How Much Does It Cost to Design an App

In 2019, consumers spent $28 billion on mobile apps, and in 2020, the figure is even higher. The market is constantly growing, but not all applications go over well, justifying the money spent on them.

In order to make your app stand out from a large number of competitors' apps, you need to achieve high quality, select a good development team, and hire good designers. But how much can an app design cost?

This is the most common question when it comes to building applications. It is similar to the question "How much does it cost to buy a house?" You’ll get a wide variation in prices. But once you begin to understand exactly what kind of house you want, you get closer to the real cost.

In this article, we’re going to talk about the cost of an app design and find out what aspects affect it.

What Does App Design Involve?

Before talking about the app design cost, we need to consider what the design includes. In simple words, app design is what your potential users will actually see. But it's not just about your product appearance. It’s an important part of product development through which your app gains a system for functionality, usability, interaction, and all other aspects of user experience. In simple words, the design of the app specifies its overall style and usability.

Thus, app design takes into account almost all stages of development, except coding. Its cost depends on what the development process involves. It includes a wide range of tasks: research of potential users, competitor analysis, mobile app interface designs, icon and logo, and much more.

Mobile App Design Cost: Factors To Consider

Don’t think that a design team plucks the cost of a product out of the air.

Two criteria are important here: the designer’s level of professionalism and the functional complexity of the application. Needless to say, the price depends on the amount of work that needs to be done by the team. It directly depends on the number of screens, controls, device type, screen orientation modes, security, the number of languages ​​supported in the app, and much more. The more functionality the customers want, the more time and money they will need to spend on development. The app design process is really quite difficult. Sometimes a team of at least 6-7 specialists may be required.

The app design cost may also depend on the country in which the developer is located. Keep in mind that a high price doesn’t always mean high-quality work. It only indicates that the salaries of designers in various countries are very different.

What else can affect the cost of a design? Let’s dwell a bit on this.

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UI / UX design

First of all, an expert application designer must pay extra attention to UI / UX design.

User Interface or UI design is about aesthetics, color schemes, and about delivering a message to the customer. Plus, it includes screen layout, transitions, interface animations, and every micro interaction. Its task is to make a product manageable, attractive, and as easy to use as possible using certain graphic solutions.

User experience or UX design is responsible for the function, the adaptability of the product, and the emotions it evokes in users. User experience depends on various components: site architecture, graphic design, clear text, and responsiveness of the interface to specific user actions. Simply put, UX is the user's journey from point A to point B.

The clearer the interface is, the easier it is for the user to get the result and take the targeted action.

Choice of operating system

Keep in mind that you cannot develop your app identically for different platforms.

There are a huge number of Android gadgets out there, but if you want to lower the cost of Android app design, turn your attention to the newest and the most common ones. Otherwise, be prepared for additional expenses: the need to adjust your application design template for different Android devices requires both time and money.

There are very few device types running on the iOS platform, making it easier to design iPhone apps. The designers' job is to simply follow the clear instructions in the App Store. However, there are pitfalls here too. Standardized and boring apps are a common mistake for newbies. But experienced designers can offer a simple and creative solution suitable for any iOS device.

The number of screens

Designing each screen takes time. Therefore, the more screens a product has, the more time a designer will spend. The more features you’re going to implement in your product, the higher the price will be.

Minimalist style

Experts are guided by the “three clicks” rule. In other words, the app interface needs to be as simple and straightforward as possible. The goal is to ensure that the user makes the minimum number of actions to get the result as well as to focus on the content: remove visual noise, unnecessary information, and highlight significant elements. This task is more difficult than it might seem at first glance. Therefore, flat style is another aspect that influences the final cost of the application design.

Following recent trends

The world is changing, trends come and go, and app design is no exception. That's why expert designs always keep up with the latest trends in the market. And of course, an application design that meets all modern current requirements will cost more.

How Do We Estimate The App Design Cost?

At the beginning of the work, we give a rough estimate of the project based on our experience with similar projects. If it matches the client's expectations, we make a detailed estimate and specify the cost. There are three possible scenarios.

1. The customer fully understands what the project will be like. The customer has a ready-made business strategy, design, and budget plan. If we think that the design doesn’t require any improvements, we provide the exact cost.

2. The customer has a good functional description of the project, but no design. In such a case, we need to conduct pre-project analytics and prototyping. Before that, we can provide the app design cost with an error of 10%.

3. The customer has a rough description of the project, without a complete understanding of the target audience and verified business hypotheses. We can only evaluate the first stage of work – pre-project analytics and prototyping. Before that, we can only give an approximate cost for large blocks of the project.

The final app design cost depends on detailing and analytics requirements, engineering and design, development, testing, and management. This circle is repeated until the project is considered complete. The release is not the endpoint of the work, but only its beginning. You should be ready for long-term cooperation with the development team.

This article provides only rough guidelines for price formation. Each task is unique and requires careful study and evaluation. Sign up for a free consultation with Yojji specialists, and we’ll help you to more accurately determine the design cost of your app.