Heya, my name is Ariana and I’m a UX / UI designer at Glance. I specialise in understanding the psychology and behaviour of users in order to best design products for their specific challenges and needs.
Hi, my names Anthony. I’m 24 and I’m a Android developer at Glance! I take the ideas that designers suggest to me and turn those ideas into a working product for people to use!
In this guide, we will take you through the basic things we believe you need to consider when designing and developing an app.
Design
Put yourself in the user’s shoes
Nowadays, everybody talks about the importance of designing with the user in mind. However, it is easy for us as designers to think that we know what the users need when what we’re really working off of is our assumption of what they need. Before you do anything else, it’s important that you understand who you’re building the product for—what their goals and challenges are, what they value and what makes them happy. Any decisions you decide to make about the product, design or otherwise, should be based on your understanding of the psychology and context of those who use it.
Create value on every level
Once you know who your users are, you are better equipped to design a product that provides value to them on every level—from its basic functionality, to how the screens flows, to the subtle transitions and animations that take the experience of using the product from a satisfying one to a delightful one.
Work closely with your developers
Developers are the people who ultimately realise and builds your vision for the product, which is why it’s important that you not only communicate with them, but that you take the time to understand how they work. Ask them what they need to ensure a smooth handover and take that into consideration when you’re designing. It’ll make things easier for everyone—not to mention, your users are more likely to ultimately get a better product in the end!
Development
The handover
Developing an app is a process that works hand in hand with design. Once a project is handed over from the designers, there are a few things you want to understand before starting; what problem the app is going to be solving, how it’s going to solve it and to what extent. Knowing these will give you a better idea of what the designer has envisioned, thus giving you an insight to how long the project will roughly take and if there are any technical issues in which you need to research upon before starting.
The bigger picture
When beginning to code the product, you want to keep in mind the grand scheme of things, and generalize objects and functions so that they can be used multiple times throughout the project. Create standards, guidelines and architectures that can be used and followed throughout the project to help keep it structured and readable. Doing these points as you go while the product is still small will really help later on as the project evolves.
Tips for along the way
And finally, a general tip to keep in mind over the project is that you’re always going to find faster and better ways of doing something compared to the way you previously did, and with limited project time and deadlines approaching we haven’t always got the luxury of changing old code. So try to weigh up how long it’ll take to change things and what benefits the change would bring to the table. The ones with the most benefits and the least implementation time are the ones you can implement when you get some free time!
If you have an awesome app idea, why not get in contact with us today! Who knows, maybe one of your apps will be featured in our articles!
