Congratulations! You have taken the first step in bringing your mobile app idea to life by finding an app designer. But the work doesn't stop there. To ensure a successful collaboration and a polished final app product, you'll need to have an app design brief to provide your designer with all the necessary information and requirements.
And believe me, as a seasoned app designer, there's nothing—and I mean nothing—more precious to us freelance designers than a rock-solid, crystal-clear brief. With a good brief in hand, we can hit the ground running and get straight to the stuff we love: making your app look and feel amazing.
What should be in your app brief?
Before you start working with your app designer, you'll need to gather and organize some information.
- an app pitch
- first drafts/designs/wireframes
- a list of tasks you're hiring the designer to do
- inspiration board
You don't necessarily have to have an inspiration board or first sketches or even wireframes ready; they're more like nice-to-haves. But having your app pitch polished and ready to roll is essential.
Now, I'm not claiming to be an entrepreneurship guru or a Lean Canvas expert (hey, business folks, is that what you use?), but here's the scoop: what designers usually want to know is the essence of your company, your mission, what makes you stand out, who you're targeting (or as they say in the biz, your customer segments), how you plan to make money down the road, and who your direct competitors are.
TIP: If you charge designer by an hour, gathering all this information by the designer can take some time and cost you a ton of extra bucks, so it is a smart move to have this information prepared before the design work starts.
Let's break those points down just a bit.
Company Information
Give your app designer the scoop on your company. That could mean a brief paragraph outlining what you're all about, a link to your website, any press coverage you've had, and anything else worth mentioning about your company.
Mission
If you have a defined mission for your company, share it with your app designer. This will help them align their design decisions with your overall goals and vision regarding your customers. A bunch of mission statement examples here.
Target Audience
Clearly define your target audience. Who are the people you're creating the app for, and what are their needs and pain points? It can be as straightforward as "anyone seeking to improve their health well-being" for the health app. But the deeper you dive into understanding your app's audience, the more nuanced this description can become.
Revenue Streams
Outline for an app designer how you plan to generate revenue from your app, whether through in-app purchases (an online store), subscriptions, or some other clever monetization strategy. If you're still in the brainstorming phase, no sweat—share your plans with the designer so they can sync their designs with your 'maybe in the future' moneymaking moves.
Competitors
Identify your direct competitors and provide a list of their apps. This will help your designer understand the landscape and differentiate your app. Or... well, if blending in with the crowd is more your style's industry, designers can work with that too!
Task List
Basically, why are you bringing a mobile app designer on board? Maybe it's just "Design a killer app from scratch", "Polish the look and feel of the current screens", or "Breath life into those cold and heartless wireframes". Or perhaps you've got a more task-oriented approach and your tasks are "Design screens for All Courses Screen", "Create a user-friendly onboarding flow," or "Optimize the checkout process to boost the conversion."
Nice-to-Have Information
While not strictly required, having some juicy research findings, customer feedback, and also an inspiration board are really nice-to-haves when designing an app.
If you've already conducted any user research or gathered feedback on your current app, share these insights with your app designer. This can inform their design decisions and ensure the app meets your users' needs.
In addition to the app design brief, consider creating an inspiration board to share with your designer. Simply put, an inspiration board is a collection of visual elements, such as images, colors, typography, and design styles, that capture the aesthetic you're aiming for.
And if you're not into the whole DIY thing, no worries. Just share a link with your designer to the designs you like, and write down a quick note about what you love in each one.
That's pretty much it! By preparing a comprehensive app design brief, you'll provide your designer with a clear understanding of your project, your company, and your expectations. This will help ensure that the app design aligns with your vision and resonates with your target audience, making them love your app even more.