A Comprehensive Guide to Mobile App Design Process

Apps are the golden key to success for startups and enterprises. Much like the treasure from a treasure chest box, apps unlock digital treasures and make way for a company to reach new heights by reaching a wider audience throughout the world. That is one of the reasons why every business is looking to develop an app for their company by getting mobile app design services from some of the best app design companies. They are doing it to take things to the next level as an app can benefit their organization in more ways than one. An app would automate, streamline, and optimize most of their business operations. Moreover, the revenue earned through apps is an entirely different story and part of the conversation as well.

As a matter of fact, a recent report suggests that “The US app market alone earned a revenue of around US$45 billion last year in 2023.”

That says everything there is to know about the importance and benefits of having your own business app. If you were to get into startup mobile app development to develop your app, then you, too, would need to refer to a mobile app design agency to get things done. However, before that, you must know the app design process and the stages that will require your attention. That is why we will talk about the app design process in this guide, from mobile app prototyping to UX/UI design and beyond. So, without wasting any time, let’s dive straight into it.

What is the Mobile App Design Process?

In short, the app design process is a systematic approach to the concept of successful mobile applications. It consists of numerous stages, from the initial concept and research to the last testing and launching. Teams of a mobile app design firm, such as mobile app designers, developers, and product managers, follow these stages using application modernization strategies. One of the advantages of a well-defined design process is that it will outline the requirements of the users. Moreover, it enables the business to meet its goals. Hence, it provides an optimal experience to the user of the product.

The general aim of the entire process in terms of design within the mobile application is to make sure your app end meets user expectations. Moreover, it is to ensure that it does that while aligning with the business objectives. This helps streamline the low code mobile app development lifecycle, avoid possible issues, and bring to life the level of quality experience users expect. In general, the mobile app design process is iterative. More so, it often includes moving back and forth among the various stages of app design and functionality. This is where polish and perfection are achieved. It also means effective communication, collaboration, and user-centric thinking all the way. It is done in order to ensure the successful delivery of a quality, high-impact mobile app that meets user needs and business objectives.

There are 9 Stages of the App Design Process

The nine stages in the app design process are as follows:

1. Setting the Scope to Start Off Basic App Design Process.
2. Researching Users and Market for the Process of Making an App and Designing an App.
3. Wireframing UX Design and UI Design.
4. Creating the Visual Design Prototype.
5. Design Stage: The Mobile Design Team will Design a Mobile App User Interface.
6. Software Architecture As Per Modern App Design and Mobile App Development Trends.
7. Mobile App Development: Designers Will Hand Off Your Design to Developers.
8. Testing the Mobile App.
9. Launching the App.

Setting the Scope to Start Off Basic App Design Process

It is at this exact stage that the definition of the scope of the project is always set before the beginning of the app design process work. It sets the boundaries and parameters to be adhered to within the whole project. Usually, within this stage, there are several key activities, of which the definition of a clear vision and purpose for the app is the first step. The problem the app is solving is essential to identify, as is its value proposition. “At its core, a well-articulated vision aligns stakeholders and offers a guiding beacon during design and development.” With the above research findings, the team can now go ahead to plan. They can map out the app’s key features, functionalities, and strategy. It’s an all-inclusive prepping exercise, including user personas, user stories, and outlines of core requirements that shall guide the design and development efforts.

First, it’s the scope-setting phase that calls for the sync of the application’s goals with the larger business goals. What are the overarching business goals of the organization? Is the app supposed to drive customer engagement, yield revenue, increase brand visibility, or deliver some other specific kind of result? Clearly defining these business goals will outline the decisions on what features to include and how to design the app. Secondly, identifying user personas is crucial. Who is going to use this application? What are their basic demographics, behaviors, and motivations? This will mean understanding the target group in person and ensuring that they create an app design from scratch that resonates with their needs and preferences.

Competitor Analysis

The other very important thing is to analyze the competitors. The new app that has been conceptualized and planned for development must clearly bring the board the strengths of competing apps. In which case, what would be the strengths of these competing apps? How would the new app bring out a different approach to the user experience? The app should also be scoped with the overall strategy of the business and the company’s mobile app strategy. That might require considering the vision of the firm, its long-standing product offering, and where the app would fit into the ecosystem.

Set Clear Goals

Last but not least, set clear and measurable goals for the app. Those goals could be related to user acquisition, engagement, revenue generation, or any other KPIs that they may decide to be responsible for measuring the success of the app. The clear goals shall define to the design and development teams a roadmap to ensure the app is meeting the intended objectives. In setting out the scope and addressing each of these key app design elements in detail, an organization better places itself to lay a firm foundation within the mobile app design process that aligns the app to user needs. Moreover, it ensures the business objective of the app realization is fully achieved. This way, the organization puts the app in a better position for success within a competing market.

