How Much Does It Cost to Design a Mobile App?

If you're wondering about mobile app design cost, you probably already know your app idea and goal. And now you're ready to take the next important step – design your mobile app.

 

Most entrepreneurs know that top-notch mobile application design is worth investing money into, but how much? In general, the average cost to design an app varies from $3000 to $30,000.

 

Well, lucky for you, we've prepared the ultimate guide that sheds light on what it takes to design a mobile app, how much time and money it may require, and an idea of how to reduce the cost of designing an app. The article is based on real-life cases by Onix.

 

Read also: How Much Does Mobile App Development Cost

But before we delve into app design cost, let's explore why mobile app design is so important.

 

Why does mobile application design matter?

Quality user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design are critical to any mobile application’s success. From the onset, a good design facilitates the app development process. When the app is on the app store, an attractive interface helps attract users to install it.

 

Afterward, seamless onboarding can help reduce abandonment rates. Smart UX design will facilitate users’ interactions with the system and the business, driving app engagement, user retention, and customer loyalty.

 

If the app’s design helps convert more users to long-term customers, it’s allowing your business to generate revenue and remain competitive.

 

Let’s conclude this section with compelling reasons why mobile app design matters:

 

• An appealing mobile app design allows you to attract more users
• Well-thought-out UX design saves development time since it gives insight on which features are crucial and which ones are useless
• A professionally designed mobile app can solve users’ problems, turning them into customers
• Unique and eye-catching mobile app design enhances your brand image
• Thorough research while designing the app ensures customers’ satisfaction and product quality

 

So, we considered why mobile app design is so essential and what benefits it can provide to your business. 

 

But how much does it cost to design a mobile app? What factors influence the cost? How long will it take? 

 

Factors that influence a mobile app design price

Simply put, the cost of designing a mobile application is the project time multiplied by the designers’ hourly rate. The general rule is that the more features an application has, the longer it takes to design and which drives up the cost.

 

The time to create an app also depends on:

 

• its complexity level
• whether it’s a cross-platform, progressive web application, Android, or iOS app
• the company’s requirements for the design
• whether they have valuable documents ready
• the designer’s competence and skills

 

At Onix, we have a well-established design workflow that we can divide into several stages. 

 

 

Below we take a look at the application design process in more detail to understand what factors influence the design costs.

 

#1 Competitive analysis and user research

Approximate time: 20-40 hours

 

Every company aims to build an app that will meet its business goals and end-users needs. The design team needs to know them inside out. 

 

Our team begins every design project by eliciting the company’s requirements for the desired functionalities and researching the niche competition, target audiences, and market trends. This initial analysis allows us to understand business goals and define users’ problems and needs appropriately. 

 

#2 User experience design

Approximate time: 60-120 hours

 

The outcome of the business goal and market analysis enables our designers to proceed to the next stage of the design process – turning ideas into UX design prototypes. 

 

This is when our designers focus on how people will interact with the application. It should be easy to navigate and pleasant to use. Our designers carefully consider user flow to demonstrate the entire path users will go through using the mobile application.

To craft core ideas into a seamless user experience, the designers start with creating wireframes. These are sketches that outline the locations of buttons, labels, content, and other components. It’s essential to specify their structure, navigation, statuses, and dialogues.

Generally, only a professional UI/UX designer can fully grasp the nuances of mobile usability and aesthetics and incorporate the latest trends. Moreover, the designer should be an expert in the platform you’ve chosen. 

 

#3 User interface design

Approximate time: 50-100 hours

 

The next stage, user interface design, is not only about polishing the newly designed layout. The development of an app’s unique visual style requires creative thinking and years of experience. 

 

Research from the very first stage is also essential for delivering the special look that will appeal to the target audience. This includes designing patterns, selecting the color scheme, creating shapes, and making effective use of typefaces. 

 

A native user interface design strictly follows the mobile platform guidelines. Since designers can use templates and ready-made examples, they can complete the design in a shorter time. 

 

A Mobile App UI Design is created from scratch using unique styles, graphical elements, and non-typical UI components to look more appealing and memorable. Consequently, a bespoke application takes some 100 hours longer to design than a native design app.

 

During the UI development process for a mobile app, we typically craft a few screens and share the designs with our clients. If they approve the color palette, icons, and overall layout, we design the rest of the screens in the same style. Animation and additional graphic elements, such as icons, take extra time and increase the total design cost.

A mock-up is an accurate and realistic representation of an application design. Figma is commonly used for creating mock-ups. Initial mock-ups are shared with the client and potential users for testing. Their feedback and new suggestions help the designers with final adjustments to the mock-up. 

 

The UI/UX designers, iOS or Android developers, project managers, and the client all work together during this phase. 

 

By identifying any errors or misunderstandings which might occur during the app development, we can help keep the project on budget and on time.

 

At the end of this phase, the client receives a complete product design with images and animations, app logo, icons, and screenshots for app stores. With these files, they are ready to proceed with app development.

Prototyping may seem tiresome and time-consuming, but in fact, it’s a fast and cost-efficient way to visualize the future app, validate the concept, and make critical changes with minimum loss. It helps find out which components are indispensable and which are not. By removing the surplus, you can improve the product while saving money.

