Whether you are an independant app creator or an employee working for an app development company, there are important things that you need to know when you are in the process of creating your first app. You might have the most interesting, unique, and groundbreaking idea for an app but if you don’t follow some guidelines and read articles like this one, your app might languish in the development stage. Or the unprobed depths of app stores around the web.

1. RESEARCH IS AN ESSENTIAL FIRST STEP…AND A MUST FOR EVERY STEP AFTERWARDS

There’s nothing more frustrating than pitching your idea for a cool, cutting edge app to your boss, only to have him or her pull up another app that has the exact same features. To avoid the disappointing embarrassment of this situation, do some careful, in-depth research before you make a presentation – and especially before you start putting in the hours to develop your app. Do a search in different app stores for apps that are similar to yours and if you find several, rethink and reshape your idea. You will also find research useful as you develop your app from the initial idea, in every stage of planning.

2. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE AND BE TRUE TO THEM

After making sure that your app idea is solid, sound, and unique (or a fresh twist on an old idea) the next step is to figure out your market. Who are you creating the app for? Who’s your target audience? What demographic do you envision downloading the app the most? Just as you researched the app market, you also need to research the consumer market. Run a survey, ask your friends and family for their opinions, and do some polling. Basically, make it your goal to get answers from as many ages, races, and genders as possible.

3. THE COLOUR SCHEME OF YOUR APP IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOU THINK

Color psychology is a legitimate area of study and can have amazing results when utilized correctly. Do you want your app to make its users feel calm? Excited? Happy? There’s a colour (and a colour palette) for each emotion and reaction that you want your app’s users to experience. Take some time to read up on color psychology (again, research is important at every level of your app’s development) and then apply that knowledge to your already amazing app.

4. PROTOTYPE TESTING WILL BE YOUR GREATEST ASSET

Remember when we talked about polling, surveying, and just outright asking people if they found your app idea intriguing? Well, once you have a workable prototype of your app, it’s time to stop posing hypotheticals and start loading the app onto devices (or making the file available online) so that app testers can check out your tech and see if it will work on the global market. Once the results come back positive (you might have to rework your app once or twice…or even more) you can make some final tweaks and launch your app for the world to see. Go you!