How Much Does It Cost to Design a Mobile app?

When it comes to developing a mobile app, the most significant element is the app design. An app’s design can make an app’s future successful or futile. It all depends on whether the user is attracted to. Or the user feels the ease of use and is captivated by the app design.

The mobile app design includes user experience or graphics design, but numerous other aspects get considered. Like, the user preferences, competitor study, user interaction, and even the logo, icons, etc.

“People ignore design that ignores people”— Frank Chimero

An app can have the most innovative technologies, but if it is not user-friendly, it is of no use. The user experience of any app ought to be merely straightforward. A complex app is no user’s liking. For app development, technology, and design go hand in hand.

Implication of the Design in Mobile App Development

“Design isn’t finished until somebody is using it” — Brenda Laurel

In developing a mobile app, a well-crafted design serves the primary purpose of being minimal. Any mobile app development’s end goal is coming up with a unique but simplistic design that helps the user navigate effortlessly, complete the business with ease, and allow direct interaction. Simply put, a distinguished app design is the one that can convert a user into a consumer.

Making a plan of the estimated timeline, deliverables, tools to get used, and market research are all aspects that go into creating a high-quality mobile app. The mobile UX design and mobile UI design outline need to be distinct, which gets done with the wireframing technique. Building the entire concept around your mobile app’s design is a pre-requisite or a preparation before you can move on to implement it.

The purpose of an app design is to solve the problems that are troubling the users. A detailed design with no clutter gives the best system, which is the main aim of any mobile app. To stand out in the millions of apps already available in the market, you need to give importance to your mobile app design, having the right blend of ideas, presentations, and skills to enhance user experience.

Stages in the Mobile App Design Process

Design creates culture. Culture shapes values. Values determine the future” — Robert L. Peters

The stages of the designing process show what elements go into app design. Let’s learn more about it;

• The initial stage in the design is idea generation. To decide how the design should be suitable to use and how the user can get its best. Deciding on the app platform, channels, and competitor edge are all involved in this first stage.
• Next comes market research. To study & research the market for trend analysis, competitors, and user preferences. Checking out case studies, and taking user stories or interviews can help employ this stage.
• Now, you need to check all the resources and tools you can utilize to bring your idea of the application design to life. Have the checklist of your design ready for your mobile app design’s central parts, segments, requirements, and features.
• In the next stage, you build a clear picture of your target audience. Who is this mobile all designed for? Make sure you have a well-defined depiction of how the user can interact through the app, navigate, accomplish the lead goal, and even understand what to do if the user gets lost in the app.
• Once you are transparent about your idea, the next step is to create a mobile app prototype. It helps to visualize how the actual procedure would look like and work. It also assists in identifying issues or any problems that could occur at the final development stage.
• Then, spend more of your time and effort on the user interface design or the app branding. How can the user move from one screen to another? The look, feel, and appearance of the invention, the colors, shapes, typography, logos, icons, and all the graphic or animation usage come under this stage.

Your mobile app design has geared up! Having done the research, and preparing the design model, the next item to mark in your checklist is the cost. Matching your requirements with your budget is a vast and tricky task. Let us further see the cost components of app design.

Cost to Design a Mobile App

The cost of designing an app depends on various factors like the platform chosen, the country of the app, app complexity level, etc.

Let’s through some light on them;

Platform

For iOS, the designing cost falls in the range of $3,000 to $10,000. It adds up 25% in the case of retina display or high-resolution files. In the case of Android, the costs are constantly changing depending on the design process. Also, since the number of platforms to work on is much greater than on iOS, the Android app design cost increases automatically.

Complexity

In simple apps, having to say three screens with zero animations and interactive design elements. For instance, apps like calculators or alarms. These apps are usually not designed to meet individual platforms’ specific requirements; hence, they look alike on all screens. The cost of these apps is the lowest.

Then there are medium complex apps that use multiple interactive elements and animations, with specific designs based on the platform. These add in the extra cost of meeting the interface design guidelines or material design principles—for example, simple apps like WhatsApp or Uber. Lastly, the high-complexity apps get designed with many animations and transitions, multiple screens, and user-centric native design. These are the ones that are most expensive to make and maintain.

Country

The design and work vary between app designers across different countries. A USA-based UI/User Experience app designer might charge $150 – $200 per hour, while an Eastern nation design charges around $80 – $100 on average per hour. And the United Kingdom charges approximately $100 to $150 per hour.

