How I designed mobile app from scratch
The app solves the problem of expanding vocabulary for advanced English speakers. I had a chance to get my hands on working with APIs, native mobile products and interface guidelines.
- my role: product designer
- year: 2024
- timeline: 2 months
- team: me as designer, me as researcher, me as engineer
Problem: it is hard to expand vocabulary for advanced english-speakers
Imagine being new to the english-speaking environment. You would want to express your thoughts with ease hence you are in need of extensive vocabulary. To store and practice regularly you need a tool. My market research showed that there is no one-stop solution.
Solution: mobile app to collect and practice your vocabulary
Imagine being new to the english-speaking environment. You would want to express your thoughts with ease hence you are in need of extensive vocabulary. To store and practice regularly you need a tool. My market research showed that there is no one-stop solution.
The apps revolves around three main Job Stories: [1] saving new words; [2] learning using spaced repetition methods and flash cards; [3] navigating your dictionary.
Metrics I would track
Since the app isn't live yet I can only theorise here.
In addition to the below, I would watch Hotjar sessions and track the total number of words saved and practised per user per day to understand if people actually use the product.
- Daily Active Users (DAU) + WAU + MAU to understand if the number of active users is growing or falling
- Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) to understand if [1] the app earns the money and [2] whether money comes from new or retained users
- Funnel conversion rates to identify areas for improvement
Lessons learned
- Interactive prototypes are hard. Gained a deep dive into prototyping entire workflows and utilising interactive components in Figma. Also got a chance to learn other tools e.g. Protopie.
- MD and HIG are a good starting point. I relied on both Material Design by Google and Human Interface Guidelines by Apple in choosing the layout grid, margins, paddings, touch areas etc. By doing so, I was able to ensure that my designs were in line with industry standards.
- Design systems speed up development. I studied design systems made by Uber, Atlassian and OpenAI. They guided me in creating individual elements and components for my app.
- Colour palette, typography, grid systems. I relied on "Grid Systems in Graphic Design" by Josef Müller-Brockmann, "The New Typography" by Ian Tschichold and YouTube videos by some brilliant people. These topics are of an infinite depth. But at least I started.