Despite the huge number of various tools for designing mobile applications, not everyone has all the necessary functionality. In addition, you need to understand that some tools are designed for creating designs for mobile applications on the Android platform, while others are designed for iOS. When starting to create an application design for a mobile device, you need to acquire all the necessary tools in advance.
To develop the design of applications for smartphones and tablets as efficiently as possible, you need to use only the most proven software. For this reason, we have prepared a list of the most useful tools for a mobile app designer.
1. Axure interactive prototype generator:
- Has the ability to visually edit;
- Supports frames;
- Suitable for developing application design on Android and iOS.
- Supports CSS3 effects;
- Allows you to easily conduct design tests on the display of any mobile device;
- Contains a huge number of graphic elements.
- Allows you to quickly create special sketches;
- This design package allows you to develop designs for mobile devices on different platforms;
- Includes a lot of useful plugins.
- The main feature of this tool is that with its help you can implement design solutions online;
- Includes a ton of simulators for testing application design;
- Has a lot of graphic elements.
On the vastness of the World Wide Web you can find dozens of useful and effective tools for creating mobile application design. With their help, almost anyone can create a beautiful design for mobile programs.
I created a special presentation to show where the design of mobile applications begins and what features help make it convenient and understandable for users.
What is the difference between UX and UI design?
Ideally, design combines form and function, properties and aesthetics. UX (User Experience) design is about features and functionality, and is the process of creating a product that is useful, easy to use, and enjoyable to interact with. The task of a UX designer is to lead the user to the final goal, to help him “solve the problem.”
UI design is the visual design of the “product”: what colors to use, whether it will be convenient for a person to touch the buttons with his finger, whether the text will be readable.
Where does UX begin?
The research that is carried out in the early stages of UX design has a lot in common with marketing research. For example, analysis of competitors and the market, determination of the target audience and business model.
Benchmarking is one such study. This is a way to study the activities of competing companies in order to adopt their positive experience and apply data about it in their own activities.
Why should a designer benchmark?
- Determine the strengths and weaknesses of the objects being assessed.
- Expand your understanding of the market and business domain*.
- Develop your own vision of the project and develop new ideas.
*Business domain (within software development) is a subject area that defines a set of standard requirements, special terminology and functionality (for example, entertainment, tourism and travel, or social services).
Audience analysis also intersects with marketing research. UX designers carry it out in the first stages of work. Starting with an interview, survey or observation, segmenting the audience by user type. By creating personas (fictional personalities, images of future users) and thinking through a scenario for each of them. Why conduct such research? What benefits will the designer get from this:
- Determines the primary and secondary tasks of users.
- Determines user motivation.
- Identifies common problems that users encounter.
- Will highlight priorities in the context of user needs.
- Will form a collective portrait of the user.
- Finds the prerequisites for building an empathic connection.
UX is a design approach that considers all aspects of a person's interaction with a product or service. It is strongly linked to understanding user behavior, needs, goals, motivations and the context in which the product will be used.
After all the research is done, the future application is designed and the Wireframe is created, the visual design follows.
Four rules for creating user-friendly design
UI (User Interface) is what many people immediately associate with the word “design”: colors, graphics, icons and logo. It is a means of communication between a person and the system. In order for the design to be convenient, solve a problem and “sell” the product, there are a number of rules and trends that UX/UI designers follow to achieve their goal:
- Simplifying the user experience. When a user interacts with an application, they have a specific purpose. And generally, the less effort the user puts into achieving that goal, the better the user experience. A good example is linear path design, where each user step is followed by only one action.
- Color as a functional element. The choice of color is not just about aesthetics, it is part of the user experience. Color is a tool for emphasizing the main thing. For example, designers can use colors to establish a visual distinction between different types of notifications.
- Conversational design. Users often use only three applications, and at least one of them is messenger. People love to communicate. Therefore, chatbots and voice assistants, enhanced by artificial intelligence, have become trends in recent years.
- Emotional interaction. Even in the era of command line interfaces, we used emoticons (emoticons) to communicate our feelings to others. People tend to form an emotional connection with all the products they use. As a result, when interacting with products, we expect reactions similar to human ones.
