Written by: Ilia Kiselevich, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Hiring a reliable app design provider is a strategic decision for your tech project. But once you find one and ink a contract, is that it? Is your success guaranteed? Well, that depends, and let's find out why.
As a CEO, your role extends beyond mere approval––it involves effectively communicating your vision and brand story. But what is even more crucial is that there is a significant risk associated with poorly prepared design layouts, which can complicate the lives of developers during implementation and have long-term effects on the project's timeline and cost. And here, your position is a game changer.
So, what does a startup leader need to know when choosing a design contractor and controlling the project's completion?
1. Research platform-specific expertise
This point may seem obvious, but our project rescue services, including design, show how much it's underrated. If a designer's portfolio primarily showcases web design projects, it may indicate a potential challenge in adapting their skills to mobile app design, as it requires a deep understanding of platform-specific guidelines and UX/UI principles.
Another aspect to consider is the designer's experience with native and cross-platform libraries. While a contractor may excel at understanding specific guidelines for iOS or Android,
cross-platform design demands additional expertise in:
adapting designs to multiple operating systems
accommodating different screen sizes and resolutions.
ensuring consistent UX across various platforms.
As a result, the vendor may experience a longer learning curve, which will also impact the ready-design delivery timeline.
"It is advantageous to collaborate with a design team with the relevant technology stack that ensures a seamless adaptation of their expertise to your project, resulting in a more tailored and optimized user experience for your target platform."
2. Choose a right design tool
Today, designers access a huge range of effective tools for delivering solutions, but not just any one will do for mobile applications.
"Design teams that take into account the future work of their developer colleagues and the overall viability of their design commonly utilize advanced tools such as Adobe XD, Sketch, and Figma. Unfortunately, I can't say the same about software like Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator."
At SolveIt, we prioritize Figma due to its extensive capabilities for developers by offering features specifically tailored for them, such as Dev Mode. It allows an easy view of the changes made by designers, fostering seamless collaboration within the team. Additionally, Figma was the first design tool to enable browser-based admission to design files, ensuring clients may access the files anytime, anywhere. It also provides mobile testing capabilities and rapid prototyping functionality.
By considering these factors and adopting design tools like Figma as preferred, you can enhance the future-proofness of the design, ultimately providing a superior mobile app experience to their target audience.
3. Compile the design artifacts
As a startup leader, it is crucial to have a comprehensive understanding of the classic design development process. This knowledge enables you to effectively track the progress of your project, comprehend the activities and outcomes at each stage, and have a clear expectation of the results:
Wireframing (UX);
Conceptualization (UI);
Mock-ups (UI);
Prototyping (UI/UX).
So, after prototyping in an ideal scenario, a design system should be created.
"A design system, also known as a UI kit, is a collection of reusable components, UI elements and assets, typography styles, and guidelines that ensure consistency in the design process. It serves as a foundation for creating cohesive and visually appealing interfaces."
As a startup grows, it centralizes the design language, allowing new team members to contribute and maintain a cohesive design aligned with the brand identity. Make sure you get at least the minimal set of mentioned design artifacts to scale your mobile app, as the costs of manual operations in managing repetitive elements are extremely high.
4. Check out the critical states
The absence of design for different states is a clear indication of an inexperienced team or specialist. Error, empty, disconnected states, and other critical scenarios are often neglected.
While approving mobile app design, it is essential to thoroughly review and assess the representation of different states in the design provided by your vendor. Taking the time to validate will enable you to identify any potential gaps or oversights in the design and collaborate effectively with your vendor to address them.
"Once you have analyzed the scenario as a whole, it is time to delve into a thorough examination of each individual screen. By adopting this level of attention and scrutiny, you have a chance to identify and rectify any potential issues, resulting in a flawless user experience that leaves no room for errors or oversights."
5. Verify design legal compliance
Ensuring resource control and copyright compliance in collaboration with a design vendor is a vital but often overlooked consideration with far-reaching and severe consequences. Legal compliance is upheld by respecting intellectual property rights and avoiding copyright infringement through thorough verification of licenses for illustrations, photographs, fonts, and icons.
"This protective measure safeguards the app's reputation, mitigating legal disputes and shielding against financial penalties that may result from the unauthorized use of copyrighted materials."
Additionally, it fosters a secure collaboration environment by establishing clear guidelines and expectations and promoting transparency. Despite the perception that copyright issues have to be an obsolete concern in the 21st century, they still regretfully retain their significance.
Bottom line
In the CEO's journey to approve a contractor's design, one of the key takeaways lies in the significance of making the right choice of contractor. When you've partnered with seasoned professionals, the provided guide becomes a roadmap rather than a set of challenges.
In my experience, it is highly advisable to collaborate with a vendor that provides a full development service, including design. The creation of a tech product is a continuous and creative process; design cannot be treated as a one-time task. The need for updates or fixes may arise, and be aware that it requires constant involvement and collaboration within the entire team, but only a designer.
It is imperative to bear in mind that your active participation holds equal significance, wherein the provision of essential resources on your part is crucial. Don't shy away from asking questions or delving into the intricacies of the design process—after all, it’s your future app at stake!
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Ilia Kiselevich, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
CEO & Founder of SolveIt – a mobile development company, entrepreneur and product owner of HBT. Ilia Kiselevich is an entrepreneur with a keen eye for emerging technologies and a deep understanding of market dynamics committed to transforming ideas into reality. Under Ilia's guidance, SolveIt has garnered recognition for its remarkable quality of delivered solutions, award-winning UX/UI design, and 100% customer satisfaction score.
