Apps are the new websites – at least where personal businesses are concerned. Five years ago, any new business was kidding itself without a sleek, attractive new website. That’s still the case today, but consumers expect more than a website now as well. An app makes your business more accessible, translates your website to a mobile format, and perhaps best of all makes you seem like a legitimate, modern company.
The only trouble is, most of us don’t quite know how to make it happen yet! We’ve gotten familiar with various ways of making our own websites, with or without coding knowledge. But designing an app is at least slightly less accessible.
The first step is to forget about design and seek out inspiration. That is to say, figure out what makes the best commercial apps great, and what makes alternatives less desirable. To some extent, this is subjective; you might prefer an app that someone else doesn’t care for. One good way is to look into industries in which newer companies have successfully gained a share of the market against more established ones. For instance, look through the best Bitcoin wallet apps, and you’ll find that some of the newest and most intuitive ones are ranked among the best. Consider how Square’s cash app has pulled a lot of users away from Venmo, thanks at least in part to a more attractive interface. Figure out what makes these apps stand out, and try to determine how to integrate your findings into your design.
Next, you’ll want to approach the actual process, as long as you have some general design ideas in mind. Before you go about trying to figure out how to do the job on your own, consider looking into mobile app design by professional services. No, it’s not free, but you might be blown away by some of the designs you see, and you might find they’re exactly what you envision for your company’s mobile presence. Needless to say, there are designers who have a lot of experience and know-how in this area, and arming your company with some of these designers is a nice way to stand out from your competition. It’s at least worthwhile to price these options to see if you can fit them into your budget.
Once you’ve at least looked into professional options, you should do the same with systems that exist to help you design an app on your own. Just as this has gotten easier with web design, there are now platforms that basically help you to put an app together with limited coding experience, or none at all. They can still be challenging, but it’s worth knowing they’re out there so that you can explore all of your options.
Altogether it’s quite simple, though it can still be time-consuming. You need only figure out what you like in an app and put your research to use in whichever way works best for you. The important thing is making the determination to build an app, and setting the time aside to make it happen.
Photo: Pixabay