The mobile application market is developing, devices are becoming smarter, and designers are finding new visual solutions to “humanize” the smartphone. All this to meet the needs of users and businesses.
How are design and marketing similar?
A marketer and designer set tasks and achieve goals based on assessments, analysis and market research, specifics, demand and audience. Designers have learned to be empaths, because in order to design an application you need a lot of knowledge about the consumer and his behavior. Marketers use the same thing to conduct a successful advertising campaign. The formula for business success is good design + good marketing.
Marketing and design link business (product), namely predicting future response and impressions, designing behavior, new experiences and planning behavior based on existing models.
Conclusions
- The task of UX/UI design is to “sell” a product or service through the interface. It is on the basis of the work of the UX/UI designer that the user makes the decision: “To be or not to be?”, to like or not to like.
- UX (User Experience) design is about features and functionality, and is the process of creating a product that is useful, easy to use, and enjoyable to interact with. UI design is the visual design of the “product”: what colors to use, whether it will be convenient for a person to touch the buttons with his finger, whether the text will be readable.
- In order for the design to be convenient, solve a problem and “sell” the product, there are a number of rules that UX/UI designers follow to achieve their goal:
- conversational design;
- color as a functional element;
- simplifying user interaction;
- emotional interaction.
As a rule, marketers start from the created product and decide who the business's customers should be. Designers do the opposite, first research the client's problem and create a solution for it - a product. What connects them is that design and marketing serve business (product) goals.
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It has become commonplace for an interior designer to carry around an apartment plan, a tape measure and an irreplaceable RAL palette. But now it is not necessary to do this: thanks to a variety of services and applications, you can create a drawing of a room with a 3D model, select colors for the future interior, or choose a new sofa or painting using augmented reality (AR) technologies. The Village asked interior designers to share their favorite smartphone apps that those just interested in design or renovating can use.
Alena Gorskaya
Faradise
Faradise is a mobile application that uses augmented reality technology and allows you to try on an item you like in an existing interior: just scan the room and place the desired model on your smartphone screen. Essentially, it is an easy-to-use tool that does not require expensive peripherals or special skills from the user.
"AR Colorimeter"
The application will be equally useful for web designers and 3D visualizers, as well as for those who simply do repairs. Thanks to it, you can determine the required color from an image or a real object, obtain its code in the RGB, CMYK or HEX systems, and also select the closest shades according to the Pantone coding system, which is used when marking paints and varnishes.
CamToPlan
In CamToPlan you can determine the size in the horizontal plane. At the same time, the application saves the entire dimensional chain, collecting a measurement plan from it, which can be exported for further work in any interior design program. It also calculates the area of the room and can determine the corners of the floor, even if they are behind furniture.
Toolbox
The capabilities of the tools in Toolbox are more modest than in the previous application, but their number is impressive. The set contains both a simple tape measure, a protractor or a plumb line, and tools for determining the magnetic field strength or altitude above sea level, which is indispensable for independent construction, for example, a summer house.
Planner 5D
Platform
Price
shareware (most interior items are unlocked only with a one-time payment or monthly subscription)
What can he do?
create a design project with the selection of materials and furniture
A simple tool for creating a visual layout of a renovation allows you to display the actual dimensions of a room, apartment or manor house, select finishing materials and pieces of furniture and get a rough idea of what you want from your renovation. True, this application is not a marketplace, so all interior items are given without reference to online stores - you will have to look for the things you like on your own.
Anastasia Kholoptseva
SketchUp Viewer
A simple program that allows you to work with 3D models, build and fill space. It will be useful both for professionals for sketch work, and for others to realize their ideas. In general, of course, it cannot serve as an alternative to serious architectural or 3D programs, but it can be used as an assistant for the mental design process when there is time, but a computer is not at hand: on the subway, in a queue, and so on.
Adobe Capture CC
A very convenient and multifunctional program, extremely easy to use, which helps you choose a harmonious color scheme for your interior. Having one or two given colors, you can find several others that match different color schemes and complement the color map of the room. All created color combinations can be saved and adjusted later.
Useful tips on how to get a high-quality result from a designer that meets your goals. The process, cost and methods are all in our new post.