In Germany, the cost varies greatly. Some charge $50 to $100 per hour, or $100 to $149 per hour, and some even charge $25 to $50 per hour. Ukrainian design studios charge from $25 to $100 per hour. Indian design studios charge $25 to $49 per hour usually.

Expertise

The app designer’s knowledge and the quality of the app also play an integral part in the cost of designing a mobile app. The functionalities, features, animation, and other creative elements all form the major app cost estimators. These costs mainly depend on the user engagement tools that get used in the app design.

Also Read: Know Latest Mobile App Design Trends to Make an Efficient App

Infrastructure and administration

Keeping track of the app and its maintenance is an important facet—the operating system, API, and data exchange form the critical constituents in administering the infrastructure.  Even bug fixing, improving stability, adding updates, or developing new features to enhance performance needs constant supervision.

For managing app content, user, and statistics, having an adequate and appropriate panel to meet your business requirements is ideal. The cost of these elements varies depending on the value, location, and structure of such a team.

The cost of designing does seem expensive, but it does give its full worth. Any app design requires development, implementation, and maintenance. To make your process more comfortable, you can plan your mobile app design, opt to hire a professional and be involved in the process.

“If you think good design is expensive, you should look at the cost of bad design”— Dr. Ralf Speth

How to optimize the cost of mobile app design?

There are several ways to minimize or reduce your mobile app design and development cost. These are essential determining factors that help control the costs, work in quality, and ensure your app achieves its goals with a limited budget.

Strategize

Brainstorm and set an ideal strategy to consider your resources, tools, and budget in mind. Explore ideas, study markets, survey users to see what works best, focusing on the value.

Reconcile

Only concentrate on features that you feel seem needed for your app. Cut back on designing a full-fledged application unless required. They would only add to unnecessary costs. Make sure to choose the right devices and operating systems for your app.

Integrate

After determining your required features and functions for the app, go for software integration or pre-existing plug-ins to improve the functionality. That will help minimize app design costs vastly. Also, consider utilizing pre-existing templates that can quickly get personalized to meet your app needs. However, keep in mind thoroughly evaluating any built-in or hidden costs, even licensing, of employing any app design tool.

Outsource

Having an in-house development team can be much costlier than hiring an outsourced team. Outsourcing seems to be an additional cost, but on the contrary, it comes with a host of benefits. Paying an engaged team for a short period, getting quality design from experts, and accessing experienced professionals’ skills and expertise is a development cost cut down.

Test it right

A rush of making an app live causes many to test their app thoroughly and result in more development cost for correcting the flaws. Exhaustive testing of the framework before the app’s launch helps to see the problems and find the solutions and fixes, reducing the downtime costs.

Using these tacks and without compromising the apps’ quality, you can relieve the cumbersome pricing on the best mobile app design development.

“The trend of design toward simplicity and accessibility in software happened for a reason—simple sells, simple’s usable and simple scales” — Rand Fishkin

How to Pick the Right App Design Company?

Whom to choose, choose, and what to look for are some basic questions that come to mind while hiring a mobile app design company.

Let’s have a look at ways to make the right choice for your design;

Experience

Check the expertise of the mobile app design companies. Projects or apps they have worked for earlier and see the outcome. Has the result been successful, is the main element you are looking for?

Prototyping

Look for design companies that form an end to end process. Companies that are ready with a process and a mobile app prototype before launching the final app. It will be a lot less messy if there is a clear indication of idea and reality. It is ideal to have a proper plan in place.

Budget

A company with a distinct clarity on the costs and expenses that falls under your account is the ideal choice. Go for the company that keeps the design simplistic, meets your requirements, works economically, and does not bargain on the app quality.

Getting your app ideas transformed into reality by experts is the ideal dream. However, picking the right company to get that done is essential.

“I strive for two things in design: simplicity and clarity. Great design is born of those two things” — Lindo Leader.

Conclusion

“Design is the new basis of competition” — Eric Ries

A design is the chief fragment of your app’s success. If the design is unattractive, is with bad usability, or isn’t user friendly, the app may not get liked. Thus, it may have a low traffic, negative reviews, rejecting feedback, and a down falling ROI. So, to make a popular and perpetual mobile app, invest predominantly in its design.