How Much Does It Cost To Design An App?

Your app design is the very first thing a visitor will see. It is the most vital element of your app’s success. It significantly influences driving traffic, generating leads, turning them into customers, and the return-on-investment rate. It is essential to design the app in keeping with modern trends while preserving its integrity. The app needs to look fresh and new. A perfectly designed app invokes immediate interest, and just like that, the better app design attracts significantly more users than a poorly designed one.People often think it is easy to create a good app design, while it is among if not, the most challenging part of the app development process. Great design is about the big picture that incorporates several small images. It is a skill that takes years to master.A professional designer analyzes the latest trends and create a design according to the app idea. They also have in-depth knowledge of mobile-friendly design and elements that can make or break the user experience.You must have seen articles titled “top design trends in 2020” and similar ones. Experts compile these trend charts every year. Meaning design trends are continually evolving. Mobile apps have a challenge as users don’t have time to master a complicated interface; the app with the most intuitive design always comes on top.

A great mobile app design must have the following elements:• Intuitive• Easy to interact• Ensure maximum value• Use the least possible inputsTo understand what your target audience needs, you will need to put in time and effort. Once you figure out what they want, you will have to deliver it, which is not an easy feat, considering app design require specialized knowledge that one can only accumulate from years of experience. To provide the full value product to your customers, you will need to hire a specialist to get the work done. Once you have decided to hire a professional, you might start to wonder how much would that cost? And what should you take into account when considering the best option? By reading further, you will get an idea about the app design cost and where you can get the best deal.

How much will it cost to design an app in different parts of the world?You might get confused about how different companies estimate the design cost of a mobile app. However, it is much simpler than it seems. Typically, the amount is the designer’s hourly rate multiplied by the number of hours required for making the app. The following are the hourly rates for hiring specialists across the globe:

US and Canada-$50–$200 per hour

Australia-$50–$150 per hour

Western Europe-$35–$170 per hour

Eastern Europe (including Ukraine)-$20–$50 per hour

India- $10–30 per hour

These are the prevailing rates for getting your app built. However, you might find significantly cheaper or costlier companies, but it is best to steer clear of them because they might not provide you the service you need.The best thing about app design is your locale does not limit you. You can go to an outsourcing company for the desired top-quality service at a reasonable price. Overseas companies can provide quality service at lower rates because of the difference in the cost of living and tax rates in their countries. Lower prices are not an indication of the general competence levers of designers. You will often find the best designers working in these outsourcing companies, who produce the products that stand out from all the competition.

What goes into an app design cost?The best feature of a great design is to solve a particular problem. When setting out to build a mobile app, it is crucial to allocate the figure out the issues that your app has to deal with once it gets finished.To find out the problem, you need to begin by doing research, which is the initial step of the design creation process. Data Collection and analysisAt this initial stage, the primary purpose is to figure out what the customers want, what options are available in the market to satisfy their needs, and how you can make a better product than available ones.To figure out all this, you need to research the following:

• Market trends• Target audience• CompetitorsProper research will give you a clear vision of current opportunities in your chosen niche. It will also provide you with insights into user behaviour, their needs, and motivations that will help you appeal to customers.Various factors influence the design cost; among them are the app’s complexity and chosen platform. In some instances, the designing process might take 15% more time for Android than for iOS.Estimated Time – 20 to 40 hours.

What do you get?• Clear goals• Audience definition• Use cases• Realistic behavioural scenarios• User stories

PrototypingIt is the stage where UX and UI beings to take shape. During this process, designers validate concepts, develop a workflow, and perform testing. Prototyping is a step-by-step procedure that needs to be repeated serval times to achieve the most elegant and functional design for the target audience.You might think that this stage can drive up your project cost with all the repetitive steps. However, it saves both money and time you have to spend if things go wrong once your app gets published.Once the prototyping is complete, the entire team developing your app will have all the variables to make the best possible design. With the information gathered from prototyping, designers can avoid unnecessary UI changes, adding additional costs to the plan.The number of screens, different screen sizes, app development platform, user requirements are the factors that can add to the cost.Estimate time – 40 to 80 hours

What do you get?• Wireframe of app screens• User flow diagrams• Interactive prototypes

UI DesignThe app’s look and feel are complete at this stage, including proper color selection, building shapes, and typographic communication implementation. Perfect design tells a story when a user moves from one screen to the other. UI design is the stage where the final product design, including all branding elements, icons, and images, come together.The visual design presents how the product works when a user interacts with it. Designers render all the screens and organize all the elements according to the agreed prototype. It is vital to create a product that looks and feels pleasant and easy to understand. To achieve this, you will need experienced and creative designers.Estimate time – 80 to 200 hours

What do you get?• Final app design• Logos• Icons• Screenshots for app stores

How much does it cost to design an app?Now that you know most of the factors influencing the design cost. Let us consider all of these and calculate app design cost according to the designer’s hourly rate, number of platforms, and app complexity. App design for Android might cost a bit more than the one for iOS. With the knowledge of hourly rates, the app complexity factor is the only thing left to determine the cost of designing an app.Usually, designers divide apps into three tiers based on complexity: Basic MediumComplexAccording to available data, $30 is the average rate per hour, so when calculating the cost of different app types according to this rate, you will get the following result.Basic-These are the apps containing design elements for only one platform with standard UI elements.A primary application needs about 100 hours to build and thus costs about $3,000.Medium-An app with medium complexity contains multiple screens, well-designed complex interactions, and numerous contents used in the app by the user.The medium complexity app requires a budget of nearly $6000.Complex-There aren’t many complex apps in existence. Mostly you can find primary and medium complexity apps. Typically, companies build complex apps for multiple platforms. Complex apps with custom animations might need 400 hours to develop, putting their cost at more than $12,000.

TakeawayAs it is apparent, the average app design cost can vary from $3000 for a primary app to up to $6000 for an app with medium complexity based on the hourly rate. Though all the calculations are approximate, these are not far off from the real world. Different companies and designers offer their services for various prices, so it is essential to bear that in mind when choosing the suitable app designers. The design is the most crucial part of your app’s success. A terrible design choice will push users away from the first screen. An attractive design will garner positive reviews, high traffic and help propel your app to popularity.So, to transform your idea into a reality with a beautiful and engaging app, you need to start investing in your app from day one.

Thankyou…