We have all seen examples of how design became the reason for the success of a particular mobile application. Some mediocre projects were getting hyped up with fresh designs, and some great ideas were buried underneath a terrible interface. In this article we will break down the process of creating a design for mobile applications. So where to start?
determine the target audience
applications and your business goals
As a company director or project manager, you are responsible for answering these key questions before you begin building the application itself. Who is your target audience? What does she like? What apps does she use every day? For what? Think about your goals too. How will you monetize the application? Which business model will you choose?
Do not start designing an application without deciding on the answers to all these points.
find a designer
If you're reading this article, chances are you don't have a designer on staff. Freelance designers live on Dribbble and Behance. Choose a specialist whose portfolio matches your tastes.
A good solution would be to hire a whole team consisting of designers, developers, testers and a project manager. This way you will get not only a design, but a whole working application. By hiring a company rather than a freelancer, you gain additional skills: analytics, UI/UX design, mobile and web development, etc. They are a team, so they have an established business process, this will save you time compared with a set of freelancers unfamiliar to each other. Teams are hosted on platforms too, so try Upwork.
Also pay attention to customer reviews and ratings. Lack of rating does not necessarily mean that the team is bad, they just could only register on the platform. But the risk in this case, of course, will be higher.
tell the designer everything
A simple but very important point - tell your designer everything about the future application. All your thoughts about the target audience, what image you want to create, what the monetization strategy is, what applications you like from a design point of view, how you are going to stand out from the competition, and so on. Share inspiration and listen carefully to feedback from the designer.
Try to agree on all points in advance. If a specialist refuses to follow the principles of “flat design” for an Android application, say goodbye and find someone else. Be sure to provide your designer with any current style guides used by your company. Even if they are for the web, they can be useful when working on an application.
get a prototype
A good designer always starts with a prototype - a working model of the future application. Creates all application screens, arranges elements, and establishes element connections. With the help of such a prototype, you can “feel” the future project, find and eliminate errors in the UI/UX. Test the prototype with friends or a focus group to see if they use the apps as you expected.
Prototyping costs money and takes time, but it is a very important step. With a prototype, you can accurately determine the cost of app design, so you know exactly how much you'll spend. We consider InVision to be the best tool for demonstrating prototypes - it has the ability to comment on the design, which is very convenient.
get design
Once deadlines and costs have been agreed upon, the designer can begin to create. Agree to watch the screens when ready and provide feedback. If you work with a freelancer, pay attention to the form in which you receive materials. All sources should be organized in folders in accordance with the project structure; the folders should have clear names so that the developer does not have to waste time deciphering codes. Ideally, the designer should leave comments for developers, especially in complex places, and create a file with a summary of the behavior of all elements (interface guidelines, GUI).
For decades, the most popular graphics creation program has been Adobe Photoshop and its Creative Suite comrades. Now Sketch is very popular, as it was created specifically for interface designers. At Kultprosvet we use both: we choose depending on the type of graphics.
test and develop the application
You cannot make a successful project once and for all. You will have to add new functionality, change something, guided by statistics and feedback from users. So, when choosing a designer or team, discuss the issue of further support for the application.
Native or cross-platform
application - what to choose?
If you have big plans and a budget, always choose native apps. They work better and look great. User behavior is slightly different on Android and iOS, so that's something to take into account. The application interface must be designed in accordance with established guidelines, for example material design for Android. This way you will ensure a high level of user retention and be satisfied with the cohort analysis indicators.
However, sometimes a cross-platform application will be the best solution. We are talking about cases when you need to create an MVP (a product with minimal functionality) in a short time and with a limited budget. The advantage of this solution is that you don't need to hire programmers for each individual platform - one will be enough.
How much does mobile development cost?
applications?
Mobile app design may not be cheap, but it is an important investment in its future success. The cost of work depends on the country. For example, “Kultprosvet” is based in, the cost of an hour of design starts from $25. Here are the prices for some of our work:
Aegle
It is a cross-platform application that helps the user stay fit. With it, you can plan complex workouts, watch video tutorials with exercises, and track what you eat for the week. There is also a calorie counter and a Breakaway mode where you can record all the fast food you eat. We designed this iOS app and spent 57 hours on 13 screens. Total cost - $1430.
