With above 1.5 million apps each in Google Play and Apple stores, it is quite tough to point the formula for success of each. Every app is different. And, the methodologies are ever evolving.
Before jumping into the digital marketplace, it is vital to know your niche and identify your goals. The development process for each app typically includes strategy, idea, design, development, and deployment. After that, there should be certain post-launch phases like regular upgrades.
The path you pick will give shape to your vision.
Without further ado, let’s take a quick look at the app development lifecycle and how you can add value to each step:
Research and discover
You may have an incredible app idea for your business. And that is indeed, a great way to initiate. But before you directly switch to design, study the market. Is the project viable enough? Are there similar products in the market? Is there a better way to solve the problem?
This step of research brings forth two benefits:
It helps to discover new ideas
You can find requirements that are needed to fix your project scope
Research lets you get a clear picture of whether or not your idea will work from a technical standpoint. It also extends into legal restrictions like privacy questions and copyright factors.
You are about to invest a substantial amount of money and time into a project. It is the perfect stage to challenge the validity of your idea.
Pick a strategy
Once you are sure of the feasibility of your app, you should think of ways to get into the market. What is your niche? Who are your target users? How will you approach them to see the real value of your app?
Thorough market research is needed to solve all these queries.
Find out the ways for your app to generate money. You can pick from options like subscription charges or in-app advertisements. Each model varies in their user base so scrutinize your chances.
Plus, there are multiple ways to monetize an app. A proper strategic analysis will aid you in determining the appropriate channel.
App design
Accommodating the factors of user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design adds value to the app development process. UI provides the visual medium that helps the user to navigate the app. While UX design caters to the human interaction aspects of the app.
Remember that the app must be engaging and interactive. Designing an app includes the following:
Workflows and info architecture
A design framework that specifies the data, interface, and functionality of an app is called information architecture. It is always a wise approach to finalize the technological architecture before establishing design details.
In layman terms, this is the definition of the platform and how the app will fit into it. Workflow, as the term suggests is the definition of all steps used in the app.
Cut non-core features
From the flow and features that you document, start looking closely for the ones you can remove. Your app has to be hassle-free and on-point. Especially when it comes to the first version, it should be simple. Some features can always be added later as updates.
This process will help you to keep the price of the first launch below the belt. Progress in market also becomes quite easier when you have the basic version.
Wireframes
A wireframe is another term used for user interface design. It is a graphical representation of the key elements. This includes categories like fields, icons, buttons, and layout.
Taking services of a custom mobile app development company can turn out to be in your interest. This is because these experts can provide a visual draft of an app before its launch. They are aware of salient details like placement and size of elements.
It is easier to make changes at this step rather than doing them later in the process.
Style guide
Style guides are the building blocks of your app. Having a sound grip on the style guides greatly helps with the usability of the app. It is all about consistency, standardization, and usability of an app.
By using a consistent design language throughout the app, you can enhance the comfort level of the users. It works to standardize UI elements and frames. As a result, the end-to-end experience of the app becomes uniform.
Keep in mind that users do not like noise. Keep it clean and simple. The output of this phase is a particular set of colors and font patterns that embed with your app. By the end, you have a standard design for your application.
Testing and QA
Testing is an imperative step of the app development lifecycle. It lets you determine the quality of your app, and you can have an idea of how good or bad it is. Sometimes, testing may overlap with the process of development. It relies on how you plan and execute the application.
The whole point of testing is to figure out the shortcomings and find a fix. If the issues stay unresolved, there can be malfunctions, and your app will soon crash.
Make sure that there is a separate team that tests your app design. Just give them the criteria and entire details of the development process. This phase must accompany the associated development to remove all bugs.
App testing can be of various types. For instance, it can be functional or performance testing. Functional testing checks if all the promised functions are working at their best. Similarly, performance testing checks the capabilities like average connection time and touch response. There are many other testing procedures that you can adopt.
This phase lasts as long as the bugs keep appearing. Once you get rid of them all, you can launch it in the market after securing approval from the client or project manager.
On a final note, it is worth mentioning that app development is indeed a process that is tedious and overwhelming. However, it holds lucrative potentials if you know how to play your cards right.
To make things work, follow these tips and be ready for an instant boost in your digital status.
