Building an App? Read this Guide First
By Andrew Patricio
March 22, 2017
Teachers & Education
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Walk into any co-working space in Toronto and chances are you’ll find several teams working on creating the next big app. But don’t let a saturated market stop you from joining the party. Whether you want to create the next Angry Birds or an ecommerce platform, this guide is here to help.
Start At The End
While your idea for your app is solid, you’ll need to refine its real value, right from the beginning. What is your mission? What pain is it solving? What other apps are tackling this pain and how is yours going to do it better? How are you going to monetize your app? Take your time here redefining, researching and ideating because after this, you’re off to races.
Follow Up With Design
Successful mobile apps have good user experiences (UX) so prepare to become an expert on user interface (UI) design. Start by sketching out the screens, from sign-up, to the menu and the deeper layers of the app. What colors are you going to use? How are you going to educate downloaders on how to use the app? How are users going to navigate with swipes or taps?
Test. Test. Test.
Build a wireframe for a prototype of your app using one of the many prototyping tools like Hotgloo, that make it easy to drag and drop different design elements onto a screen. At the same time, you’ll want to create a storyboard of how a user will navigate through your app. Then, test it out on friends, family, and users, noting how they use the app, any trouble they have and questions.
Get it Onto Devices
The name of the app game is user acquisition, starting with getting people to download and try your app. It’s brutal work in the app world and you need to be aggressive in your marketing. Start before you even launch the app, creating buzz with the right influencers so you can get them to review your app (see above). Spend money advertising your app on GreatApps.com, and other app platforms.
Build on Your Momentum
Like most things, you can’t just launch it and forget it. In order to have a successful app, you’ll need to continually refine it with updates. Tools like Appsee will help you understand user’s behavior so you can continually improve on your app and keep your churn rate low.
There are a lot of indepth guides online to help you further. And with a good UX and smart marketing strategy, you might just find yourself with an Essential app.
Start At The End
While your idea for your app is solid, you’ll need to refine its real value, right from the beginning. What is your mission? What pain is it solving? What other apps are tackling this pain and how is yours going to do it better? How are you going to monetize your app? Take your time here redefining, researching and ideating because after this, you’re off to races.
Follow Up With Design
Successful mobile apps have good user experiences (UX) so prepare to become an expert on user interface (UI) design. Start by sketching out the screens, from sign-up, to the menu and the deeper layers of the app. What colors are you going to use? How are you going to educate downloaders on how to use the app? How are users going to navigate with swipes or taps?
Test. Test. Test.
Build a wireframe for a prototype of your app using one of the many prototyping tools like Hotgloo, that make it easy to drag and drop different design elements onto a screen. At the same time, you’ll want to create a storyboard of how a user will navigate through your app. Then, test it out on friends, family, and users, noting how they use the app, any trouble they have and questions.
Get it Onto Devices
The name of the app game is user acquisition, starting with getting people to download and try your app. It’s brutal work in the app world and you need to be aggressive in your marketing. Start before you even launch the app, creating buzz with the right influencers so you can get them to review your app (see above). Spend money advertising your app on GreatApps.com, and other app platforms.
Build on Your Momentum
Like most things, you can’t just launch it and forget it. In order to have a successful app, you’ll need to continually refine it with updates. Tools like Appsee will help you understand user’s behavior so you can continually improve on your app and keep your churn rate low.
There are a lot of indepth guides online to help you further. And with a good UX and smart marketing strategy, you might just find yourself with an Essential app.