FlyMyCard
A service that allows you to create beautiful virtual cards and send them to friends, as well as find new friends from other countries. You can select a photo, add a frame and text, and send the result to a loved one or a new acquaintance. The client wanted both Android and iOS versions of the app, so it took us 73 hours to create 18 screens, and the cost was $1840.
WaysGo
Quite a complex project: a social network that allows you to meet new people based on what things you like and what places you visit. Users have different roles available, and the application itself has many functions: you can search for establishments and places, read stories about them and create your own content. We created 32 screens for iOS and Android applications, spent 120 hours, and cost $3000.
Platform for prototyping mobile applications. Create interactive prototypes and simulate basic user actions with support for major browsers. There is an editor, a prototype creation panel and a player for viewing an interactive prototype in action.
The finished prototype can be tested on a real mobile device or in a browser.
2.
A tool for creating HTML5 mockups with a simple interface and a set of forms, buttons, fields, containers and basic interface elements.
Contains templates for prototyping applications for iPhone and iPad.
3.UXPin
A tool for rapid prototyping based on simple markup from scratch. It is possible to control iterations, edit and jointly comment on a project by several designers and developers in real time.
4.
One of the most popular tools for prototyping mobile interfaces and applications. The set includes dozens and hundreds of icons and interface elements. There are templates for several major smartphones and mobile operating systems.
5.
Platform for design and prototyping of mobile applications for iPhone, Android smartphones and iPad. Supports working with widgets.
6.Fluid
An HTML5 browser application for creating interactive prototypes of mobile applications for Android, iOS and Windows 8. Supports drag-and-drop editing, animation and a library of 1700+ ready-made interface elements. It is possible to export design prototypes to various types of documents and images.
7.Axure
An interactive prototype generator with the ability to quickly visually edit and downloadable libraries for widgets with support for frames for iOS, Retina screens, libraries for iPhone, iPad and Android.
8.
A fast app framing tool and prototyping library that supports app design for iPhone, Android, iPad, and Windows Phone.
9.
A powerful design platform with support for 2D and 3D animation of finished prototypes. Prototype designs can be exported and installed on an iPhone, iPad or Android smartphone for further testing.
10.
A simple tool for framing and prototyping with support for quick drawing in a couple of clicks. Offers two basic fields for developing a template or prototype: view in a browser window and view on a smartphone screen. Supports the development of design concepts for horizontal and vertical screen orientation of mobile devices (smartphones and tablets).
11. Wireframe Sketcher
A tool for designers to create quick sketches for prototyping applications, with support for running as a companion solution for the Eclipse IDE. There are plugins and sets of interface elements for major mobile operating systems.
12.
A tool for creating interfaces and diagrams for iPhone applications.
13.
Web application for prototyping with support for clickable interface elements and a module for testing prototypes. There are simulators for iPhone and iPad.
14. Flair Builder
Flat interface prototypes based on widgets and an additional library of elements. As a result, you get a fully functional HTML prototype of the future application with effects and internal structure. The finished prototype can be exported for testing on real iOS and Android devices.
15. iPhone Mockup
A tool for creating simple iPhone mockups, suitable for the novice prototyping designer.
16.
A powerful library of elements inside a web application for prototyping, with support for CSS3 effects. Supports collaboration on the same project and real-time commenting.
17.
Prototyping based on both ready-made and designer-created elements. It is possible to export sketches to various image formats.
18. Mokk.me
Fast prototype builder with drag-and-drop functionality and widget editing. The result can be tested on iOS and Android devices.
19.
Allows you to create clickable mockups with the ability to navigate through the elements and structure of the application prototype. There are templates for iPhone/iPad and Android devices. The finished prototype can be exported to IPML, JPG, PNG, PDF or HTML, or sent with a link to a web page to other project participants for discussion and joint testing.
20. Pencil Project
The selection is completed by an open-source tool for developing diagrams and interface prototypes with support for a built-in library of forms and elements and the ability to create visual flowcharts for mobile application designers.