We've covered the main factors that influence app design costs. However, there are still some other nuances that should be taken into account.

 

#4 Mobile app platform

The number of platforms to design for is a significant factor that determines the cost. For example, Onix designs and develops applications for the Apple iOS ecosystem and Android phones, tablets, Smart TV, and Wear.

 

Every operating system has guidelines that help ensure the interfaces look and feel like part of the OS. Depending on whether you are building an app for iOS or Android devices, the designer should know the Apple Store or Play Store design guidelines, respectively. 

 

In some countries, iOS experts tend to charge more. However, thanks to the limited range of iOS devices and strict design guidelines, designers can be ‘pixel-perfect.’ Fewer screen sizes require adaptation, and the design is easy to test and fix. 

 

On the contrary, Android mobile phones and devices are numerous, and the operating system is fragmented. 

 

The team will focus on a limited range of Android OS versions or even specific Android devices.

 

#5 The design team’s location and hourly rates

The geography and expertise factors are equally important for calculating an app design price. Companies can either handle the design in-house or entrust it to an external team or specialist.

 

Outsourcing software design and development allows for cutting expenses by eliminating the cost of recruiting local designers, their salaries, social packages, sick leaves, leave pays, office maintenance, hardware, license fees for the designer tools, etc.

 

Final thoughts: how much does it cost to design an app?

Both design studios and freelance designers charge by the hour. The cost may depend on the level of expertise and their location within the country. Each studio offers its quality, approaches, specialists, and processes. A beginner or even an experienced freelancer will typically charge less compared to a big agency with decades of experience and top-rated professionals on board. 

 

Eastern European countries offer good quality at rates much lower than in North America or Western Europe. For example, an excellent design service that would cost you $200 per hour in the US would be $50-$99 per hour in Ukraine.

 

How to reduce app design costs

Unfortunately, there is no silver bullet to reducing app design costs. However, some valuable tips will allow you to optimize the price.

 

Conduct deep initial research

In-depth research of the market, competitors, and target audience beforehand will allow you to get valuable data to move in the right direction without unnecessary spending on rework. Deep initial research is a good way to start on the road to a useful and problem-solving mobile app.

 

Focus on essential features

Focusing on the core features of the future mobile application will help the project stay on budget. Don't try to put all elements in your app at once. A large number of functions is not always a good idea. Some features can sometimes be confusing or simply unnecessary. Concentrate on essential features that solve your users' problems. Over time, you can gradually add additional functionality.

 

Collaborate with an outsourcing design team

Cooperation with offshore design teams should be both time- and cost-effective. As we've mentioned above, there is a wide range of outsourcing design teams with different rates. You can choose one that suits your budget perfectly.

 

But you should be careful not to sacrifice the quality of the UI/UX design. Hire professionals skilled in both usability and aesthetics insurance. A company with a proven track record in mobile app design will complete the project in a shorter time.

 

Start with an MVP

Don't hurry to design a fully-fledged app. We always recommend our clients start with a minimum viable product. This means you launch a mobile app with only must-have features.

 

An MVP allows you to verify your app idea, get early adopters, and get valuable feedback from real users. Users will tell you what feature is missing, and you can easily add it and be sure that you are not wasting money on unnecessary functionality.

 

Below you can see an example of how we designed an MVP version of a mobile application for self-learning.

 

Mobile application design cost in examples: Airbnb and Udemy

Application design is a crucial part of any business’s success, yet it can be difficult to estimate how much it cost to build an app like Airbnb or  an eLearning website like Udemy. But in general, here is an approximate estimation. 

 

Airbnb is one of the world’s leading home-sharing platforms and has become an industry leader in user experience design. Its website was designed by DesignStudio, a London-based firm specializing in product design and branding.

 

According to DesignStudio's website, the project cost hundreds of thousands of pounds. This cost was likely due to the complexity of designing a platform that must accommodate hosts and guests worldwide. The final design featured a clean, minimalistic look that utilized bold colors to highlight key features such as search filters and booking availability.

 

Additionally, Airbnb employed user experience experts throughout the entire process, which helped ensure that they delivered an intuitive product that could be used by users from all over the globe.

 

Here’s our calculation for designing a booking platform like Airbnb:

Udemy is another example of an application with vastly different design costs compared to Airbnb. Udemy is a digital learning marketplace where students can purchase online courses offered by various instructors worldwide.

 

Its website underwent several redesigns since its launch in 2010, but its most recent update was completed in late 2018 at an estimated cost of $25,000-$50,000 USD, according to most sources. Compared to Airbnb, this cost was much lower due to Udemy’s simpler user interface requirements.

 

In contrast, Airbnb had numerous features for both parties involved (hosts & guests), Udemy only had two main sections: courses & classes offered vs. courses taken/purchased by users.

 

Additionally, given the nature of Udemy’s platform – which does not rely on real-time inventory updates as AirBnB does – there were fewer complexities associated with their user interface design.

