How Much Does It Cost To Design a Mobile App? (Full Breakdown)

Introduction:

Keeping users stuck to your mobile app is a difficult job. Recent research claims that 90% of users close the app due to bad UI/UX. 28% of users uninstall the apps within the first 30 days if the app is not up to the mark in terms of speed and design. Statista research shows that 97% of revenue for the mobile app market comes from free app downloads. Users engage with paid apps more as they have paid money for it hence it's important to deliver a top-notch user experience to ensure users feel their investment is worthy.

If you are looking for the simple and perfect answer for How Much Does it Cost to Design an App? Then this article is worth reading till the end. This article discusses important factors of app design, and useful tips to save cost on the app and will help you to carry your development process professionally to complete app design at an affordable price.

Why is Design an Important Part of Mobile Apps?

Your conversion rate is directly connected to the UI/UX of the app. A well-designed and appealing app design is very important to give your brand image a heavy look and stand stronger from competitors. When your app has a seamless user experience, users will actually love using your app which will result in higher retention and build a loyal customer base.

What Is The Design Process For An App?

1. Investigate The App's Business And Technical Aspects

The application designer and business analyst explore a specific niche in the market during the Discovery stage, which allows them to look at mobile app design concepts from numerous perspectives. Understanding the market scenario aids in determining the main strong and weak points of competing applications, as well as how these issues might be addressed later in the application process.

They can choose the techniques to help them move forward with the decision-making process of how to build an application after completing the research and analysing the most recent mobile application interface design trends.

The team is now preparing a project mind map and a product backlog with complete functionality. All of these materials will be used in the development of a mobile application.

2. Designing For The User Experience

Prototyping, often known as mobile UX configuration, is one of the most significant mobile app design services available during the development process. This may include a basic framework drawing or the creation of UX wireframes directly, depending on the project's complexity. This has an impact on the total cost of the prototype.

Let's look at some additional details regarding what goes into building an app's user experience.

• UX Wireframes
• UX wireframes with native UI elements 
• Sketches

3. Design of the Visual

Visual design is all about interacting with users, and it's one of the best ways to explain your product's idea and solve problems through visual arrangements. UI mockups are based on UX wireframes and represent the stylistic design of an application, allowing it to stand out from the crowd and create a unique application design.

4. Branding

Another important aspect of mobile app interface design is branding, which includes the creation of logos, text styles, and brand representations. The process of branding begins with the construction of a mood board and then progresses to the design of a logo.

5. Animations and illustrations

Illustrations, which are mostly created with Adobe Illustrator CC, aid in conveying the concept of a mobile app function or a general app idea. These graphics might be in a variety of styles, but they should always match the app's general design concept. The time it takes to create a single illustration varies depending on the intricacy, stylistic concept, and feature to be addressed, among other factors. The most effort and time goes into creating illustrations that depict people and unique characters.

What are the Top Factors that Affect App Design Costs?

Below are five factors that also add up to the app design cost. They are as follows:

1. Type of Design (Custom or Native)

There are mainly two types of app design i.e. custom or native. Both platforms have different procedures, tools, and services to use hence it will impact cost in many ways. If you are going for native app design, you need to follow the strict design guidelines. Native app design is an affordable option as it comes with pre-built templates and is easier to implement the app design.

If your requirement is a unique and visually stunning design, then custom design works best. This type of app design requires building from scratch with suitable resources and technologies. Hence it's time-consuming, a little bit pricey but worth it if you want to create a stand-out app design in this competitive market.

2. Team Type and Location

Every designer is talented in their own way. Team type and location also decide your quality of work. Let's take an example, there is a difference between the design created by an Indian designer and a UK designer. Hence the overall cost of your app design also depends on the type of team you hire with specific experience and its location. Freelancers or going with an out-sourcing option can be more reliable as compared to hiring an in-house expert.

3. Features Complexity

Understand the simple logic, the app with basic design functionalities will be less costly while the app design which is custom-made from scratch and needs specific animations and complex UI/UX requirements might be expensive and a bit time-consuming.

On the other side, things like in-app purchases, and social media integrations might add up to total app cost.

4. App complexity

App complexity can be divided into three categories basic, average, and high. Basic apps are just apps with few interactive elements and no animation. For example: alarms, notification apps, calculators, and more.

Average app design includes a native look and feel and requires following Google guidelines. for eg: WhatsApp or any other basic chat application.

High-complexity apps like Netflix, Prime Video, or shopping apps include high-fi animations and transitions, this also needs to work on multiple screens like TV, laptop, mobile, and many more.

5. Visuals, illustrations, and Animations

Interactive visual elements and animations make the app more interactive that are responsive and functioning. Apart from icons, images, or logos, they are visual elements used to provide users with an easy app-using experience something like sliding up and down, easy navigation, etc.

Development Process that Impacts App Design Cost

The design and development processes are connected to each other. You must start your app with a well-planned development process. Below are the development processes necessary for a good design process to achieve the best UI/UX of the app.

1. Research

Research is the first and most important step before you jump to app design. This includes research about problems, market analysis, audience analysis, how can the app problem be solved, how much it will cost, and many more things. Overall it's about preparing a complete plan from start to end and understanding how the app design will impact user experience and overall cost to run it successfully.

2. Wireframing

Wireframing refers to creating a visual rough sample of the app with its general functionality and interface. It is not like the actual app but it gives an overall idea to the developer about how the app needs to be looked at and how the functionalities and features are to be integrated. This can also be used for testing purposes.

3. Prototyping

UI/UX prototyping is the next step after wireframing which is close to actual app design.  This helps to reduce the errors in the app by allowing the developers to test the functionality.