Researching User and Market for the Process of Designing App

This is where in-depth user and market research kicks off in the mobile app design process. Moreover, this step provides valuable insights that both inform and guide the app features, user experience, and overall design strategy. Major activities include:

User Research

Understanding target users’ problems should be one of the top priorities for app success. User research can lead to user behavior knowledge, user preferences, user pain points, and what keeps them motivated. The following are the ways to approach user research:

• User Interviews: Personal, one-on-one interviews with potential users, in which the problems of the users, their expectations, and needs vis-à-vis the application are specifically investigated.
• Surveys: This method offers in-depth statistical insight into the preferences and behavior of users through a large sample-sized both online and offline questionnaire.
• User Testing: Users are checked on existing applications or prototypes to observe real interaction, identifying usability problems, weak points, or even strengths.
• Analytics Analysis: With an app or website in their hands, big data analytics can unravel behavior patterns and user engagement metrics and even uncover usage trends for any company.

Market Research

Apart from user research, delve into the landscape of competitors and the dynamics of the market. Market research helps in finding opportunities, threats, and factors that might influence the success of the app. Key activities in the market research area include:

• • Competitor Analysis: Analyzes competitive applications within the market in terms of features, user experience, pricing models, and positioning to understand where there are gaps and potential areas for differentiation.

• • Industry Trends Analysis: This will be of great help in pointing out the direction with respect to what the design of the app is supposed to be and what features the app is supposed to have.

• • Market Size and Potential: This is important in assessing the viability of the app and its potential success.

• • Regulatory and Legal Considerations: Look into the important laws about data protection, especially in cases where sensitive user data is applied, and investigate industry standards while building applications for use in under-regulated industries.

Research Synthesis

After obtaining the research data from users and the market, it is key to synthesize and analyze the collected data. It will bring into light new patterns, insights, and opportunities. These will be handy while making a decision for developing and designing the app. Simply put, these translate into the user personas, journey maps, and a feature prioritization matrix. You will need to then translate that with the learnings you’ve obtained through your research into executable design.

Ongoing Research and Iterative Nature: 

User and market research must be an ongoing activity. It must be iterated with the app design process progress. This will allow influenced research that includes feedback and changes in user needs. This could also include usability testing, A/B testing, and iterative user feedback loops. It will help refine the design and functionality over time. Moreover, this would enable the organization to inject the app design process with real user needs. And on its part, it will be mindful of market realities as it does so. Such a research-driven approach would significantly increase the chances of the app actually accomplishing both more user resonance and the desired business objective.

Wireframing UX Design and UI Design

Following the respective user and market research, the mobile app design process moves further. Wireframes can be treated as a skeleton of the building. Moreover, it is a rough sketch outlining the construction of the app and content hierarchy. It also includes the user flow of the app. They are kind of a blueprint for the architecture of the user experience (UX) and (UI) user interface design as well. This is one of the most crucial points in wireframing because:

User Experience (UX) Design:

The wireframes help the designer in laying out the information architecture, navigation patterns, and user journeys for the app. Through wireframes, all the experimentations made have different layout possibilities and, in fact, interaction models that would help optimize the user experience. From this perspective, wireframes would be utilized for usability testing and early problem identification.

User Interface (UI) Design: 

They typically lay the visual design by defining the placement of UI elements, such as buttons, menus, and icons. Wireframes typically guide responsive design planning from one screen size to another, possibly from one type of device to another. Wireframes help both the UX and UI designers to collaborate and smoothen the gap between the structure-designed phase and the visual design phase. The process of wireframing can typically include the following app design steps:

• • Define User Flows: Essentially, it involves defining core user flows and scenarios that the application must support. This design process includes tasks that users experience, such as user onboarding, key functions of the application, and journeys.

• • Develop Low-Fidelity Wireframes: Designers develop basic layouts and structures of every screen that is involved in a user flow using wireframing tools or just pen and paper. Such low-fidelity wireframes allow the designer to focus on the content hierarchy, layout, and functionality, staying away from visual details at this stage.

• • Iterate and Refine: The wireframes are iteratively refined to perfection through stakeholder feedback and usability testing. This ensures the structure and user experience align with user needs and best practices with every additional detail.

