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How do I estimate an application?
Get started in the design of a digital product, in its improvement or launch, it is not easy. This requires a financial investment, time and a close-knit team.
There is no magic recipe for creating a digital product, and yet, you have to make the right choices and this can generate stress.
If you are far from the field of design, launching a mobile application, for example, may seem like a very abstract mission: in what direction to make decisions, what are the steps to follow, how to estimate its costs and value?
40/60 aims to support companies in the design of digital solutions. We have summarized for you our methodology to estimate the needs of a customer, whether they want to create a mobile application, a web application, a Software As A Service platform or a website, according to their Level of advancement.
In addition to giving you our best advice, we decided to design for you a tool for estimating your digital needs, 100% free, personalized and quickly achievable: the Digital Product Guide.
A few design principles to get started
If you are a beginner in design, here are some principles, to read quickly, to remember the points to follow when creating a product.
The Design Thinking approach
Remember that the objective of your product is to please its end user. Always put it at the center of your solution: that's the approach Design Thinking. Thinking like a designer and applying their methods will help you create a successful application, Saas platform, or website.
You can also make a Design Sprint if you are short of time, by being accompanied by professionals if necessary.
The creation method remains the same, whether it is a mobile application, web or SAAS
Before launching into the detailed explanation of each phase of the design of a digital product, allow us to highlight this: regardless of the product you end up with, the creation methodology will remain the same.
This method is that of Lean Start Up : a term borrowed from them to carry out a project efficiently, by investing the right amount of time and money, including 3 main phases, spanning every stage of product creation.
To project yourself into the future of your mobile application, web or SAAS platform, start by taking stock of the progress of your project.
Know where you are to know where you are going
You may already have a concept, or even a prototype, but how do you know if your work is thorough enough to be presented to investors, or developed in the case of a prototype?
How do you differentiate a concept from an idea and how do you push them to obtain tangible elements that will speak to the external parties you want to contact?
We recommend that you take stock of your progress and create a functional framework.
Functional framing: what is it?
Framing a digital project means defining its scope, choosing a strategy and obtaining a detailed action plan to be able to move forward calmly, in the right direction.
By setting a framework for your project, you clarify your challenges and those of your product, in terms of the solution it provides to its users, but also in terms of its technical and design aspects.
You can start with List the actions you have carried out around your solution. What do you have in your hands at this stage?
The Digital Product Guide is a functional framing tool that will help you make the right decisions according to your needs, but you can also read this article to get a global perspective on the stages of designing a web or mobile product, to estimate your progress and The next steps to take.
Development phases and their challenges
Whatever your project, you will necessarily go through these phases.
The concept
La concept phase is the most important in launching your digital product.
To have a solid concept, it is not enough to have an idea: be sure to carry out a market study, a benchmark and even a business plan: Think about returns on investments, think numbers, think tangible.
You can support your concept by accompanying it with a first version of a prototype, an outline of what your application or web solution could be.
If your ideas are in line with their market, their users and their investors, then you can move on to prototyping.
The prototype
The prototyping phase is exciting: it brings your product to life and gives you a glimpse of what it will become once launched.
But you have to withstand to your desire to throw yourself headlong into this phase if your concept is not finalized, at the risk of encountering expensive problems, which could be avoided.
Your prototype must therefore be created at the right time and must mirroring your concept for the test : that is its main aim.
So you need to focus on testing your decisions: start by prototyping a landing page, and don't try to create as many journeys as possible for your users: keep it simple.
From a technical point of view, first work on theUX of your prototype by creating Wireframes, then add the graphics layer, more fun, by working on theUI afterwards. That way you avoid missteps.
We still have a million things to tell you about the prototyping phase and the keys to its success, but for the benefit of our readers who are at another stage in their project, we let you discover it in our Digital Product Guide.
If your prototype has proven its appeal to your users, meets their needs and validates your concept, then you can think bigger and start creating your MVP!
The minimum viable product
Creating an MVP means creating a more advanced testable version of your prototype, in order to Validate your intuitions on the functionalities to be implemented.
That's why this phase is called Minimum Viable Product: a version where we Test the reliability of your product, in a version minimalist, essential, synthetic.
The minimum viable product is a first step towards your market. It is intended to be tested on a large scale, why not by using a user panel target.
You'll know you're nearing the end of the MVP creation phase when you reach your Product Market Fit: the perfect match between your product and your market. At that moment, you will get a product as solid as those found on stores or on search engines.
If you still haven't reached that tipping point, Iterate : your MVP still needs improvement to find it.
At 40/60, we always talk about Live MVP, because for us, it is not enough to create a “plus” prototype to complete this phase, but to obtain an implementable product, ready to be launched.
So it's important to think about The host, or to its most suitable operating system (Ios and/or Android) and to integrate the development in your MVP.
The scale
The scale of an application, whether online or mobile, or of a SAAS platform, is the step that follows the creation of your “finished” product.
In reality, your product will not be never completely finished : it will evolve over time, to better correspond to the changes in use of its users, to those who have arrived along the way, to market innovations, and to the innovations of competitors!
Scaler its product, It means to scale it up to the changes that surround it, make it correspond to the changes in its environment.
You can scale your solution along 2 different axes:
- The redesign
Redesigning your product means rethinking it in its substructure And his Graphic design, to bring it back to the tastes of its users, from a visual point of view or in order to facilitate its journeys.
The redesign is most of the time a phase following that of the MVP. This is often necessary, because the previous steps mostly allow you to design a product that is solid in terms of operation and development, and graphic identity is therefore often put aside.
You should know that this is completely normal, and that it allows the SAAS application or platform to find a poise by investing few resources before finalizing it through the redesign.
- The addition of new features
Adding new features allows you to meeting the needs of new uses of which your product is the subject.
This will allow you to remain competitive and build a relationship of loyalty between your business and its customers, who will get returns that meet their expectations, or even a anticipation of these.
Finally, for the methodology for adding these new functionalities, it is a question of applying the Lean method.
Different goals for each phase
Each of these steps has a series of specific objectives. It is important to validate these goals before moving on His project At the top stage : this way, you always check that errors are identified at the right time and are not delayed: they are resolved before they even cause problems.
Finally, whether your product is in the form of a mobile application, online, an SAAS platform or a website, use developers, of UX/UI designers And users. They will be able to guide you on the possibilities of improving your solution.
In order, they will help you with these points: technical achievement, experience, user interface, and appeal to your audience.
How does the Digital Product Guide work?
Now let's talk about this great tool that is the Digital Product Guide! 100% free, fast and personalized, the Digital Product Guide takes the form of a interactive quiz allowing you to frame your product, of estimate your needs and costss, depending on your Status of progress.
1) Functional framework
The Digital Product Guide helps you to quickly achieve functional framing, by giving you tips as you progress, to avoid any problem related to overly technical vocabulary, or questions about the finalization of a stage.
2) Results and advice
Once the questionnaire is completed, you get a clear idea of your progress phase, and above all, a visualization of the tasks to be carried out to take the next step: should you iterate, improve your existing system, or is it time to design a prototype? an MVP?...
3) Custom report for more details
You will finally be able to download our personalized report, which will give you more details and advice on each of the challenges of your stage and the tasks to be carried out to go further.
Start now!
Our advice for your project management
One last little thing: your project will surely require teamwork and hard organization. To control its cost and the time you will invest, you can make a sprint : a one-week workshop to lay the foundations for your progress phase and obtain a tangible product.
