The point of doing it this way – using paper designs, testing the bare minimum – is to get real data, to get real validation. Imagine the opposite: spending three months designing something in detail and another couple of months developing the software without any feedback from users. Hailo required a rather involved prototype because we required two apps, and they needed to talk to each other. And this was very much a prototype and definitely not something we could release to the public. Seeing it in action prompted our existing investors to continue supporting us, and it persuaded a new investor to back us and get no credit check loans in Alaska state us to the point where we had a proper Version 1.0 product. You’re constantly attempting to validate your big idea – with real data, real user reactions and feedback.
There are many great tools to help you do this
Wireframes and User Journeys During this developing-and-testing process, we actually went through another step. To visualise the prototype you want to build, you actually need to start to put together an increasingly detailed blueprint of your app. This blueprint has two goals: (i) to illustrate what each screen of your app looks like; and (ii) to explain how your app behaves. Since smartphones are small, intimate and all based on touch, there are lots of ways you can make your app behave. Together, these elements are called the ‘wireframes’ for your app. They are created and owned by the person or team in charge of the product development. They are used as the blueprints to communicate everything about your app. You’ll use them to explain how the app works to potential users (in a Starbucks test or similar), and you’ll use them to communicate to your engineers how to build your app. Other people involved in the appdevelopment process, such as testers, will also need to understand these documents. Their job will be to compare and test what the app is supposed (designed) to do compared with what your developers have actually implemented. Moqups is a simple and great one. There is another one called Balsamiq, and then a more advanced one called OmniGraffle. Some people prefer jumping into Photoshop at this stage. But use whichever tool you’re most comfortable with.
But we still cut plenty of corners to seek the data we needed
If you’re a complete first-timer, I’d suggest using PowerPoint to create a slide-by-slide outline (using the shapes elements) for every screen in your app. Immediately, you will see the challenge of translating the idea of the app you have in your head to precisely how it’s going to look on a screen. It’s challenging. Once you’ve got a comprehensive wireframe outlined, you’ll be ready to work with a designer. Your wireframes will provide the basis for a structured conversation and the scope and size of the app that you’d like to build, and a designer will be able to create a pixel-perfect design.
Great Design Good Design is as little design as possible – less, but better – because it concentrates on the essential aspects, and the products are not burdened with non-essentials. Back to purity, back to simplicity. – Dieter Rams Dieter Rams is one of great pioneers of industrial design. For decades he worked at Braun and pioneered state-of-the-art radios, audio equipment, cameras and furniture. He has been exalted by many as the leader of ‘minimalist, intuitive design’. Apple’s lead designer, Jony Ive, is one of many who have been massively influenced by his style.1 Rams is celebrated for his 10 principles of good design2 – something that is critical today. Keep these principles in mind as you design your app. According to Rams good design: • Is innovative • Makes a product useful • Is aesthetic • Makes a product understandable • Is unobtrusive • Is honest • Is long-lasting • Is thorough down to the last detail • Is environmentally friendly • Has as little design as possible.