• • Transition to High-Fidelity Wireframes: After achieving low-fidelity wireframes, these can be translated into high-fidelity wireframes or prototypes using prototyping tools. The placeholders for detailed elements include images, icons, and the correct typographic information.

Why Does Iteration Matter?

Involving stakeholders, subject matter experts, and potential users in feedback and validation from time to time at different stages of the wireframing process has a lot of benefits. This will help catch and rectify any issues early. Moreover, it will reduce the risk of expensive changes later during the design and development phases. In wireframing, designers can invest work and time that will help them ensure an appropriate foundation for both the user experience and the app’s user interface. Good wireframes help in an easy transition through stages to finally result in a more intuitive and user-friendly mobile app.

Creating the Visual Design Prototype

The next step in the app design process, following the final approval of wireframes, is the development of a visual design prototype. This high-fidelity prototype brings the app’s user interface (UI) to life. It does that by applying visual elements such as branding, color schemes, typography, iconography, and graphics. Important purposes of the visual design prototype include:

• • Visualizing the App’s Look and Feel: This involves adding visual design elements to the approved wireframes, providing stakeholders with a realistic preview of how the app will look and function. This step helps validate the overall aesthetic appeal and ensures the design aligns with the brand’s style and user expectations.

• • Facilitating User Testing: The visual prototype aids in conducting usability testing with potential users, allowing designers to gather valuable feedback on the visual appeal, intuitiveness, and overall user experience of the app before proceeding to development.

• • Communicating Design Decisions: The prototype serves as a communication tool that enables designers to convey their design choices and rationale clearly to developers, stakeholders, and other team members involved in the project.

Process of Creating a Visual Design 

The following are the steps in the process of creating a visual design prototype:

• • Define design guidelines: Designers define a comprehensive set of guidelines that cover everything from branding elements, color palettes, typography, and iconography to other visual assets. These guidelines ensure a harmonized and consistent interface across the app.

• • Apply visual elements: Using design tools like Sketch, Adobe XD, or Figma, designers transform approved wireframes into high-fidelity mockups or interactive prototypes, enriching the user experience by incorporating animations and interactions, such as micro-interactions, transitions, and animations. These additions demonstrate how various UI elements will behave in response to user actions.

• • User Testing and Iteration: The visual prototype undergoes usability testing with potential users to gather feedback. Based on these insights, visual designers iteratively refine the design, making necessary adjustments to enhance the user experience.

• • Finalization and Handoff: Once the visual design prototype is finalized and approved, it is prepared for handoff to the development team and packaged with the design guidelines and other relevant documentation.

Creating a compelling visual design prototype is a critical step in the mobile app design process. It bridges the gap between the conceptual wireframes and the final product. Moreover, it allows stakeholders to visualize the app’s intended look and feel. Designers invest time and effort into this phase. This way, they can ensure that the app not only functions well but also delivers an exceptional visual experience. This visual experience also resonates with users and aligns with the brand’s identity.

Design Stage: Mobile Design Team to Design a Mobile App User Interface

This is the app design stage, and the mobile design team comes in to finalize the app interface (UI). Moreover, the team has seasoned senior UI designers. These designers are experts in creating visually appealing and user-pleasing interfaces for mobile apps. They work directly with UX designers and stakeholders. This way, they can ensure the UI design aligns with the approved wireframes, user flows, and visual prototypes. Moreover, their task is to refine visual components, interactions, and animations to deliver an engaging user experience. Animation is the process of adding motion to the app, and a motion design can effectively guide your app to success. A key duty of the mobile design team is to stick to platform-specific design guidelines and best practices. For instance, iOS apps must follow Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines, while Android apps should comply with Google’s Material Design guidelines.

This approach ensures the app’s UI feels familiar and intuitive to users on any platform. Mobile designers take into consideration factors such as accessibility, localization, and device compatibility. They ensure the UI adapts to various screen sizes, resolutions, and orientations. Designers optimize it across a wide range of mobile devices. During this stage, the mobile design team collaborates closely with developers. They do that to make the app UI design technically feasible and can be efficiently implemented. Also, they can produce design specifications, style guides, and other documentation to facilitate a smooth transition to the development team. Additionally, organizations can involve a dedicated team specializing in mobile design to ensure that their app’s user interface adheres to the highest standards of visual appeal, usability, and platform conformity. This commitment helps deliver a superior user experience, setting the app apart in the highly competitive mobile app marketplace.