Mobile app prototyping includes various categories like low-fidelity prototypes, high-fidelity prototypes, mobile UI and UX designs. All categories and types of tests contribute to the overall app design cost.

4. Development and Testing

Based on the wireframes and prototypes, developers will create an app design and test it across various platforms like IOS, Android, and the web and also ensure whether the interface, color schemes, fonts, and other functionalities align with the brand values.

Developers also take user feedback to be more accurate before the final launch of the design. 

5. Final Design Launch

This stage is the final launch of the design, once your client has seen and approved all components of the app design, it's ready to launch.

How Much Does It Cost To Design An App?

Let's talk about the financial side of mobile app design, also known as the App Designing Cost Breakdown, now that we've addressed the requirement and stages of app design.

The cost of app design is mostly determined by three factors: the app's complexity, the cost of app design in each nation, and the platforms on which it will be released. Let's take a closer look at each component that contributes to the cost of an app prototype.

The appearance and operation of platforms such as Android and iOS varies. While an Android application must be compatible with many resolutions and formats, this is not the case with iOS in order for everything to be completed. This is why the cost of designing an Android app is more than that of designing an iOS app.

App Design Costs for Android vs iOS

Although the cost of an app prototype does not differ significantly between iOS and Android apps, there are certain variances.

Because of the strict store requirements, there was a period when iOS app UI and UX designers used to charge, but that has changed.

As a result, the cost of iOS vs. custom app design has been reduced to the number of platforms and device type.

Let's Take A Look At It From The Standpoint Of The Ios App Design Cost Calculator:

Only for iPhone — Designers do not need to generate images specifically for retina display in the entry models. As a result, the estimated design cost is between $3,000 and $10,000.

iPhone 6 Plus and after — Creating apps for iPhone 6 and later adds 25% to the price. These gadgets have retina displays, which necessitate high-resolution data, which come at an additional expense.

iPad - The cost of designing an iPad app increases by 50%. They demand not only high resolution, but also product design solutions in order to match the speed and quality requirements.

The Cost Of Developing A Mobile App Is Determined By The Complexity Of The App

Whether we're talking about the cost of mobile app UI design or the cost of mobile app development, there are three levels of complexity to consider when estimating the cost of app UI UX design.

Apps That Are Easy To Use:

These are programmes with no more than three screens and very few animations or interactive design components. This category includes apps like calculators and alarm clocks. These apps aren't frequently created to address the needs of certain platforms because they look the same on all displays.

Apps With A Medium Level Of Complexity:

These apps make use of a variety of interactive components and animations, as well as many screens. They are often built separately for Android and iOS platforms, and they are made to match the platform's native appearance and feel, relying primarily on Human Interface design guidelines and Google Material design concepts.

The majority of the apps you use on a daily basis, such as WhatsApp and Uber, are examples of medium complexity apps.

Apps With A High Level Of Complexity:

These are applications that rely heavily on design to accomplish their goals. Many animations and transitions are utilised to assist users in moving from one screen to the next and eventually converting into a regular user.

These programmes make extensive use of screens and frequently work on several screens, all of which necessitate a device-centric native UI design.

Cost of UI Design for Mobile Apps by Country

Because of the varied types of mobile app designing tools utilised by each of them or the different processes of working, the work completed while maintaining the same quality may differ substantially between a designer in the United States and a designer in India.

For example, a designer in a UI design firm in the United States would charge $200 per hour, whereas a designer in an eastern country might price around $80 to $100 per hour on average.

How to Save Money on Mobile App Design?

Well, there are many other ways to save money on mobile app design. Below are some tips you must give a try.

• Prioritize the main features of the app

Cutting on unnecessary features and functionality is the smartest move you can take to save app design prices. Focus on the things that are important and that actually add value to your app.  Try the MVP model and only design and develop what users want in the app. This will also prevent the use of unnecessary resources and time.

• Develop cross-plateform compatible app

Cross-compatible apps are the best option because of their single code base. You can code once and deploy an app for iOS and Android both at the same time without extra resources and tools. You can use Flutter and React native platforms and use their pre-built components to fulfill basic needs and save the app cost.

• Hire a mobile app development company or outsource the design part

Look for the companies that are offering reliable Mobile app development services around you. You can outsource or hire mobile app developers to fulfill your specific design requirements on a temporary basis. You can easily find a wide range of talented experts online at a budget-friendly price.

• Make scalable and future-proof app

If your business is constantly changing and if you think the app will need other upgrades and feature additions, implement scalable features and use flexible technologies that are easy to scale horizontally and vertically. Hence this will prevent you from spending future expenses and changing in the same code, using the same tools.

Why can Manektech be Your One-stop Design Solution for Mobile Apps?

At Manektech, we offer end-to-end app development and design solutions to our worldwide clients.  Whether you want to hire Android app developers or hire ios app developers, we can be your one-stop solution for the best Mobile app development services. Our team is well-versed in using the latest technologies and follows best design practices to turn your dream app into reality.

With years of expertise, we not only design visually appealing but also user-friendly and functional apps. Moreover, our team takes care of everything from initial wireframing and prototyping to post-launch app support.

Wrapping Up

Hope you find this article useful and get your answer about how much does it cost to design a mobile app. The design quality of your product could make or break its success. As a result, investing in its development is critical. If the design is unattractive, the app will be despised, resulting in low traffic, negative reviews, and a low return on investment.

ManekTech recognizes the importance of treating each client as an individual. We endeavor to provide our clients with the best solution possible to fulfill their specific needs. If you have a concept for a product that combines good functioning with a pleasing appearance, please contact us. We'd be pleased to speak with you about your app concept.