For, To answer this question, we must understand, of what really is the application development design. Someone may say, that the application is a harmonious combination of shapes and colors. others say, that the application, Firstly, This market research, and they will be right, too,.
A source: http://www.archer-soft.com/en/blog/how-much-does-it-cost-design-app
The fact, that the development of mobile application design is a complex process, which is not limited to operation of one skilled. It includes a number of stages from market research to A / B testing of the final draft. Each stage has its own scale of values, depending on the complexity of the application. This is the reason, why the cost of mobile applications can be very different from project to project.
The main defining characteristic of the prices for mobile applications is the cost of man-hours. In the US, the average cost of man-hours developing a mobile application design is $100-120. For Europe, this value is $50-100 h. Final price is based on this value, multiplied by time, you need to develop applications.
Usually, when it comes to development time, it can be divided into four parts – stages of development. These steps:
Research and analysis;
Concept and prototyping;
Design development;
Testing.
Let us consider each step and possible cost.
Research and analysis
This phase should be completed prior to the development of prototypes. What exactly is this stage? Market analysis and research of competitors. Designers analyze market niche, in which the mobile app will work, current trends and developments in the field of design. Besides, the project team analyzes the top 5 competitors' products. interface Solutions, the design features of the user interface, easy to use components – this is an incomplete list of parameters, which must be analyzed in the products of competitors.
audience analysis. Professional designers always try to put yourself in the shoes of users. “Good, we have developed this icon. Can we place it right here? What will happen, if we change its location? How will the application, if we remove it?” We are talking about user experience.
Brainstorm. Designers and developers spread all ideas, associated with the project. This step is similar to the analysis of audience, because here you need to explore all possible cases users.
Usually, research and analysis phase takes about 40-45 man hours. However, this value can also vary depending on, many developers have a level of work on the project.
Concept and prototyping
At this stage, the team is the basic concept of the design and build a prototype. Designers gather the best ideas and on this basis develop a prototype. The next step is a UX design. It's all about usability, remember? The prototype will be tested on the target group of people, so that developers will be able to collect feedback and make some adjustments to the project.
Why testing is so important at the stage of prototyping? Very simple. Testing saves the client money. spending time (and money) testing the prototype, developers will be able to reduce the cost of resources 10 or more times in the future.
Regarding the timing of the development, prototyping phase will take about about 80-90 man hours.
design
it, certainly, the most time-consuming part of the entire design process. Usually, This stage takes about 250 man hours. At this point, almost all of the work already done by the designer. Its mission is, to implement existing ideas into reality with the help of various tools (Developers can even use graphic design applications for this purpose). For, to tell the story through the application forms and colors. story, be easy, plausible and understandable to the user.
This story should also convey the brand values, show all its strengths and inform the user, how an application can solve his problem (each product in each market was developed to solve a particular problem, and the mobile application is no exception).
In addition to the forms and colors, add animations and transitions for all design models. purpose – in creating a movement from within the app. It must be harmonious and at the same time the native.
Testing
Professionals always make multiple versions of the same element. Sometimes the number of these versions may be up to 10 or even 15, when it comes to expensive and complex products. “10 versions of” It means extra time – it can sometimes take several days, to develop a single icon. But as a result of, we get the best design solution, which was also tested on the target audience. At this stage, we add an extra 50 man-hours in total development time.
Now let's count, how much it costs to develop the application design in general.
The cost of mobile application design
It should be noted, that the more complex application, the more time developers have to spend on the project design. Developers need less time to develop a simple application. Why do we want to emphasize this? There is a small trick.
Before you start designing, note, how much time the development team say they will need to complete the project. As we have said, Design huge project takes at least 200 hours. If you are told, that the full design project takes 70 hours, then you need to consider the company's portfolio in detail, as well as seek the advice of a third party. Now let's move to the calculation of prices.
Talking about the design of simple applications, developers need about 90 hours, to complete all four phases. This is equivalent to $4500 (man-hours at the rate of $50). Usually, These applications are designed for a specific platform (IOS or Android) and have a standard set of elements.
Otherwise, the creation of a more complex design of mobile applications will take about 150 – 170 man hours, and it will have additional transitions between screens, great content and a variety of functions. This time equivalent $7000 – 8000.
AND, finally, to develop a top application from scratch, designers need to spend 300 hours or more. The development of such applications worth about $15000 (and higher). The most important reason, why the development of such applications is so expensive – наличие кросс-платформенности. This significantly affects the final cost.
However, complex applications is not very popular. Despite, they provide a lot of opportunities for users, developers are still trying to find simple solutions for applications. Developing a simple application takes less time, resources, and it will be easier to make adjustments in the future.