Software Architecture As Per Modern App Design Trends

While the design team is working to ensure a great user experience, the development team concurrently focuses on defining the app’s software architecture. This step is quite vital as it makes sure that the app’s structure, as well as its technical foundation, sticks to modern app design trends and best practices. Moreover, the software architecture includes components such as programming languages, frameworks, databases, APIs, and infrastructure choices. That way, choosing the most suitable architectural approach is vital for making sure the app’s performance, scalability, and security are up to the mark. Modern app design trends, such as microservices architecture, serverless computing, and cloud-native development, are key considerations. These approaches make way for a modular design, efficient resource utilization, and seamless integration with cloud services. Also, it enhances the app’s overall effectiveness and future-proofing its capabilities.

Additionally, if the app is intended for multiple platforms, such as iOS and Android, the software architecture must support cross-platform development. Frameworks like React Native, Flutter, or Xamarin are crucial for enabling code reusability and streamlining the development process. Security is another vital aspect of software architecture. Implementing secure coding practices, data encryption, and authentication mechanisms is crucial, especially for apps that handle sensitive user data or conduct financial transactions. The architecture also accommodates third-party integrations, push notifications and offline functionality. It ensures the app meets the desired feature set and user expectations. By aligning the software architecture with modern app design trends, the development team establishes a solid foundation for a high-performance, scalable, and future-proof mobile app. These apps can adapt to evolving user needs and technological advancements.

Mobile App Development: Designers Will Hand Off Your Design to Developers

This is where the design is complete. And now the work goes from the design team to the development team. Here, all it entails is the handing over of all design assets, specifications, and documentation to the party of development. The development will now bring this application to life. They normally go through or review their design sessions with the development team. In such sessions, the reasons behind different decisions are articulated. Moreover, edge cases are discussed with questions that might arise from developers.

This is where absolute clarity in communication and collaboration between the design and development teams throughout the development process comes in. When a common understanding is reached for the design vision, and what is required for its realization, most of the misinterpretations are put aside. This reduces the possibility of costly rework or even timeline disruption. Full design documentation, together with a structured handoff process, allows the designers to empower the development team with everything they need to be able to translate the design vision into an actual mobile app that is functional and nice to look at.

Parts of Hand Off Process 

The main parts of the app handoff process normally include:

• • Design Files: This includes the mockups, prototypes, and other visual design aspects. Designers use tools like Sketch, Adobe XD, or Figma to develop these, and they are furnished to the development team.

• • Style Guides: A design guide, delivered in full, from the branding elements, color palettes, typography, and iconography to other visual guidelines that need to be adhered to with precision across the app.

• • Design Specifications: Detailed design specifications are shared. The designers will lay out specific measurements, layouts, interactions, and animations for the various UI elements and screens.

• • User Flows and Wireframes: These are handed over at the end of the project to represent final, approved state Userflows and Wireframes for reference purposes, in line with the details of the application architecture, navigation, and user experience details.

• Prototype and Assets: Interactive prototypes, together with additional assets like illustrations or graphics, are provided to aid developers in visualizing the intended user experience.

Testing the Mobile App

It is safe to say that testing plays an important part in the development and app design process, and it is one of the last app design process steps. When the QA testers test your app, the app will have quality standards and will give the user satisfaction. Moreover, testing will take various forms and stages during the development cycle. In the testing phase, the QA team takes note of all identified issues/bugs, prioritizes them, and fixes them successively by the development team. This intense testing is done by creating the app for one platform first, then other platforms later on. It not only adds to the quality and reliability of the app but also helps avoid potential concerns. Moreover, it resolves them before the app is actually put out to the public. Therefore, it provides a better experience and a greater level of satisfaction to the users.

Testing Stages

The following are the different stages of testing an app during the app design process:

• • Functional testing: This will guarantee that the functions and features of the app work as designed with every scenario and use case. This includes but is not limited to user activity flows, input validation, error processing, and integrations with third-party services or APIs.

• • Usability Testing: This is an app evaluation on the basis of user interface and experience that is exposed to real-time users of the same app. Reveals problems, confusing navigation, or design elements that are not very intuitive to the user for effective task completion.

• • Performance Testing: It is a kind of testing that checks the responsiveness, load times, and overall performance of an application with conditions that include wide variations in network speed, device configurations, and high user loads, among others. All this ensures that the app serves a responsive and seamless experience under the toughest conditions.

• • Compatibility Testing: There are many mobile devices and multiple OS versions floating around these days. That’s why compatibility testing is important. This testing assures that the app and its design work well. It ensures the first version of your app works in the same way on diverse devices, screen sizes, resolutions, and OS versions.

