Rigmond Quantrial
Rigmond Quantrial
Software projects tend to be started with design because it allows to assess the complexity and budget for development. Our goal is making design so intuitive that the user would understand and love it at first touch.
Sketches allow to understand the logic of your app. The better they are, the less time will be spent on the subsequent stages. Our design team has rich experience and knowledge of design guidelines for web & mobile platform.
Wireframes are the simplest black-and-white way to visualize design elements and their position on every screen. A clickable dynamic prototype can be tested as for usability. Static detailed mockups are valuable for further development.
Visualization showcases the richness of the interface in colours. We animate the design to show our developers the effects that your product will have. We focus on eliegant design which looks pleasant to eyes.
Effective UI/UX design is directed at needs, wishes, and limitations of end users. That's what you must keep in mind when you design a software product. It requires efforts at every design stage. Your software product must be optimized in the way users can, want, or must use it. They are not supposed to change their behavior to adapt to it.
Thus we formed the main principles of our approach to UI/UX design
The design phase in software development usually comprises 3 main parts:
We'd like to demonstrate them exemplified by a product named MDPlayer.
Creation of GUI design presupposes a strict sequence of these stages. The process can be adjusted according to the product owner's needs and tasks, depending on the goals of the project and available documentation. The cost of changes grows substantially with every stage.
One of the earliest stages of software development is business analysis, which provides fuller understanding of the future software product and target audience. It also allows to give fuller design estimates and accelerate the process.
The outcome of business analysis comprises three main documents
Project structure, goals and mission of the product, its promotion, detailed analysis of competitors on the market, unique value proposition, main functionality and description of the target audience. Product vision can be formed via a business model canvas, which helps the product owner fill in gaps, find strengths and weaknesses, and then design the product knowing the needs and demands of the end user. It is a great helper for the dedicated team that will create the product.
Supported devices, versions of browsers and operating systems, screen resolutions; security requirements; performance requirements; system resources, response time, speed of data processing, test specifications; usability requirements; localization requirements.
Short descriptions of the product's functionality from the user's point of view. As a rule, they are made up as follows: "As a, I want to so that."
Before the UI/UX design phase starts, project scope is created. It is the main input information that clarifies what the product owner wants to get, including the vision of the application; its capabilities; description of target audience; description and understanding of the limitations and resources required to accomplish the task. The document clarifies many important details that might otherwise either get neglected or completely overlooked.
Another important part of designing mobile apps is creating user personas. Persona is a generalized portrait of a certain user category, which is based on research and observation. Personas serve to check whether the software product corresponds to its goals. They help test it and understand how convenient it will be for the target audience. The better we know the audience, the better and faster we design a valuable application that will solve their problems.
This documentation helps to gather requirements for the future app more accurately. This in turn allows to estimate time and costs of UI/UX design in a fuller way. The efficiency of the team increases. It becomes easier to provide developers with tasks. Any mistakes become less probable.
Now let's proceed to graphical user interface development. Let's see how to design apps that win the love of their users.
Here is a perfect start for designing an app – sketches are created quickly and easily. Iterative exchange of ideas helps find the most advantageous solutions. Research on the target audience and development of the software product's concept are mainly carried out at this stage.
Goals
Communication, generation and exchange of ideas, creation of a rough logic model for the system, clarification of additional requirements.
Who can use?
Product owner, designer, business analyst.
What the product owner should do?
Participate in discussions, generate ideas for the future product, model situations of usage.
What the product owner should NOT do?
Neglect this design stage, approve raw ideas
What the product owner gets
Sketch-based prototype that clarifies principles of work and logic of interaction between main units (using such prototyping tools as POP and InVision), general understanding of the scope and required resources.
This is the structure of the future software product, which is created iteratively. The future appearance, set of interface elements and product logic are defined here. We put user interface design requirements together. This is the main stage of user interface design for mobile applications. It also includes a major part of UX design.
At this stage corrections are introduced, and it's important to determine how the product logic will be implemented, how the solution for users' tasks will be implemented. Understanding of the product's logic and architecture allows to define the necessity of additional research and choice of optimal technological solutions for the development. The logic of the product is tested by QA engineers: they check and consider user scenarios, correspondence with the needs and goals of the target audience, internal interaction logic and correspondence with the app design guidelines. Everything must be taken into account. The cost of changes will become extremely high after this stage.
