How to estimate an app design cost?
When it comes to building an app, one of the first questions the startup founder wants to clear up is what is an adequate cost for app design. Before we will continue talking about the issue let’s define what features design of mobile solutions includes. It’s a delusion to perceive app design as just a set of visual ingredients. This part is named UI design. Apart from graphic presentation, app design presupposes creation of architecture of the product: assignment of connections between different functions and building the order in their work.
So an app requires UI and UX design development. Let’s consider what factors impact app design cost.
The most significant are two:
- 1) How much time will it take to create an app design?
- 2) What is the hourly rate of a design team or freelancer?
Multiply these figures, and you’ll see the approximate budget of design works for your project.
How to access the complexity of design and estimate the time it requires?
It’s determined by the particularity of your business idea. If it’s very complicated and tangled it will have a lot of functions as well as screens. It means a whole bunch of work for UI UX designers. If you dream of something unique, for example, illustrations from scratch, it will cost even more. And often significantly.
And otherwise. If there’s a clear idea with a pair of core functions it leads to definition in terms of design: a pair of screens with simple functions. Here you can cut corners with a budget for design. But let us warn you. Sometimes design can be simple and clear. But realization of the app in the back end (its functional part) can turn out to be sophisticated and as a result costly.
That’s why the best way to understand the specificity of your project is to communicate with different professional teams and find out approximate estimations of your future product. Having enough different points of views you can take your bearings like a house on fire.
What an approximate cost of app design can be?
If you caught the thought the cost of app design can essentially vary due to its originality, soleness and complexity. For example, there are two types of design you can order: custom or native.
- Custom design is always more expensive than native due to its unusualness and originality. But following exclusivity it’s too common to lose limits of UX design requirements.
- Native design presumes to follow guidelines of definite platforms. Though there’s a tough space for experiments in design and frameworks, for the first product it’s a better solution as far as it is easier and quicker to work with and as a result it’s cheaper.
So it’s possible to predict how much money will it take to create app design leaning on its core features.If there are a few screens with opportunity to use templates and clear logic in architecture, the app design is simple. Its cost will start from 3000$. The average complexity app design includes more features, roles and screens and charges as much as 10000$ and more. The average cost of app design for unique sophisticated products (with animation and other tricks) turns around 30000$.
How to get a high-fidelity app design at a lower price
As you remember from previous information, the app design cost is based on the quantity of work hours that the list of tasks requires and amount of money that specialist accounts to get per hour of work. But the last parameter is very changeable. It may seem unbelievable but the price of the same app design can differ by six times! Everything due to differences in hourly rates.
Since this feature depends on the location and type of design specialists it makes sense to hold a research of the situation.
If you hire an in-house team, it traditionally is the most expensive way to create something. Outsourcing design companies and freelancers can help you save the lion’s share of the budget. Don’t forget to think of the back end and following stages of project development.
During your market research you can discover a real lifesaver. We are talking about offshore outsourcing companies. As far as hourly rates in different countries can differ by 100, 200, 600%, startup founders are eager to choose the most captivating variant of cooperation. For example, the app design which costs 5000-6000$ in South Asia, will cost about 12000$ in Western Europe and almost 50000$ in the USA.
Asia is attractive with its low prices. But don’t hurry up and look around. Let’s have a look at what kind of underwater rocks you can face during this journey. There are some common things that turn into problems while you work with the cheapest specialists: different cultural background and due to it some misconceptions; lower level of qualification as far as the educational centers are in Europe and the USA; inconvenient time zones; poor communication caused by poor language skills and so on.
A solid balance between cost and quality of app design you can find if you learn Eastern Europe app design market. But be aware. Every case is individual. Check portfolio, read reviews and after that get in touch with a design team which you sympathize with.
How to get a stylish app design
One of the common mistakes when it comes to getting a catchy, juicy design is “cooking” something like a salad of beetroot. Too many colors, too many elements that leads to the chaotic impression.
In the article written by Purrweb you can find samples of such kinds of app design and to learn more about the design cuisine.
Sometimes there is no sense to reinvent the wheel and sidetrack UX design rules. Intending to create an alluring app design, select only a few colors that harmonize with each other and reflect the idea of the project by symbolic language. Leave your app designer the space for creativity: the work will go with higher productivity if you’re flexible.
So the essential thing that determines app design success is your ability to find educated and experienced professionals you think you have the same vibe and you can trust to.
