steps to design great mobile apps

LectureTony Wang iOS Developer, Researcher, Mobile Designer

Copyright © 2014 Tony Wang

Steps to Design Great Mobile Apps

Overview

• What makes a great design?

• Design process

• Iterations

• Tools to use

Intuitive.

Engaging.

Beautiful.

It’s based on what you enable them to do,

how you makes them feel.

Great design is about making decisions.

Every great app starts with a concept.

Defining the Concept

Defining the Concept

• Who is your audience?

• What is the purpose of your app?

• What problem is your app trying to solve?

• What content will your app incorporate?

Where’s the library?

How to get there?

Helps people to navigate within an campus, not only easier and also faster.

Understand your users.

Talk to users.

Plan your key features.

• View campus map

• Search for buildings

• See the photo of the buildings

• Get walking directions

How to avoid getting wet?

Defining the Concept

Defining the Concept

Designing a User Interface

Designing a User Interface

• Design with “user in mind”

• Make it efficient

• Clear & straight forward

Sketch it on papers.

Sketch it on papers.

Transform it to High-Fidelity

Defining the Concept

Designing a User Interface

Defining the Concept

Designing a User Interface

Get Users to Test it

Get Users to Test it

• Test with real users, find someone new.

• Ask them to “Think Aloud”

• Watch how they use the app

• Not everyone will like it, but choose the most appropriate one.

Iteration

Iteration Iteration

Iteration Iteration Iteration

Defining the Concept

Designing a User Interface

Get Users to Test it

Defining the Concept

Designing a User Interface

Get Users to Test it

Example

Main Screen

Search Screen

Side Bar

7 Iterations

v1.00.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6

Tools for Designers

Photoshop Slicy Skala PreviewOminiGraffle

Tools for Developers

Bitbucket Dropbox Parse

Official Guide for TEDx QUT