Behind the Scenes of App Creation: Mike Ionita on the App Development Process
People all over the world use apps on a daily basis, but few people stop to think about how the app they’re using came to be. The app creation and development process is highly complex and a lot of time, money, and research go into it.
Mike Ionita of Vancouver, BC, is an entrepreneur and the founder of Crux Game Design. Crux Game Design produces video games for clients, as well as original content exclusive to their growing online community. Owing to his successful career in animation and video game design, Ionita knows all about the app creation process. He provides his insight into how apps come to be.
List Your Goals
With any major business decision, the first step should be creating a list of goals you wish to achieve through the project. App creation is no different, shares Mike Ionita. When developing an app, the first thing to do is brainstorm a list of possible outcomes for the app. This allows you to understand exactly what you hope to achieve, and helps you narrow down the scope of the app. Setting goals at the beginning is especially useful as you can refer back to these goals throughout the app creation process, which can be lengthy.
Sketch it Out
Once you’ve settled on the overall goal(s) for your app, it’s time to head to the drawing board — literally. Sketching is always the next step in the process. Creating a rough sketch of what you want the user interface to look like is extremely helpful in getting the creative juices flowing. In addition to the interface, sketch out the main features, the structure, and the layout you want the app to have. These will likely change as you continue to work on the app, but again, it’s good to have something to refer back to.
Start Working on a Prototype
It’s time to bring those sketches to life! The prototype is the stage where things start to get real. According to Mike Ionita, this phase is when you develop a model of your app that can be interacted with or tested, prior to any coding. This is a necessary step in the app creation process as it ultimately allows the team to see if the sketch, they drew is even possible in real life.
Spend Ample Time on User Experience
User experience is crucial to the success of an app. That is why this step requires much careful thought. The main deterrent for a user is when an app doesn’t look nice or doesn’t function easily. A good app should be sleek, smooth, error-free, and easy to navigate. The design really is just as important as the coding.
Mike Ionita on Building Out the Back End
The final phase of app creation is to build out the back end. For this step, many companies opt to hire a professional developer. This person can set up the servers, APIs, databases, and any storage solutions. According to Mike Ionita, this phase can be lengthy, so try to remember to be patient.
