A brilliant idea is hardly the raw material for great and viable application development. It is simply the most common occurrence in the world for people to wake up with a fantastic idea to build an application around it.
As much as you should go ahead with your passion with all due adherence to the ideas that you have, the more important thing is that you do it the right way.
There needs to be a well-established system around your application development. Even though your application’s intricacies may vary, the blueprint of the step-by-step guide to developing your application will look the same and somewhat as follows-
1- Put a pin on the idea-
To have a general idea is one thing and to break down that idea into specific functions is a whole different thing.
Once you have a spark to develop an application that ‘helps with fitness’, you have to answer the following questions.
- How does it help people with fitness?
- Who does it help?
- Does it provide guidance or monitor activities?
- Is it a single-access application or is it interactive?
You have to ask enough questions and thrive to answer them so the application no longer looks like an abstract idea, but a complete product in your head.
PC- 99designs
2- Master the market-
In a world with a gazillion applications launching per day, please do not proceed in isolation.
Before you even fund your product, analyze the market and keep an unbiased and open mind while you are at it.
Research your market, the existing products that serve the same purpose as yours, and profits that they cap, and the general pricing range within similar products.
When you are done learning about the market, ask these very important questions-
‘What is it that the market needs but does not have?’
‘Is there a problem I can solve with my product that no one else is solving?’
‘If I had access to all my competitor’s products, why would I still choose the said app?’
These questions and their answers will get you really close to making a product that is worth your time and money.
PC- LivePlan
3- The W in ‘WOW’ is Wireframe. (Also applicable vise-versa)
A wireframe is like the most crucial blueprint of your application. This is where the work really starts.
Once you have opined the idea and studied your market, you will now work directly on the application.
What it looks like, how heavy it must be, what the interface is going to be like, the design, the coding intricacies, layout, etc.
The wireframe is not only important so you can start the work, but also because it is important collateral if you still have to negotiate funds with an investor.
Think of this as making your application with clay before you get a chance to make it come true.
PC- Decode
4- Platform and development
Once the layout is laid, it is time to move to the big exciting leap.
Begin with determining the platform for your application and there are generally three options available. Your application can be a native app, a cross-platform (hybrid) app, or HTML5.
PC- Kintone Blog
Once done, you can now start coding the application and literally build it into existence. Do expect the development stage to last longer than you initially expect.
Later, run your application through a usability test and modify it until it passes.
As your final takeaway from this article, use the quote ‘What may be simple, might not be easy.’
Developing and owning an application is an ongoing process where your application and you learn, improvise, modify and evolve time and again.