• • Security Testing: Applications that relate to sensitive information or financial transactions are subjected to profound security tests. It involves a process of finding and removing potential vulnerabilities. This way, user data is protected, and the application is aligned with security practices in accordance with industry standards.

• • Automated Testing: In many cases, to streamline the testing process with assured consistent quality, developers go with an automated testing framework. The frameworks allow running predefined test scripts, which reduce human intervention in terms of time and effort for manual testing and increase test coverage.

Launching the App

After months of research, design, development, and rigorous testing, the app design process is complete, and the mobile app is finally ready for launch. This is an exciting stage that entails several key steps toward ensuring a smooth and successful release:

Pre-Launch Strategies

Some of the post-launch steps include:

• • App Store Submission: The app is then submitted to the respective app stores for the specific platform. In case it is iOS devices, it will be the Apple App Store. If it targets Android devices, it will be the Google Play Store. This would involve an adherence to the submission guidelines of the individual platforms. It will also include screenshots and eventually undergo a review process.

• • Marketing and Promotion: Being such a case where a solidly planned marketing and promotion strategy plays a vital role in noise creation in the market and thus user acquisition, it would be towards the following. This would include a website dedicated to the same, app store listings with proper description writings, popularizing the same over social media sites, and contacting influencers and industrial publications for coverage and reviews.

• • Pre-launch Preparations: Some of the things that you may need to put in order or do before the actual launch takes place. This includes tools for tracking user engagement with the app and user behavior. Also, it includes the configuration of your application for in-app purchases or subscription systems. Moreover, it is about making sure that the server infrastructure and the backend services are ready for when the incoming user load hits them.

• • Soft Launch and Early Feedback: Many developers go for a soft launch or beta release to launch an app, i.e., the app will be made available to very, very few people in its early stages. This would allow them to have early feedback and polish their solutions, trying to find and fix any pitfalls not anticipated.

Post-Launch Strategies:

These are the key steps that come after the full-on launch:

• • Public Launch and Monitoring: This will decide the date on which the app will be officially launched. It will open the app for public download and installation on their devices. What shall follow from this point is some of the most careful monitoring over the next appropriate time period of user responses, app store reviews, and usage metrics. This will help guide any immediate updates or fixes required to address critical issues or user concerns.

• • Post-launch support and updates: No app launch, but a beginning at the finish line. Maintenance is of utmost necessity and maintaining app design is an ongoing process which includes support, bug fixing, and feature updates. These should be planned to make users satisfied. Moreover, it will make the app relevant in this dynamically changing world of mobile applications.

Getting good user reviews and ratings helps increase the chances of a successful launch of the app. That is because these serve as the final touches of the app design process. Moreover, they provide the basis needed for sustained growth and success in the mobile app ecosystem. Also, they will be much higher if based on a clearly laid-out and defined launching plan. This is the moment of truth. More importantly, all the efforts and hard work during the app design process comes down to the launching stage. They are paid off with the perfect deployment.

Partner With A Firm to Design and Develop Your App 

The mobile application design process is made simple when you partner with an experienced firm. If you need to design and make your app, then you need to partner with seasoned specialists. These experts will take over your project. They will deal with all aspects of the app design. A mobile app design and development firm will make your design. Moreover, they will create a mobile app with robust functionality and design that aligns with your brand. The development firm will visualize your app. Also, creating a mobile app from scratch will become much easier with their help. One such partner that you can choose for your project is Linkitsoft. It is an experienced development firm with talented developers and designers. They will make the mobile app’s design and ensure that the app looks visually appealing. A good design will make more users interact with the app.

If you have an app idea and want to create an app based on it, you can consult with Linkitsoft. With their skills and expertise, your app can be developed in no time. Moreover, they will ensure that the product design goes with your brand image and resonates with your users. The responsiveness of the design will make interacting with the app from screen to screen much easier. They will take to design with the requirements you have provided. Moreover, they will start building a mobile design for your app. They will make it the best mobile app and make it stand out in the entire market. A great mobile app development is one that makes people feel good when using an app. That’s why Linkitsoft ensures that people use the app with the same enthusiasm as when they downloaded it in the first place.

Final Thoughts

That is the app design process in all its glory, and it is what will design a great app. Much like the app design process, this guide is complete, and we will wrap it up. We hope that you enjoyed reading this guide and got an idea or two about the app design process. The points we have discussed in this guide will surely help you out on your app development journey. If you are looking for a software development firm to partner with for web design or to develop an app, you can consider Linkitsoft. You can check out the blog section on our website to read more blogs like this.