MOBILE APPLICATION
DEVELOPMENT
Lecture 6: Mobile Application
Development Recap
Course Lecturer: Menard Phiri,
Dept of CSIT, MUST
LESSON OUTLINE
Concept development
Outlining the app
Design considerations and platforms
Budget development
Programming
Graphic design
Submission, approval and updates
Common pitfalls
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CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT
Identify the purpose of the application (“app”).
What will the app do?
● Specify the minimum functionality. Will the app
perform a specific task and/or deliver
information?
● Most apps do one thing and do it well.
● Avoid overly complex functionality.
Example: The “The Plant Doctor” app provides
interactive diagnosis for plant health problems. Users
submit text and photographs to assist the diagnosis.
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CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT
Identify the intended users of the app.
Who will use the app?
● What is the target audience?
● Is the app free or for payment?
Example: Users of “The Plant Doctor” app include:
Farmers, gardeners, homeowners, landscape
professionals, County Agents, plant quarantine
workers, professionals, and scientists.
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CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT
Different types of audiences
Children
Adults
Various levels of education
Various levels of expertise
Types of devices: Android versus iPhone
Nationalities: Language, translations
Your app and its design should appeal to and serve your 5
target audiences: appearance, colors, functions, tasks
CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT
Specify the device(s) to which the app will be
delivered
The choices determine the programming language
and coding
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CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT
Memory and space considerations
App size is limited only by the space available on a
device.
There is no recommended size for apps.
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CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT
Name the app
The app name should accurately reflect the
function of the app
The app name should be unique, if possible, and
not replicate the names of other apps.
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OUTLINING A DRAFT OF THE APP
Create a draft step chart: Identify each thing the
app will do, in a stepwise fashion
Create a draft page chart: Sketch and compose
the appearance of various pages
Specify the graphics and navigation buttons
needed for the app functions
Specify the outputs and calls
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DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
Design the app for fingers (not for a mouse)
● 44 x 44 pixels for buttons
● 6 buttons maximum per width of screen
(smart phone)
TEXT INPUT: People do not like to type, so keep
typing at a minimum
TEXT OUTPUT: People generally do not like to read,
so keep text at a minimum unless your app is
designed primarily to deliver information in text
format.
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BUDGET DEVELOPMENT
Self-programmed versus Contracted programming
Apple (iTunes): programming language = iOS
Google (Android): programming language = Java
Before budget development: Prepare detailed requirement
documents (what the app does). Prepare a detailed use case
document (describe each functionality of the app)
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PROGRAMMING
How much will it cost to develop the app?
1. Personal vs. contract development
2. By hour or by project development. Costs per
hour vary among countries ($15-20 for India: $50-
60 for USA; $100 for USA technical)
Example: “The Plant Doctor” app development and
deployment cost 80 hours (at the US rate) for each
platform (iOS and Android), for a total cost of
$9,600.00 ($4,800.00 for each platform).
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PROGRAMMING
They contracted the following companies for
the development of “The Plant Doctor” app.
App development company:
• Adelante Consulting (Canada)
• www.adelante.ca
Graphics design company:
• AQUASoft (Romania), normally only does large jobs
• http://aquasoft.ro/
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PROGRAMMING
Sample pages from the Apple Developers
programming software environment appear on the
following screens.
Remember: Developing an app is writing a
program using a specific programming language
suited for a particular device.
Therefore, a developer should be familiar with the
software and the programming language.
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PROGRAMMING
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PROGRAMMING
Example:
The requirements and the use case documents for
the “Wordissimo” app appear on the following
screens.
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PROGRAMMING
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PROGRAMMING
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PROGRAMMING
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GRAPHIC DESIGN
Appearance of the app is very important and
should be a high priority, with sufficient budget
provided for graphics
Graphic design is best done professionally
Costs:
• Romania = $200 to $300 per screen
• USA = $500 per screen
One can expect much higher costs for the unique
design of multiple screens. The cost for “The Plant
Doctor” graphics design was $300
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GRAPHIC DESIGN
Considerations in graphics design:
Colors and color theme (background, buttons)
Art
Text (size, color, font)
Layout
Balance
Layering
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GRAPHIC DESIGN
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GRAPHIC DESIGN
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GRAPHIC DESIGN
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SUBMISSION AND APPROVAL
The app submission process varies by platform
Apple: checks for no crashes; the app does what is
says it will do; and minimum information content
may be needed
Developer accounts:
• Apple: Developer’s license = $100/year
• Google: Developer’s license = $20/year
Note: For the for-sale apps, payment to Apple or
Google is 30% of your profit. Free apps do not
incur this charge.
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SUBMISSION AND APPROVAL
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SUBMISSION AND APPROVAL
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SUBMISSION AND APPROVAL
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SUBMISSION AND APPROVAL
Updates for apps may be required as new versions
of phones emerge onto the market.
The new phones may have updated or newer
versions of software which require app updates.
App developers should prepare for this eventuality.
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