Overall, application design costs vary greatly from one product or service to another due primarily to complexity levels required for each unique product offering or customer base demographic requirements, while certain web apps require tens or hundreds of thousands to develop properly (such as Airbnb), others may only need less than fifty thousand dollars (like Udemy).

 

Understanding your target audience's needs (which must be accompanied by market research) is essential when budgeting for any app development project to ensure minimal investment while still creating high-quality results that meet customer demands and maximize ROI potential.

 

How to choose the right design partner

Finding the right UI/UX design partner for a project is an important decision with far-reaching implications.

 

A successful partnership can bring the project to life and help it reach its goals, while an unsuccessful one can be costly both in terms of time and resources. Therefore, it's essential to take the time to carefully evaluate multiple prospective partners and pick the one that best suits the project’s needs.

 

1. When searching for a UI/UX design partner, it's important to consider their area of expertise and portfolio of relevant work.

 

Take a look at the types of projects they have worked on in the past – what solutions did they come up with? How was their approach different from other design firms you considered? Are they able to deliver on time and within budget?

 

It’s also worth asking them about their process: do they prefer face-to-face meetings, or is most communication done online? How often do they provide updates?

 

2. Another factor that should be considered when selecting a UI/UX design partner is how well their team meshes with yours. Do you share similar values and objectives? Do you feel like your visions are aligning well during conversations?

 

Working together should involve mutual respect and trust if it is going to succeed in the long run. Finding out more about each other, such as interests and personalities, can help deepen understanding between teams.

 

3. In addition, don’t forget to investigate whether potential partners adhere to industry standards when it comes to security protocols and data protection regulations like GDPR. Ensure all written agreements clearly specify who owns what rights after the project is completed.

 

You should also ask for references from past clients – this will give you insight into how reliable and trustworthy the prospective partner really is.

 

Finally, make sure you communicate your expectations clearly before signing any deals or agreements. Doing so will save everyone involved from potential headaches down the road due to misunderstandings or miscommunication from either side. With these points in mind, choosing a suitable UI/UX design partner for your project should become much easier.

 

 

 

Onix experience

Onix’s mobile app designers have 20+ years of extensive experience designing various products for any business size worldwide: from custom travel apps and fitness apps to hybrid integration platforms and game simulators. Below you can see some examples of our designers’ works.

 

Here is an example of how we designed a travel mobile app. The app was created for strangers willing to travel and find out more places of interest with the help of local people who share their experiences. The mobile app design process included mapping, wireframing, prototyping and elaborating a custom visual design.

 

As a result, a thoughtful user journey, carefully arranged components to facilitate fluent interactions with the interface, and a unique visual style developed made finding a place to go and like-minded people to communicate with easy and engaging for each user.

And this is an example of how the Onix team created a design for a fitness app. Onix team can help you develop a feature-rich fitness app that contains videos, images and 3D models and considers different user groups and levels of difficulty (from beginners to professional athletes).

Our design team understands UI/UX best practices and knows how to meet client’s requirements and their target audience’s needs by delivering top-notch design solutions.

 

Delivering intuitive and delightful app design is our task #1. We conduct our careful analysis to put all design details in the right place. Our work is more than just an appealing design. We produce ground-breaking, problem-solving, and user-driven designs.

 

At Onix, we provide a full scope of design services from deep search analysis to a full cycle mobile design (iOS and Android). Below is a detailed look at our design services and examples of our work.

 

Ready to design your mobile app?

As you can see by reading this guide, design is an essential part of mobile app development. Design is more than just drawing a product. It's about solving users' problems by providing intuitive navigation. Whether users stay with you or go to your competitors ultimately depends on how effectively you plan your app design.

 

Read also: How to Design a Mobile App UI

 

If you need advice or are looking for a professional team to realize your mobile app ideas — please contact us!

 

FAQ

 

What goes into the cost of mobile app design?

All design projects should start with goal analysis and market research. Based on the outcome of the initial goal and audience analysis, designers begin work on eye-catching wireframes to show a clear visual structure.

 

The next stage is prototyping that allows designers to introduce important features and navigation. And, finally, designers can add images and animations, app logos, icons, etc.

 

What is the mobile application design price per screen?

Professional mobile app designers typically charge an hourly rate for design services.

 

Depending on the complexity and scope of work, hourly rates can range from $50 to $200 per hour. The number of hours needed to complete a project will vary depending on how many screens need to be designed, how specific the design requirements are, and any other special features that may be requested.

 

How much time does it take to design an app?

The time to design a mobile app depends on the project complexity, requirements, goals, hourly rates of the design agency, etc. For example, it will take a few days to design an MVP interface. As for a more complex app like Uber, it'll take 350+ hours to design it.

 

What is the hourly rate of designers? 

Designers’ hourly rate depends on their location. For example, Eastern European countries offer good quality at rates much lower than in North America or Western Europe. An excellent design service that would cost you $200 per hour in the US would be just $30-$50 per hour in Ukraine.

 

How much does it cost to design an app?

You can use the following formula  “design project time X hourly rate” to calculate the app design costs. For example, to design a complex app like Instagram, and your design agency charges $50 X 350 hours (approximate design time) = $17,500 (approximate UI/UX design cost of iOS and Android apps).