LunarLincolnLunarLincolnLunarLincolnLunarLincoln
  • Home
  • Process
  • Services
  • Work
  • Writing
  • About
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Process
  • Services
  • Work
  • Writing
  • About
  • Contact
Sep
26

Initial Questions for a New Mobile App Project

  • Posted By : LunarLincoln/
  • 0 comments /
  • Under : App Advice, Business

It can be daunting to know the first place to start after you know you want to build a mobile app. We are here to help. We can help you focus in your project goals on what makes sense.

Ultimately only you will be able to provide the core vision for what you need. As you ask the questions below, think through the lens of what needs to be in front of users first.

Let’s Build a Minimum Viable Product

Minimum Viable Product

Source: Kunal Naik

Since building technology costs money, having priorities will save you money. So what are the priorities? As we explore this question, keep in mind that it’s always smart to build a minimum viable product (MVP) first. Rather than having a little of everything that works ok, focus on building one aspect of your vision well so that it’s a great foundation. That may mean focusing on one platform before doing both iOS and Android. It may mean we should focus on core functionality before adding extra features.

Have an idea of what’s a must-have versus things that aren’t crucial. This will help you know what you should invest in first. It’s always better to get a smaller, great product in front of users, rather than an app that has more, but doesn’t work great. Having an MVP also helps you get to market faster, which has huge advantages. If you keep launching major updates to your app every 6 months, you’ll be learning what works and what doesn’t. This saves you money since you know which ways you need to pivot your thinking. It often doesn’t make sense to work on a large app for years, without getting feedback from users along the way.

That’s the critical piece of advice I’d give any of my friends who are involved in getting an app built. Keep in mind you’re building a MVP, and not the kitchen sink when considering the questions below. Here are some common questions we get when people reach out for a quote. This should help prepare you for a conversation with us.

Let’s Play Common Questions Bingo

If we wanted to build a Bingo board with the common questions that come up during a conversation about building an app, we’d be winning lots of Bingo. If you don’t know how to answer the questions below, spend some time thinking it over and reach out if you’re stuck. We can point you in the right direction.

You want to know: “How much will it cost?”

We need to know the answer to some of the questions below before we’re able to answer this one for you. In general apps are expensive to build, and zeros are involved. Thankfully a round number can get more focused as we learn more.

So what will we ask to get to the answer for that question?

What’s the big idea?

What makes this app unique and different? What will compel people to use it? What is that one thing that absolutely needs to come across when someone uses this thing?

What kind of features are you envisioning?

What are the core thing someone can do with your app? It can be helpful to see if you can distill your app in 2-3 user stories. A user story is a high-level description of one of the things a user can do with your app. Here are few examples:

  • As a car driver I can swipe my app while paying for gas to earn rewards.
  • At the gas station, I can show my app to redeem rewards at the counter and get a free Coke.
  • As a beer enthusiast I can scan a beer’s barcode to see details about a beer.
  • As a movie buff, I can search for a movie and mark it as watched.

Does this need to be an app?

Hang with me. Sometimes people will have an app idea that may not lend itself to the app format. If you want to build an app for writers that helps them build up their typing speed, it may work better as a website or desktop app, where people are more likely to have a keyboard when using it. What’s the advantage to people having this product on the go?

Who is this app for?

What’s your target demographic? Who will be using this app? This can help decide how the user interface works.

How do you plan to make money with this app?

This may sound a big harsh, but what’s the business plan? If you haven’t considered the longterm plan for how the app makes you money or meets your goal, you may be missing a core feature that needs to be in the app.

What’s the play? Should users be able to subscribe monthly to the app? Are there in-app purchases? Are there ads or messages from you or partners? How does a user give you valuable information such as their email address so you can reach out and tell them about your next rally for saving the rainforest? Does your app help you reach your goals?

Do you have a specific timeline in mind?

Do you have time pressures tied to your app? For instance, are you building an app that helps you create custom emojis that you’d like to release on the same week that the next Emoji Movie releases? Or do you have investors or stakeholders with expectations on when the app will be rolled out?

Based on the timeline, we may recommend what would be doable within your desired time window.

What other apps are your competition?

This question helps in a couple ways. Are you building an app that already exists? If so, what is your competitive advantage? If you’re building something different or better than someone else, how will that inform the features you’re wanting?

If you do have competition, what do they do that you also want to do? One advantage to not being the first on the scene, is that you don’t have to re-invent the wheel. You can likely glean from others what is already working in your space.

How fleshed out is the design?

Do you need a designer? Or is everything already mocked up? If you need some help with the ideation phase, we can help figure out a plan. Knowing how far along you are in this step will inform how long the process may take.

What devices will be able to run your app?

On what devices will your app be able to run? Can it only run on iPhones? Or just on Android phones? Both? What about tablets? Should the app look different for users using larger screen sizes? The answers to these questions greatly impact what needs to be built.

What other technology will accompany the app?

  • Do you also need a website?
  • Does an API need be built so that the app can access the data it needs?
  • Do you need an interface that allows you to edit or see user details?
  • Do you need analytics about the app so you can see reports of how people are using it?

