How to create your first Iphone Application
This is a pretty lengthy read but it is well worth it and asks some valuable questions that one must answer to have a successful Smartphone application.
The article starts off by stating that anyone can make an Iphone app, it's just a matter of knowing a series of actions to take to make it happen. This first one is: Knowing your goal.
Having a project goal will help make your app development process a success.
Here are some examples of project goals that the article listed:
·
Create an app that doesn't require
hands-on-day-to-day management.
·
Create an app that becomes a full-time business
for me and a team.
·
Create an app that promotes my existing product
or service.
·
Create an app that is purely for fun and not for
profit.
The next
thing that’s on the list is evaluating your idea. If you cannot find an expert
to evaluate your idea then ask yourself if these success factors apply to your
app:
·
Does
your app solve a unique problem?
·
Does
the app serve a niche?
·
Does
it make people laugh?
·
Are
you building a better wheel?
·
Will
the app be highly interactive?
Step 1: Develop a Monetization (the process of
converting or establishing something into legal tender.) and Marketing Plan
“80% are NOT
generating enough revenue with their app to support a standalone business.
Step 2: Sign up for a developer
account
Even if you
will be hiring out the development work, you will need to establish your
business within the app store. Visit the iOS Development center, and
sign up for an account for $99 a year. This also requires you to provide your
tax and bank account information so have this information in hand before
signing up.
Step 3: Sketch your Application
Before you
begin, ask yourself:
·
What
primary action will users take within the app?
·
What
information will each screen need to present?
·
What
is the flow? How will users get from start to finish?
·
How
big should the elements on screen be relative to each other?
Step 4: Identify the work to be
outsourced
Define the
areas you would be comfortable taking the lead and where you would need to hire
help:
·
Design
·
Programming
·
Promotion
and marketing
Step 5: Hiring your team
Design- this breaks down into three roles:
information architecture, interaction design, and visual design.
Information Architecture- organizing the content in your app.
Interaction Design- This person sorts out how the user
will move from screen to screen to accomplish their task.
Visual Design- this is the final step, this is the
“Skin” that overlays the controls for the app. The key is to focus on the
usability and primary task of the app
Iphone app icon Design: Best
Practises
Don’t Include Words- an icon is a graphical
representation of a cord, concept, object or operation. Words are in themselves
an abstraction of a concept, object or operation.
Don’t Standard Gloss- apple gives you the option to add
their standard gloss you your icon when submitting it to the app store. Don’t
do it. If you must add a gloss, do it yourself and tone it down a bit.
Simple is good, simple is clear- icon design is all about expressing
yourself clearly in a confined amount of visual space, 57x57, to be precise
3249 pixels. Don’t clutter them with unnecessary noise.
Details- simple does not mean plain looking. Add
details that only you may notice. Use gradients, highlights and reflections.
Icon/App consistency- you’ll create a much higher level of
trust and fidelity if these two events aren’t too dissimilar. The anticipation
you create by having a great icon should be reinforced when your application
itself is well designed and vice versa.
Stand out from the crowd- all the thought and labor you’ve put
into your app should shine through your icon and convince the user that he or
she simply cannot live without this excellent piece of software.
A FLAT design era
What is Skeuomorphism?
Basically the
way designs often borrow a particular feature from the past, even when the
functional need for it is gone. It’s the physical ornament or design on an
object copied from a form of the object when made from another material or by
other techniques.
3 links related to reading
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/05/apples-attempt-to-ditch-skeuomorphism-resulting-in-tight-ios-7-deadlines/
http://www.idownloadblog.com/2013/04/24/ios7-concept-video/
http://www.behance.net/search?field=131