At this stage a clickable dynamic prototype is created, which demonstrates the logic and UX of the future application. Easily perceived and understood, the prototype is a compelling way to present your software product to investors and beta users.
Goals
Creation of a working prototype that fully shows the logic and interface elements of the future product.
Who can use?
Product owner, designer, business analyst, developer.
What the product owner should do?
Discuss the logic and wireframes of the product, do research, introduce changes and test.
What the product owner should NOT do?
Neglect this design stage, change the product's concept.
What the product owner gets
Full understanding of the product logic, specification, opportunity to start backend development, partial estimate (made up for the product logic, which might include unclarified requirements: additional visual effects, animations, custom interface elements, etc.), sources (in AI and PSD formats), a prototype in InVision, list of all screens of the product, interrelations of modules and screens in the product.
Final stage: visualization and branding of the software product's interface elements. Here your application gains visual individuality. Animations can be designed in EDGE and After Effects environments. The cost of changes here is extremely high – the team gives a full estimate for development, based on the approved UI/UX design and project documentation.
It is important to involve a developer at this stage. This person must know how the product is going to work and look in order to estimate its implementation, as well as to suggest the least time-consuming ways of implementation that don't contradict the main goals and features of the product (for example, implementation of a standard interface element takes significantly less time than implementation of a custom element; however, the visual differences might be minimal and not affect the logic and how the product performs its tasks). Therefore, the existing time and budget limitations can be tackled in a more effective way.s
Goals
Visualization and branding of the product according to the product owner's demands and modern UI/UX design trends that engage users.s
Who can use?
Product owner, designer, developer.
What the product owner should do?
Decide on all the details, approve them, present their brand's visual style.
What the product owner should NOT do?
Introduce changes to the product logic, add/remove new modules and screens. These changes must have been introduced at the preceding stage.
What the product owner gets
Source in PSD format, a prototype in InVision, full understanding of the logic and appearance of the product, full estimate for development.
The visualization stage can be efficiently reduced with the help of a style guide. This is a file that contains all the unique elements and conditions of the interface elements, spaces and typeface sizes. This document helps avoid rendering all screens: wireframes and a style guide help the developer implement the UI/UX design of all the internal screens by template. This method is efficient within a tight schedule and/or template-based system of the product (there are 3-5 unique screens, while the remainder more or less resembles them visually). Style Guides are a great addition to visualized examples of 2-3 unique screens of the product.
At this stage it is possible to create a compelling video presentation of the application for investors.
Next comes a purely technical phase – preparation to implementation, slicing. This is a standard procedure that begins after the approved start of the development. Correct slicing means quality of interface development. Then everything follows the standard procedure: the UI/UX design will be implemented, the product will be delivered on time right into the hands of users, who in turn will leave feedback for further actions.
Now you can see the importance of every step and the exact value they bring. If there is no meticulously elaborated design, there are great risks of making the product inconvenient for the end user, making its logic too complicated and misguiding, and hindering further improvements by building a faulty logic initially. UI/UX design phase fixes requirements. The software product owner has full understanding of the logic and all the materials required for full estimation and start of development. What is no less important – the owner gets impressive materials for investors. Within a limited budget, it can be better to employ software outsourcing and invest in a great design than to start designing an app that will be uninteresting and useless for end users.
Contact us with any questions. Our expertise in UI/UX design phase for mobile apps—as well as all other phases of software product development—is always at your service!
The perfect design is a blend of visual individuality and smooth user experience. It's when you don't have to learn to use the app. That's the kind of design we create for you.
Design is an integral part of our full software development cycle. Our designers work closely with developers to achieve the best efficiency of work and its results for you. There is constant exchange of experience within our design team, and it's fully and professionally brought into your software product.
When you have design on hand, you will know:
Mid-development changes in design significantly increase costs. With us you save your budget and get a first-rate basis for your project.
-Aristotle
Rigmond Quantrial’s business values and shared standards are built around creating an environment of teamwork, fairness, security, integrity, dignity and respect, benefiting not only Clients, Stakeholders, Employees & Peers but also influencing the business environment we operate in. It is our firm belief that these objectives can only be achieved through mutual respect and cooperation.
45, NRI Nest,
Ashok Nandhavanam
Melmanambedu
Vellavedu
Chennai - 600124
info@rigmondquantrial.com