Bingo!

If you have the answer to 5 of these you’re off to a great start. Keep going. If you don’t have all the answers, that’s totally fine. We can help you think through all of the questions above. These are just some introductory questions we often cover so we can start to figure out the size of your project.

Reach out when you’re ready to figure out your app’s next steps!


Sep
29

Working with Us

  • Posted By : Jennifer Bennett/
  • 0 comments /
  • Under : App Advice, Business, Coding, Design

How does this whole thing work? Head to Hand. Brain to Phone. Lightbulb to Lightning Cable?

If you already have an idea of how building “apps” works then you’re most likely coming into the office with all your information ready and questions answered. However if you’re not really sure about how the idea gets from your head to the phone – we would like to give a little rundown of our process.

First. We discuss the idea.
There are two questions that need to be answered before any work can begin. First, what problem does this app solve? Secondly, who is the app for? If you don’t have solid and concise answers to these questions, you’re in for a whole lot of frustration and financial pain down the road. When you’re a month into development, and much too close to the project to remember where you started, you’ll love being able to go back and see if your new questions fit your initial value proposition. Yes? Great. No? Leave it. Knowing what you’re building prevents scope-bloat and allows for marketing/pitch success.

200-5

Second. We refine the idea.
Once we know what we’re building and for who, we sit down with our UX expert to refine features. You need a calendar app – great. Does the calendar need to send meeting invites? Do you need to see detailed listings or just high level? Do you want the views to be changeable (daily, weekly, monthly). Will the calendar send push notifications? What about having multiple calendars? As you can see requesting “a calendar” can have a lot of options.

We are here to show you what is ideal for your app and its users, what is possible, and what is cost efficient. When you say you want a house – is it this? or this?

screen-shot-2016-09-29-at-3-48-06-pm

During the ideation process we build wireframes. Wireframes are individual screen plans for all of the app’s features. The final wireframes allow us to give you a really strong idea of scope and timeline for development and serve as the app’s architectural plans. Without building wireframes we could guess at a feature list like “calendar, menus, list of cats” but it could easily fluctuate depending on what your interpretation of that feature really means (see the “houses” above).

Third. We design and test with real live users.
We take the wireframes and lay design on top. We will get a feel for the design on the project not only from who the targeted users are but also the brand and goals of the product. We do this in several ways – looking at competitors, apps the client likes, and making pinboards (yes, they’re useful for more things than your mom’s craft projects). We also place the design in a prototyping tool, Invision, where testers can click and explore. Post-design/pre-development is the best time to make sure what you’ve built works well with your users. You’d be surprised what you learn.

giphy

After the design is approved and flows are optimized based on user testing, the assets are exported and ready for development.

Fourth. We get to coding.
Our developers take the wireframes, designs, and interaction instructions and build “user stories”. These stories compose the scope of the project. “A user can tap a login button to view a login screen” or “A user can tap “support” to bring up a completed email” or “A user can view a loading animation”. These user stories are the meat of the project. If a feature is not clearly specified in a user story the developer will not know what to build. Or really – we can make assumptions. But we all know what happens when you assume….

Many times while coding, there are additional choices to be made (how should this baby be built under the hood?). With code being broken into smaller user stories a client can come in at any time and re-prioritize tasks, leave notes on current tasks, or adjust the plan without affecting the past work or current schedule.

Fifth. We test and deliver the code.
During development, when a set of user stories are finished (similar user stories are grouped into Epics – ie. “onboarding”, or “settings”) they are tested and reviewed by other crew members. If everything looks great, it is sent to the client. We generally like to send “builds” of code to the client at least every two weeks.

200

Steps Four and Five on repeat.
Code. Review. Test. Code. Adjust. Review. Test. Adjust. Code. Code. Code. Review. Test.

Sixth. We publish the app.
When everything is ready for a current version – we push it to the app store. That doesn’t mean it magically appears in a user’s hands. Apple and Android once again review your code and make sure it is in working order for the user. After their approval, it is in the store ready to be downloaded, promoted, and used by your adoring fans.

200


Recent Posts
  • Copious Communication
  • Initial Questions for a New Mobile App Project
  • Gif TV: A LunarLincoln Product
  • Onboarding other peoples code
  • What’s in a name?
  • Don’t build it all. Picking a Platform.
  • Talk to your Users
  • Design for Fat Fingers
  • A new look
  • Hourglass for Jira
Archives
  • May 2021
  • September 2020
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • June 2019
  • April 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • October 2018
  • August 2018
  • June 2018
  • April 2018
  • January 2018
  • October 2017
  • August 2017
  • June 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • September 2016
  • July 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • July 2015
  • May 2015
  • February 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • September 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • December 2010
Categories
  • Agency
  • App Advice
  • Branding
  • Business
  • Business
  • CaseCollage
  • Coding
  • Design
  • Design
  • NSVille
  • Uncategorized
  • Web Design
Copyright LunarLincoln 2023. All Rights Reserved