Dave Brown - The iPhone App Design Manual: Create Perfect Designs for Effortless Coding and App Store Success

the iPhone app design manual

create perfect designs for effortless coding and app store success

dave brown

with vicky roberts

CINCINNATI, OHIO

WWW.HOWDESIGN.COM

App creation is now a huge, global business, with hundreds of thousands of developers, entrepreneurs, and companies attracted by the potential rewards. But games, functional apps, and promotional apps alike depend on attractive, intuitive design for their appeal, and most fail to find a significant audience.

With this book, youll be able to turn your great app idea into a functioning design ready for coding, or apply graphic design skills to this exciting new field, and create an app that will stand out in a market that is worth over a billion dollars every year.

Understand the design process that underlies the best and most successful apps

Learn how to create a friendly interface and smooth user experience, and avoid the pitfalls that plague first-time designers

Master the tricks of the trade that make apps stand out: effective visuals, punchy copy, and attractive colors

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

When I founded Apposing back in 2009, the app world was a much less congested space. The boom had not yet begun and the way that we interacted with technology was infinitely more stationary.

With a background in web design, I was well-versed in the processes and theories which led to a great website and experience for the user, but the advent of the mobile application posed a new area of interest. I became obsessed with the power that these apps held within their tiny frameworks. Carried in the pocket of the user wherever they went, apps allowed the mobile phone to become whatever it needed to be. You no longer needed to carry multiple digital, and in some cases physical, tools; they could all be neatly housed in one pocket-sized package.

Apps presented an exciting opportunity to connect with customers for brands and companies across the world, but more importantly, they offered designers a method of changing the digital landscape for the better. Age-old processes could be revisited; app designers had the opportunity to study the way we interact with things to see if they could be improved. Good app design was about more than taking the internet and making it accessible on your phone, it was an art form in its own right.

I founded Apposing with the notion of creating truly useful apps with the user in mind. I wanted to make valuable apps that generated excitement, pushed boundaries, and which solved problems that people might not have known that they had. A fledgling soldier on the digital frontline, Apposing was at that time a one-man band with a vision.

Fastforward to 2014, and Ive achieved what I set out to do. We get to work with some of the worlds biggest brands, creating apps which have evolved the way that customers shop, work, and play. Weve managed to amass over one million downloads across Android and iOS. Now a team of thirteen, our ethos remains the same: we spend a lot of time researching who an apps users will be and the business that were creating the app for so that we can create something that people will wonder how they coped without it. Though the app industry is by no means a failsafe way to make money, our companys approach has allowed us to make a living doing what we love most, and having a lot of fun in the process.

Now people well and truly understand the power of the app, with more making the move into app development than ever before. New and improved processors which arrive with each new model of iPhone give designers and developers new ways of exploiting the technology to create something game-changing. The opportunities are endless.

This book will take you through our method for building an iPhone app. From defining your apps primary function through to deciding on which screenshots to submit to the App Store, we offer practical and easy-to-follow advice gleaned from our experience in the business. Featuring our top tips for creating an app thats not only a joy to behold, but also has user-experience at its core, our jargon-free book explains how to make your idea shine.

Weve also amassed a plethora of useful templates, resources, tutorials, and videos to make the transition to app designer a little easier, available here: www.iphoneappdesignmanual.com

The app world is constantly changing. If you want to keep up to date with whats new and developments you can take advantage of, then this book alone wont be enough. While we can show you how to plan and execute your design, keeping up to date with the mobile sphere will serve you well. Weve never stopped learning.

I hope that you enjoy finding new ways to change the digital landscape as much as we do. When were brainstorming, no idea is too crazy; we explore each and every one. Some of our best ideas have been hatched this way.

Dave Brown @daveapposing

MD and Founder of Apposing

CHAPTER ONE

WHAT IS UNIQUE ABOUT DESIGNING MOBILE APPS?

The age of the smartphone is upon us, and with it has come a surge of applications, or apps, which have evolved the way that we interact with our surroundings, each other, and brands and businesses forever.

Gone are the days when a mobile phone was used primarily for calls. We use our phones whilst watching a favorite TV show, to check weve not missed a recipes vital ingredient when out shopping, and to upload pictures to social media on a night out. There are also a wealth of apps that save us time and money, and that have altered the way that we perform tasks indefinitely.

Though theyve only been with us a relatively short amount of time, its difficult to imagine how wed cope without them. Theres even an official word, Nomophobia, for the fear of leaving our phones at home. But how does a mobile app differ from a website? What is it about these tiny pieces of software that has entwined itself with our day to day lives so tightly? This chapter aims to find out.

Designing for Mobile Vs. Web

While app and web design clearly share some traits and principles, approaching an app like a traditional website for a smaller screen would be a rookie mistake. Though successful and profitable websites have long had their roots planted firmly in user-centric design, if youve had any experience in designing applications, youll know that the mobile user journey is an entirely different ball game.

Equally, if youre viewing an app as an extension of a website, youre failing to realize its full potential. Apps offer designers more opportunity to harness their creativity than ever before. If youre committed to understanding how people will use your app, how it could add benefit to their lives, and to solving problems people never knew they had, then designing a useful and successful app is well within your reach.

While todays consumers expect a quality and high-end interface as standard for both platforms, ultimately, its the usability and function of a website or app that determines its success or failure. To put it simply, if a user cannot figure out a way to complete a task in a relatively short amount of time, then they will probably leave empty-handed and be unlikely to return.