your end users, which is an ingredient for a good mobile app design.

3. Features Selection

This is a crucial step for app design. Many people get trapped here. They think “Many is the better” but it’s not true. We believe in “Less is better” philosophy.

So to get this right. Write down just 3 must have features in your app. Not 10, not 6, just 3.

Keep the first version of your app as simple as possible . Just add core functionality.

Don’t compare your version 1 with others version 5.46.

Additional features can be added in later versions. So don’t mess up now.

4. Learn Native Platform Design

People often miss this step. They directly start drawing app screens instead of spending time on learning native platform design.

If you’re planning to develop for android platform, then learn Android Design. If you’re planning to develop for iOS platform, then learn iOS Design.

Don’t worry. It’s not a technical stuff. It will help you to design your app using native platform design.

We strongly recommend this. Many people come to us with their app screen designs that are not aligned with the native platform design, then we will have to convince them that it’s not a good design practice.

5. Draw It

Now with all the written information in your hand & native platform design in your mind, take a piece of paper start drawing app screens. Don’t draw with pencil or pen. Draw with thick marker. It will force you to avoid adding smaller elements.

Start with the core functional app screens & then draw outwards. Focus on the context. Think twice before adding a button. Ask yourself “Is it really required?”

Follow native platform design practices & smoothly integrate your app design with native platform design.

Don’t overdo branding. Don’t add your logo or company name everywhere. Designing a good app is a best branding technique.

Design with just 3-4 colors. Don’t design a flashy colorful app. Blend your brand colors in your app to create a compelling brand. Try to create a consistent branding. Take example of Whatsapp, it only uses white, green & grey colors. Facebook app only uses blue & white.

Your first app screen designs are not your last. You can always tweak the screen designs to make it more relevant. Colors, fonts, themes are supportive factors in your overall user experience (UX) designed. A good mobile app design should be helpful to end users.

Remember: