To make sure that you achieve this, you require a team of experts and most conveniently you need a software development outsourcing team.

Promotion of digital initiatives is difficult, given the factors such as cost and labor for start-ups and SMEs as well as strict organizational structures for established companies. But if done right, it can help create a competitive advantage, add real value to customers, and identify new revenue-generating strategies.

As the software industry began to face the digital revolution, the need for software developed and with it the question of how to make use of it and improve it.

When it comes to outsourcing custom software developers, getting the right approach to your management is critical. With the right approach, you can achieve key business benefits such as quick development time, better scalability, and lower costs.

As per the Business Process Outsourcing Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report, The global business process outsourcing market size was valued at USD 232.32 billion in 2020 and is expected to register a CAGR of 8.5% from 2021 to 2028.

Let’s have a look at what the experts have to say about the outsourcing tips for software development.

1. Brian Dean, the Founder of Exploding Topics

Brian says that without a good plan/strategy, one can never participate in any activity, no matter how small or large. “Changing management in an organization is one of the top three hurdles in outsourcing a product. Poor project management on the part of the software development outsourcing partner, as well as poor software quality, are the other two hurdles.“

Brian proposes that there are numerous types of solutions that are proposed to employ in the software development outsourcing business to avoid those three and other hazards, and your decision may depend on your company’s fundamental purpose.

For instance, profit-driven, product-first, user-first, and so on. The outsourcing-life-cycle process model designed by Sara Cullen here, on the other hand, would greatly assist you in preparing particular actions, anticipating dangers and possibilities during the method, thanks to its adaptability.

To Establish Clear Product Ownership While Outsourcing Development, here are some tips and suggestions by Brian:

The first stage is to establish a Product Owner, an internal leader who is responsible for the product(s) being produced by outsourced development teams. This leader’s formal title is likely to be Product Owner in larger companies. This owner can be a CTO, CIO, or even a technical co-founder in smaller organizations.

What matters is that they have the time and insight to serve as a bridge between business and technical staff. As you begin the full cycle app development, the Product Owner must verify the definition of success.

2. Martin Broadhurst, A Digital Strategist Based In The UK

Martin shares his experience and tips for outsourcing based on his work with businesses that have used outsourced development many times.

Here are his three main tips for the software development issues it presents:

• Be aware of risks

Outsourcing software development is a popular choice for many organizations, but it’s important to be aware of the risks involved. The benefits of outsourcing, such as lower labor costs and a more diverse talent pool, can be outweighed by the risks; for example, if the outsourced team is not as skilled and knowledgeable as the core team, the end product will suffer.

• Make sure you are clear on the project scope

Outsourcing software development is a common practice for companies, but if the project scope is not clearly defined, there could be some complications in the long run. When you are hiring an outsourcing firm, make sure you have a clear understanding of the project scope so you know what you are getting. Know exactly what is included in the scope. Be really specific. This will prevent you from arguing over fees and deadlines later in the project.

•  Hire the right people

The world of software development is changing quickly, and it is no longer possible to keep up with new advancements in technology without hiring the right people. As a business owner, “you want to make sure that you are not only hiring qualified developers but developers who can quickly understand the goals of the project.” A developer who is too focused on his or her own work can become too close to the project and fail to see the bigger picture, and this problem is exacerbated when that developer is removed from the main project team.

3. Eric Carrell, Chief Marketing Advisor at SurfShark

Eric’s Tips Are:

• Focus on Function rather than Micromanaging the Developers.
  
• Micromanagement gone too far can prohibit your development teams from producing their finest work. Micromanagement is frequently shown in overly strict project specifications. They can impede the capacity of experienced software developers to apply their own judgment and creativity to come up with the best possible technique for achieving product goals, no matter how well-intentioned they are.
  
• Eric believes that “development teams perform best when they are given the freedom to pursue an experiment.” R&D-like approach to determining the optimal path to achieving the end goals of a software product.
  

• “High-level planning and oversight should be the emphasis of product owners.“
  
• Product owners can add the most value to daily stand-up meetings and demos/sprint reviews by analyzing development progress from a functional, end-user perspective. They should concentrate on user stories or the key tasks that users must be able to do, rather than individual code decisions.
  
• Regular assessments should include a functional prototype on a real device—even if it’s still only a black-and-white wireframe—to provide a practical point of comparison.
  
• The “idea is to focus on the software’s final function rather than unnecessarily specific method definitions.” This allows developers to be as creative as possible while implementing an efficient solution. This method will maximize your developers’ productivity while also preserving their sanity.
  
• A ‘Process Owner,’ whether a Project Manager, Agile Coach, Scrum Master, or Solution Owner, should be in charge of the details of execution.
  
• While the Product Owner is usually an inside figure, the Process Owner is frequently part of a development team that is outsourced.

To keep the team extremely productive, efficient, and well-aligned with end goals, the Process Owner must provide the greatest possible development environment. It is their responsibility to identify and remove waste, schedule work, follow best practices, and ensure that all necessary resources are available. They must have a thorough understanding of several development methods in order to select the most appropriate one depending on organizational constraints.

4. Veronica Miller, Cybersecurity Expert at VPNoverview 

Veronica believes in “making use of Consistent Communication Practices.”. These communications don’t have to be extremely formal, but your team will need some well-defined processes throughout the project. The overarching goal of this communication is to keep day-to-day development efforts as near to the product goals as possible.

For example, Daily standups are an excellent way to keep the team on the same page. Frequent check-ins, no matter how brief, assist product owners to avoid wasting time and avoid surprises: they get an update every day.

After each sprint, have retrospective sessions, sometimes known as ‘sprint retros,’ to identify lingering problems, discuss potential product improvements, and explore any changes that could improve the development process for the following sprint. One of the most “effective approaches to reduce the risk of new product development is to maintain consistent communication.” 

5. Darshan Somashekar, Founder & CEO at Solitaired

Darshan also co-founded drop.io, a media-sharing, VC-backed startup that was acquired by Facebook in 2010. Darshan’s view on outsourcing tips are:

Deploy a Cross-Functional Team Today, “launching a successful software product necessitates cross-functional skills and a team composed of professionals from several business functions,” such as UX specialists, back- and front-end developers, UI designers, QA engineers, and even Business Analysts and Marketing.

Some organizations have a long-standing culture of forming ‘siloed’ teams that only interact with one another on rare occasions or ‘hand-off’ the project entirely between development phases.

In his experience, forming a really cross-functional team that can contribute to the product on a regular basis is far more productive.

The following are some of the key advantages of a cross-functional software development team:

• Conflicting priorities and incentives are eliminated: Instead of multiple teams rushing to meet their deadlines, team members work together on a single schedule and set of priorities.
  
• Improved communication: A close-knit team is less likely to have communication issues, and everyone on the team has a better overall picture of the product they’re working on. Cross-functional teams can eliminate departmental bottlenecks and develop new versions faster and more responsively, resulting in shorter product schedules.
  
• User-centric development: Getting daily feedback from UX, design, and graphics professionals helps developers connect their decisions with the end-goals of their users.

6. Christian Velitchkov

Here are some software development outsourcing tips shared by Christian that everyone needs in 2021:

“Understanding the ongoing trend and staying in line with the trend is necessary.”

Know the software development language that is going around along with development trends like cloud computing and artificial intelligence.

All these details will help you pick the right outsourcing company for you. “Consider your needs very acutely. Deciding on which firm to work with will depend on your needs.”

• The outsourcing company must be able to match what you want. Having clear wants will also make it easier for the company to give your desired outputs. 
• Stay clear on the deadlines. Talk clearly about your expectations and the time you have for the whole task. 
• Keep communication free of any ambiguity. This will avoid misunderstandings in the future.

7. Solomon Thimothy, CEO and Co-Founder of Clickx.io

According to Solomon, it would be best to “ask for referrals and have a trusted, technologically inclined, and knowledgeable individual who can assess the fitness of your outsourced talent or agency.”

Their social proof can help ensure that they have a good track record and their experience, knowledge, and ability are reliable to serve your needs best. What you want is someone that can create your product/service and not just someone who intends to close a deal.

He recommends “finding a specialist you can book for a call or consultation to assess what you truly need.” It would help to aim for a thoroughly made and adaptive software with room for your scalability plans, which you should mention in the initial planning/ consulting stage.

He does not recommend going for a generalist but to do so if they have a good and verifiable portfolio. In case you’re not sure about their skills and knowledge, you can always ask for advice from your knowledgeable acquaintances to help you gauge their fitness for the role.

8. Vadim Atamanenko, Founder of MightySAP LLC

Vadim says a significant portion of software development has recently been outsourced, aided by the pandemic. Many employees were sent to work remotely, some were fired and hired by other companies who were able to set up the internal mechanisms of work in this mode.

What are the advantages of outsourcing software development?

• There is no need to search and hire employees
• There is no control over the execution of each of the employees
• There is no need to organize the workplace of the employee / department
• All tasks for organizing business processes in outsourcing

The work of an outsourcing company can be divided into three main types of possible work, i.e. “outstaffing, outsourcing, and development and maintenance:”

• Out staffing. The manager is at the Customer’s office. Collects requests, comments and new features and transfers them to the development department.

What is bad about this option? This manager will be tied to only one project and the effectiveness of such an employee will not be great. All the same work can be performed by an employee being somewhere remotely (collect, control and transfer to work), while the efficiency and the number of successful projects of this manager will be higher. But in this case, you need to be as careful as possible, because a manager’s lack of qualifications can be a fatal mistake.

• Development on the side of the Contractor with the control of an internal employee of the Customer’s company.

In this case, the employee is most stimulated to get the maximum result. As for the transfer of part or the complete transfer of the development cycle. From the practice of large companies, the transfer of small projects or part of the functionality is the norm, since you need to strike a balance between the main projects of the company that generate the main income.

• Development and maintenance are most important for a business.

Specialists who have the highest knowledge are involved in this, the cost of such specialists is significantly high, and for less critical projects, on which the deadlines are not so important or the project is in a frozen state, it is easier to transfer to specialists with a lower rate, in this regard there is a significant number of outsourcing and body-shops. It will also not always be possible to select a team of specialists of different levels and form a department for development within the company for many reasons, from the lack of your own HR department to the lack of time to search.

 What does outsourcing give?

You get already formed development teams who are specialists in their fields and there is no need to train them. In fact, these are teams that for a long time have already formed relationships within and such teams are more united and focused on results. Plus, “outsourcing companies have a large flow of orders for software development, and the employees working there have a fairly wide level of technical knowledge.”

9. Sergii Zhuravel, Software Engineer

Sergii makes use of his experience of working with outsourcing companies and provides relevant solutions.

Some tips from Sergii are:

First of all “you need to choose the right outsourcing company.” And there we can name a list of important points to consider. The requirements for an outsourcing vendor have changed last time, as security, flexibility, and effective management are critical now.

So here is a list of key points that you can use to choose a reliable partner in a time of remote work: –

• Well defined security policy
•  Established agile processes
• Solid project management skills
• Clients’ reviews and testimonials
• Advanced communication skills, enthusiasm and transparency
• The robust knowledge transfer plan
• Powerful employer brand

Another thing to review is a “place where to look for the outsourcing company.”

Comparing the regions/countries you need to consider such criteria: –

• Tech education opportunities
• Time zone difference
• The level of English proficiency
• Positions in global ratings of IT destinations
• Resources availability and tech competency diversity
• Cultural mindset

Before starting cooperation “you need to ask a few questions to better understand your partner:”

• Who will manage the team?
  Even if you have a manager to manage the team, the team will be distributed and maybe it will work in different time zones, so having a local manager or lead is essential.
  
• Does the company have a good recruiting team and practices?
  This will be very important when you need to bump up the team size quickly.
  
• Does the company have good HR practices?
  Losing good developers can be expensive and provide a lot of trouble
  
• How does the company manage work contracts with the performers (to not have any issues with law and taxes in the future)?
  
• How controversial points will be resolved and in which jurisdiction (many outsourcing companies have head offices in EU or in the USA, so it’s better to have contracts with such companies, to stay in the local/native jurisdiction)?

10. Jesse David Thé: President & Ceo OF Tauria

Jesse views the point that “when budgets are at stake, outsourcing software development seems the right move.” As with domestic resources, it’s a mixed bag.

Jesse had some off-shore resources (India) that were excellent in virtually every regard, certainly no worse than your average domestic resource.

He also had some that he wouldn’t trust to code anything. You’ve got to do your due diligence during interviews. Even if you do a good job though, he says that his experience is that they spend a lot of time prepping for interviews so they can get through them even if their skills don’t match up with what they’re presenting.

Even with good resources though, there are definitely caveats. The time difference can be both a curse and a blessing. The downside is when there are issues, someone on one side of the world or the other has to work some uncomfortable hours. The upside is you can effectively have a 24×5 team because you can get their work in the morning, review it, make your comments, send them new directions, and they can get to it without missing a beat during their day. The language barrier may be problematic.

Sometimes that lack of proficiency is going to cause problems. Sometimes it’ll just be little frustrations here and there (though those add up over time), but sometimes there will be pretty significant misunderstandings, and all of it equals a cost in time and effort.

“You basically have to put some degree of trust in them to do the job right, but you’ve got to be willing and able to put in the time and effort to verify it because I’ve found that if you don’t hold their feet to the fire, there’s going to be issues in terms of quality and velocity,” more so than with domestic resources (for whatever reasons).

11. Karl Hughes, Founder of Draft, CEO / Former CTO / Software Engineer on Outsourcing

Karl says that there are a lot of tips to share about outsourcing software development, but he feels that “one of the most important tip — after you’ve chosen a team to work with, defined your requirements, and chosen various technologies — is that you start small.”

In other words, you begin working with the outsourcing team on a trial project or a test. You will learn how they operate, how well they communicate with you, and also how well they follow the parameters and requirements that you’ve set.

Most importantly, it allows you to see them in action and get a genuine sample of their work. You will need to invest resources, like a regular project, so it’s best to choose something you can use that’s smaller in scope and won’t take as long. That also ensures you’re not wasting the money and time you put into the trial project.

12. Perry Zheng, CEO & Founder of Cash Flow Portal

Perry , also a Software Engineer, full time engineering manager at Lyft and running my own real estate syndication software – Cash Flow Portal, gives his points on outsourcing tips.

Outsourcing your software development needs is quite a challenge. Here are some tips that can be helpful:

•       Find Global Experts

It is important to understand that if you are looking for an outsourcing service, you are not bound by any geographical limits. So, you can look up some of the best experts in the world to find the most appropriate service providers for yourself. “The best in the world are expected to be equipped with the latest technology and should be able to provide you faster and better services than anyone else.” Furthermore, such experts can be helpful to consult with to make your software even better than expected.

•       Discuss development time and costs

One of the most important factors involved are time taken for the software development, and it’s cost. Therefore, you need to discuss how much time it will take to complete the software and how they will be charging you. “Ask if they have any additional charges, what the total cost will be, and how they will compensate if they get late than the expected delivery time. You can use these dealings to compare multiple service providers” and compare them to select the best one.

13. Rita Mantler, Technical Director & Founder of Telescopic

Rita explains the “two critical factors for successful software development outsourcing: a plan and good project management.”

It is crucial that the outsourced team thoroughly understands their task and the required outcome. With a clear understanding of the project’s goal, the designers/planners/developers can make informed decisions. Unless the plan contains every single detail about the product, clients have to give agencies the freedom to make choices about implementation.

“Good communication between the house project management and the outsourced company is a must.” Most issues that arise during a project are due to misunderstandings between these two teams. With poor communication, even the most basic goalposts can be missed.

Deadlines have to be communicated along with any particular significance as to why that specific date. If delays happen (and they always will), the agency might still be able to find an acceptable workaround to meet deadlines if their importance is known to them.

Ensure the agency you are working with chooses an appropriate team for the project. If developers change multiple times during a project, you can end up with a total code mess that is unmaintainable. Understand the structure, experience, and expertise of the team you are hiring.

14. Tatsiana Kerimova, CEO and Co-founder at Orangesoft

Software development outsourcing tips by Tatsiana are:

• While looking for a software development vendor, don’t focus on the company’s previous app domain experience. It doesn’t matter if the software is about food or cars. What is important is the main features. So, it would be helpful for you to know if they have worked with chats, GPS features, transactions, etc. if you want to have them in your software. 
  
• Think global-Don’t just decide to stick to your local developers or a particular country. “Offshore software development enables you to get tons of benefits: more attractive prices, a variety of talent to choose from, an option to get high-quality localization services, and so on.” Look for companies in trusted resources and make sure to check their portfolios and reviews. Try reaching previous clients or merely surfing the net to find feedback about the potential vendor’s work.
• Select companies that are appropriately sized 

“Consider the size of your enterprise and the budget you’re willing to spend.” This will help you avoid being overlooked in a big company if you’re a smaller business and not end up with a tiny studio that can’t handle an ambitious project.

• Don’t rush into things

As much as it is exciting to find an affordable and seemingly high-quality outsourcing partner, don’t give in just yet. Set up a preliminary meeting – get a feel of what they are like to work with. And even after that, sign a trial contract first.

15. Daniel Cooper, Managing Director at Lolly.co

“Automation can be an effective tool in overcoming some of the common issues with outsourced software development.” Daniel lists the ways through which development can be easily carried.

One is testing—by bringing QA in-house through the use of automation tools, you can ensure the software under development actually works. Far too often outsourced projects come in non-functioning or with limited functionality compared to what was promised. Worse yet, these often happen after many delays.

Otherwise there’s often a great deal of back-and-forth between the client and the outsourced team to fully understand what they want made. When these cases happen it often becomes easier to simply handle the project yourself. You never know when team members on the outsourced team are being swapped out, either. It happens very frequently, of course.

Agile development and outsourcing often don’t mesh very well. The upfront specs inherent in an outsourced project are more suitable for waterfall development, which is passé at this point to any experienced software development team. If you really know what to ask for, however, and know it up front, then you’re likely to have more success with a verified, consistent team.

An Ending Note

We hope you enjoyed reading this post and the experts’ views. Also you have got a clear idea of some tips regarding outsourcing software development that can help you with your business. 

You should know that outsourcing software developers lets the business develop a quality software product in a cost-efficient way. From customization of platforms to full-cycle solutions, software outsourcing organizations are skilled development partners that are set to deliver tech filled and custom software solutions.

The post Software Development Outsourcing Tips From 15 Industry Experts appeared first on Appinventiv.

This subliminal, cerebral concept holds immense significance in the world of mobile app design. After all, why do we associate one symbol with a specific action? Is it a natural tendency or one that emerges from our daily experiences? Today we’ll chase the answers to such questions and determine what features and facets constitute an optimum intuitive search functionality in a mobile app.  

What is Intuitive Design? 

An intuitive app design consists of everything that defines the importance of UI/UX design in an app. Its components, be it the typography or content flow, allow guesswork to guide action, say searching for information. An intuitive design subtly conveys its meaning at the same time staring the user in the face, quite literally. It is so symbolically evident that the user cannot and must not think of anything else, other than the intended use of the feature. An intuitive design architecture must engender the following characteristics to be considered instinctive: 

Discoverability is second nature to mobile app design search. From the menu bars to the profile sections, you can explore everything within a click-or-two without losing your way. 

Affordance is another word for perception. Intuitive UI uses a barrage of visual cues to tell the user what would clicking a button result in. Its elements keep in mind what the user wants/expects from a button. This brings us to our next point. 

Expectations of the user should be complemented by visual cues. A bell commonly denotes a notification, thumbs-up a like, etc. Intuitive UI design integrates a diaspora of icons that appeal to common sense. 

Efficiency should be thought of in terms of minimalism. A minimalist design is non-confrontational in that the users go through exactly the steps that they must to accomplish a task. 

Responsiveness of the app communicates whether the performed action by the user is successful. Intuitiveness takes it a step forward and expounds on corrective measures in instances of a boo-boo. 

Importance of Intuitive UX Design

Mobile has gained a domineering position in almost every aspect of our life. For many, they’ve totally replaced desktops. As a matter of fact, 40% of people use their phones for online searches. Of all the video views in the world, more than 50% come from smartphones. 

Factoring in the time and utility people thrust on to their phones, intuitive design elements pose as an exercise that any mobile app design agency would undertake foremost and one that everyone should know when reading into a mobile app design guide.  

Creating Intuitive Mobile App Search 

Search is probably the first action most users perform in any app. It’s a wormhole that lets users fast-forward to their area of choice. Yet, you would find striking differences between the search functionality of a great app and a good app. 

Having been a mobile app design company since our foundation, it is our DNA to go intuitive-first, as we have on so many occasions. As a result of which we’re in a position to share with you our thoughts on how to go about designing a user friendly in-app search option. We’ve divided the process into 4 stages for better understanding. 

1.  Search Bar 

Let’s begin with the physical attributes of the search bar, its form, and on-screen positioning. 

Search Bar Size 

The bible for UX search best practices recommends making the search bar big enough. 

If your design permits, the search field should ideally be an expansive box placed in the view of the user. Often, you would come across search icons, clicking which expands the search field. Though it appears interesting, yet from a UX point of view, it bears negative results and thus can be noted as a UI/UX mistake you should avoid. 

Source

Not recommended

Contextually, the icon is supposed to simplify typing a query, but the icon-only search adds an extra step before the user can do so. Opting for an open text field would point the users in the right direction.

Source

Recommended 

Search icon 

The search field should, without fail, be represented by a magnifying glass. Thanks to all the snitch flicks that stereotyped magnifying glasses to look for something, people have come to accept the sign by default. Use the most simplistic image of a magnifying glass with little to no graphical additions. This is one place where the less you do, the more it speaks for itself. 

2.  Entering Search Query 

Most of us have been typing in the Google search bar for years now. Yet, we commit typos. Misspellings annoy users as not everyone is a grammar-nazi and usually want to rush through the entire step. Therefore, it is the responsibility of a mobile app design company to make entering the search-input as easy as possible. 

Keyword-based Search

Nothing overboard about it. You enter the search query in the search field and down below appears a list of search results that match your keywords. Click the option closest to your intended information and there you go. Quite a few apps continue to employ this mechanism. Twitter for one displays both the hashtags associated with your query followed by the social handles if any.

But such a system has its shortcomings. It depends on the consumer typing the correct input every single time. This is solved by some of the more innovative solutions thanks to the emerging deployment of AI in search, as we shall see in the coming sections. 

Filtered Search

Websites with a product catalogue stretching into the thousands integrate heavy handed filtered search to deliver a refined search functionality in the app. Examples include domains such as E-commerce, Edtech, and travel. Given that there are thousands of results matching the inputted keyword, it is wise to let a user zero-in on options most closely related to their search. 

While some apps offer the option to add filters right before hitting the magnifying glass, there are others that daunt the user with total results and then make them sort through. 

Source

Predictive Search  

In terms of apps that involve a lot of data entry, such as conversational apps (like Whatsapp) or lifestyle apps (like Pinterest), incorporating an auto-complete option is a good idea. The feature is one of the ways AI can help develop next-gen apps. The app design firm that undertakes the development of your application must build in-app capabilities that register recent searches as part of the search history. Upon re-entering a keyword the first thing that the user would see in the auto-suggest drop-down list will be his/her recently entered keywords. 

If yours is not an E-commerce store, then auto-suggest should blend in perfectly as there is a pattern to everything the user does and your job is to uncover that to make in-app search simple. 

Limited Search 

Onloading your app with various sophistications may not always be the right choice. Websites want to prolong user-sessions in order to maximise page visits. An app runs contrary to this theme and focuses on recurring visits by the user, even if the sessions last a couple of seconds. 

Design search considerations could entertain the idea of limiting search features in an app. Keep only the amount that transports users where they want to be, for instance, compartmentalizing your content into categories as is done in Hotels.com.

Voice Search 

Voice search is designed for a hands-off experience while using the app. Apps that cater such a functionality often tend to be those that are used for cross-connection and multimedia broadcasting. Google offers one of the best voice search functions beginning which the market started designing content that is voice search friendly. Spotify is yet another example, which allows you to search songs with the hold of a button. 

Source

3.  Fetch Results 

The thumb rule states search results should come up as soon as the finger hits enter. However, you could seldom face network lag, in which case the user should know to expect a delay. 

This speed test indicator is a good example. It uses a speedometer animation to divert attention from the fact that the app is consuming time to calculate the actual network speed. If alongside the animation, you can display the total time (hopefully seconds) the user should wait then all the better. 

4.  Display Outcome 

Mostly, the search results are expected to be accurate. But as a mobile application design company, Appinventiv also pays close attention to error-prone queries that lead to a dead-end. What comes next shouldn’t be anybody’s guess but a rational step-by-step approach to get the right input from the user, as we find out in the upcoming sections. 

Tackling “No Matches Found”

Never leave the customer staring at the wall. Even if the code does not find suitable results to display, offer something to the viewer. When there are no relevant results to show for, show alternative or remotely related products or the most popular search categories. You never know if that was the intent of the user. A blank page in such conditions leaves a bad taste in the mouth of the user who may take the app to be inefficient.

Correspond the Right Message 

While displaying related products is one way to appease the user, what if the problem runs deeper than that. The backend could actually have malfunctioned and there is no shame in admitting and underlining the encountered problem to the user. But make sure you give hope that the issue may be resolved sooner than later. 

Amazon does one of the best gimmicks in this area, with finesse. Everybody loves dogs, so Amazon developers thought why not use them to their advantage. Have a look at that error message.

Help Users Correct Entries 

We all make typos. It’s normal. And most people sensibly accept their fault when an algorithm points it out. In case of Google searches, the majority of us are glad that the engine knows our search intent as it rectifies and suggests correctly spelled words. This doesn’t change with the app, but it can get better. 

Without fail, whether you’re building an app inhouse or outsourcing the work to a mobile app design and development company, make sure the algos are trained to correct misspellings. 

Create Category Headers 

When the content is highly diversified it is best positioned under parent categories. Take the case of Spotify. It has millions of songs and they have demarcated specific search categories by which to sort them. Their parent tags are artists, songs, podcasts and if the user knows their genre, then they can jump right into it. Think of how you can distribute your content likewise.

Choose a Layout Template 

Presentation has a lot to do with the way your floor the content. Netflix is a prime example, pun intended, to display a side-slide search functionality. It proved oxygenated air against the stale, tried and overused style of content flow that included carousels, and pagination. Infinite scrolls have also been proven to be addictive and equally effective.

On-demand Loading 

Also known as lazy loading, it is a content optimization technique deployed to display the content that is intended for first, than bulk loading the page in one instance. It saves time and consumes lesser network bandwidth, and renders instant gratification to the user. Lazy loading allows developers to avoid code execution that can be delayed till the point the user demands further information.  

Drawing it to a Close 

Appinventiv started out of an intuitive decision by a group of friends and today has a growing stature in the world of mobile app development. Despite the accolades, we keep our head to the ground, happily accept projects that we can wrap under our sheets and politely admit if something is beyond our means, which has thankfully never transpired. If intuitive design is what got you here, we bet you’d be amazed to know the full extent of our services. Find out now.

The post Intuitive Search Specs that Separate the Best from the Rest appeared first on Appinventiv.

While the freelancers and gig economy patrons are already extremely used to the idea of remote working, there are teams that have been working in collaboration with each other since the inception of their job roles. One of which are software developers. 

The software development work process has always required designers, developers, and QA experts to work in close collaboration, one that mainly has been running on a face to face since the beginning of the time. 

So what brought around this shift for software developers?

Although coronavirus has made it a mandate for the IT employees and software developers to get confined in their homes or respective locations and adapt to the remote workspace lifestyle whether or not they are willing to, the shift has been gradually moving for much longer. 

According to a report by TechRebulic where they interviewed several developers, where 43% of the developers cited the option to work remotely as a must-have when looking for a company’s offer, and 53% of respondents said they would think less of a company if they didn’t offer any remote work options.

Remote work has drastically improved work life balance for the employees, as the report highlighted. It was also one of the biggest reasons behind the trend becoming a massive norm. Remote employees said this working style reduces stress of commuting (77%), provides the ability to work from wherever they want to live (75%), and allows them to care for children or family members (56%). 

The next event besides comfort that has fueled digital workforce and remote work lifestyle is the onset of outsourcing. In the search for low cost of developer acquisition, entrepreneurs generally take the remote work and outsourcing route. 

Read More: [How to Outsource App Development? (2019-2020 Guide)]

The impact of remote workforce on app development and delivery ecosystem 

Although the adoption of remote workforce in the IT industry has been slow, the software development industry is slowly and steadily coming at par with the digital shift. There are some mobile app development companies which are operating as a torchbearer for others who are struggling with the shift. 

The direct impact of this workspace shift is visible in the greater adoption of digital solutions and collaboration platforms. With the right network conditions and the presence of platforms to enable real-time collaboration, it can be extremely easy to streamline the processes and that too in a real-time mode. 

While the presence of tools and collaborative platforms are doing a great job at resisting the shock, the problems are mainly surrounding the managerial front – something that companies are able to solve when they partner with the companies with remote workforce. These companies are not just used to the remote work setup but their teams also have the ability to work independently. 

We have shared both: the list of tools and the issues that the challenges that PMs face when managing remote software developers face, a little after a few scrolls. 

Benefits of remote job for developers

1. Higher Inter-Team Collaboration

In digital workspaces, the individuals work in collaboration with other teams which helps in supporting the key organizational priorities. A high exposure to other experts and thinkers inside an organization tends to enhance mobility by enabling the employees to develop new skills and try newer roles, which ultimately increases engagement and productivity. This is the reason why remote work developers tend to be more connected with their organization, across levels compared to their centrally located counterparts.

2. Greater Flexibility

The employees who are given the freedom to choose their work timings and work locations are a lot more engaged. Additionally, the flexible schedule helps in closing the gender gaps prevalent in the corporate world thus improving diversity and success in the organization. This high flexibility is what acts as a backbone of the statement that happy employees are more productive.

3. Greater returns on the IT investments

There are several decentralized platforms which are very simple to use and enable the employees to access the cloud-based data and tools. It also frees up the company’s IT teams to focus on high-level priorities like integration of tools enabling seamless workflows and troubleshooting the clunky legacy software.

4.  Higher efficiency 

A remote team is able to streamline the administrative tasks, remove the barriers when it comes to accessing resources and data, and increase critical information flow across businesses. This streamlining of tasks enables the employees to make several data-centric decisions effectively and much more swiftly than before. 

The benefits of remote workforce for the software developers can only stand true as long as they have the necessary toolset to drive the application towards success. 

Tools that smoothen the process for software designers & developers working remotely

The toolset that are devised to enable smooth remote workflow for the software designers and developers are usually are divided into two parts – one which takes care of the remote dev work and another which looks into managing remote workers:

Collaboration & Resources.

For Collaboration:

Team collaboration:

• Trello 
• Sketchboard
• Zeplin 
• InVision
• SpaceTime
• Screenhero
• TipHive 
• Bit.ai

Task management

• Taskworld
• Fusioo
• Jira
• Trello 
• Eylean Board

Communication

• Slack
• Skype
• Telegram 
• UberConference. 

For Resources:

• Type Anything 
• Frontify

Challenges that project managers might encounter when working with the remote software developers 

Even though remote software development has become a common practice, it still comes with some obstacles and unique challenges which should be overcomed for attaining success. In a remote development setup, you will find that everything from project management to communication and technical aspects of the software development tasks call for a different mindset. Translation: Managing remote employees is very different from managing a centrally located team of developers. 

Having developed more than 700 applications for global clients, we have gained several insights into the dos and don’ts of remote app development work and what managing remote employees entails. 

1.  Onboarding of new team members

Introducing new developers to a large codebase calls for a lot of effort and time. When we say codebase, we mean a collection of source codes that are used to develop a specific software component and system. When the codes are poorly documented or messy, the new remote developers will find it extremely time-taking to know how the code pieces are working in sync. This becomes all the more difficult when they are working with a remote manager who is evry new to them. 

The solution to this lies in writing clean codes that follow the industry standards. A detailed and clear documentation should also be followed at every stage of the app development process.

2.  Communication related issues 

One of the biggest challenges of remote development teams is communication. Collection of daily updates, discussion of urgent issues, and explaining objectives, new tasks become overly difficult when you work in different locations and even time zones. 

In order to make sure that everyone in the team is on the same page, at Appinventiv, we schedule frequent online meetings with both development teams and clients. Additionally, we also hold longer weekly meetings and app demonstrations at the end of every development sprint. 

3.  Tracking the progress

In the absence of issue tracking systems and version control, working with remote developers becomes a complete nightmare. They also make projects a lot easier to implement and manage. Version tracking enables team members to work on the file anytime, without worrying about the instances like overwriting of current versions or time it takes to locate where the latest file iteration is stored. 

The issue tracking tools have proven to be extremely useful for the product owners and project managers to oversee the complex development process. Everybody can see the scheduled work task and what the developers are working on. At Appinventiv, we also invite our clients to view the issue trackers that help them see where the project has reached.

The post Digital Workspace: The New Normal for Software Development appeared first on Appinventiv.

There is hardly any industry operative in the world today that is oblivious to the high revenue and value offering potential that artificial intelligence comes packed with. A declarative fact that is evident from the promising AI technology trends for 2020 and later.

This quick adoption, while on one hand has come with a lot of benefits for both businesses and end-users, it is on the other hand is on a very native stage. Meaning, businesses are yet to find concrete use cases and return effectiveness. This nascency and benefit combination has given birth to a number of queries around how to manage your AI projects. 

Seeing how complexity lies at the very center of the AI project management solutions, it is important to understand the intricacies of managing AI projects.

In this article, we answer every question and element surrounding how we, at Appinventiv, perform AI project management and the steps we follow to successfully transform a Proof of Value (POV) to efficient AI solution & services.

Table Of Content

1. How is an AI Project Different from Traditional Projects?
2. Splitting AI Into Two Distinct Categories
3. A Slight Detour: Understanding the Pillars of AI Project Success
4. The Challenges of AI Project Development: Why AI Projects Fail
5. Answering the Question of the Hour: How to Manage Your AI Projects
6. FAQs About the Steps of AI Project Management

How is an AI Project Different from Traditional Projects? 

AI project management calls for a different approach when parallels are drawn between them and traditional mobile app project management. Meaning, the differences between AI projects and traditional IT projects are manifold. 

The traditional mobile app development process is a solution specified. Whenever it gets difficult to specify a solution, the results become uncertain and risky. This development type falls under the top-down programming. 

Opposedly, in case of AI projects’ Proof of Value (POV), a bottom-up approach is followed. In that case, AI draws conclusions from its own rules and processes of working with an extensive data set. 

The AI development landscape also tends to open up several opportunities as the cycle matures. Meaning, for a project to be deemed complete, it has to cross several stages of exploration and hits and trials. While the outcome of the approach is almost always high revenue friendly, it often leads to high development cost and extended development timelines. 

The last part of the question surrounding how to manage your AI projects lies in making change management an integral part of the Agile process. The principle that AI program managers generally work on is fail-fast, wherein the idea is to explore expeditiously and fail right at the beginning of a wrong approach, instead of at a later stage in the development process. 

Splitting AI Into Two Distinct Categories

The first part of planning your AI project starts with our team understanding the category it belongs to. Category one deals with projects that are common in nature, like translating a language in another, or converting images into words. Category two is more complex. It handles tasks like detecting heartbeat or monitoring sleep. 

The two categories call for two distinct solutions – incorporation of an existing AI or creating custom AI project management solutions.  

Existing Artificial Intelligence Solutions

There are a number of events where the inclusion of AI has become common and mainstream. Meaning, there are ready-made tools that our engineers only have to integrate AI into the applications. A few of the platforms that our team generally use include Microsoft Azure AI, Google AI Platform, and Amazon Machine Learning, etc. 

Custom Artificial Intelligence Solutions

In case there is a complex project in hand, like recently we made a neural network driven healthcare app that gave users insights into their health on the basis of their voice, we have to resort to custom AI solution development. To make the process easier, Android 11 will be using its new Neural Networks API 1.3, as an effort to make your Machine Learning apps run smoothly on devices.

A Slight Detour: Understanding the Pillars of AI Project Success

Our journey with Artificial Intelligence started back in 2019. It took us an extended delivery timeline to understand that the secret to an AI project success lies in two pillars – people and data. Only in the presence of the two pillars, AI is able to improve customer experience to its entirety. 

We started with bringing in experts from different sections that the application adhered to – irrespective of whether or not they had a technical expertise. It was necessary to feed in domain specific data into the algorithm to make the AI system efficient and unbiased. 

The next part – the second pillar – was data. Data, when not rightly stored or when not in its entirety is utterly useless. Now, there are two types of data that a business ejects – structured (ones like date of birth, address, etc.) and unstructured data (invoices, voice recordings, emails, etc.). When in the process of AI project management, you have to consider both the data types. 

There are certain steps that a data has to go through to become one that can be used for deep learning or Artificial Intelligence. Ones that our team of data engineers work on when we develop Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions for scale-ups and enterprise clients.

The faster data finds a place in this pyramid, which is based on Maslow’s Hierarchy needs, the faster your AI project will start churning and the greater would be the possibility of engineers working on modeling instead of keeping their focus on data filtration. 

The result of our exploration journey was an understanding of the different issues that come across when answering what creates a valuable A.I solution. Let us counter those issues before walking you through the stages of managing AI projects in a way that their Proof of Value (POV) reflects into the end system. 

The Challenges of AI Project Development: Why AI Projects Fail

If we sit down to make a list of what challenges do companies face when implementing AI, the list will be very extensive. But at the core of it all of why Proof of Values fail, lies two prime causes – misaligned expectations and insufficient data management capabilities. The causes that hold back businesses from making money in AI.

Misaligned Expectations 

More often than not, the majority of AI projects don’t see the light of the day because of the attached misalignment in expectations. The root cause of challenges of artificial intelligence in business often emerges because of heightened short term expectations from a technology which inherently operates on a long-term mode. 

Next instance of misaligned expectations can be seen in businesses assuming their AI based solution will be accurate enough to meet different user perceptions. For example, in case of a music streaming application, assuming that the “next song” your AI is suggesting is exactly what the user believes to belong to the genre is a problem area. This is the reason why businesses often use the word ‘may’ when showcasing products or services that their users might be interested in, next. 

Inefficient Data Management

AI tends to make wrong decisions on the basis of wrong datasets. The problem in AI project management solutions emerge when the data is incorrect or incomplete – in short, not prepared to fit into the AI model. 

For an AI system to work as expected, it is necessary to have refined data which the system can use to learn and analyze patterns. When we build an AI-ready data set our focus is primarily on dividing the structured and unstructured information following the modern data collection strategy.

Answering the Question of the Hour: How to Manage Your AI Projects

1.  Identifying Problem

The first step for us when it comes to managing AI projects is identifying the problem. We start with asking our partners two questions: “what is it you are willing to solve?” and “what is the desired outcome for you?”

When settling on a problem statement it is important to understand that AI in itself is not a solution but a means/tool to meet the need. Noting that, we choose multiple solutions, which can be built upon with the help of AI and not be dependent on it.

2.  Testing the Problem Solution Fit 

This stage, ideally answers how to start an AI project. Before we initiate the AI project development process, it is first important to test and be sure that people are willing to pay for what you are building. 

We test the problem-solution fit through a number of techniques like traditional lean approach and Product Design Sprint. 

One of the best things about AI technology is that it is very fairly easy to create a base level version of a solution by using real humans or MVP. The benefit of this is not just easy analysis of a solution but also within time guarantee that the product actually needs an AI solution.

3.  Preparing and Managing Data 

Having reached the point where we know that there exists a customer base for your solution and you have the confidence that the AI can be built, we initiate managing machine learning projects by gathering data and handling their management. 

We start by dividing the available data in structured and unstructured forms. Although the stage is fairly easy when we are working with a startup or a company that doesn’t have multiple data, building multiple applied AI solutions for enterprise is what is tricky. Generally, big firms have huge proprietary database data which might be ready for AI and what could make it all the more difficult is the fact that the data might be stored in silos. 

Our data engineers start with organizing and cleaning up the data, where in principle, they define a chronological order and add labels where needed.

4.  Choosing the Right Algorithm

Although, to keep the essence of the article, we won’t mention the technicalities of AI algorithms here, but what is important to know is that there are different types of algorithms, which vary on the basis of the learning you do. 

• Supervised Learning

At its core, classification predicts a label and regression predicts the quantity. We generally choose classification algorithms when we want to understand the chances of an event occurrence, e.g. the chance of rainfall tomorrow. 

On the other hand, we go with regression algorithms when we have to quantify the scenario, e.g. when we want to know the chance of an area drowning. 

There are several other algorithms that our engineers choose from depending on the project requirement – naïve Bayes classification, random forest, logistics regression, and support vector machine. 

• Unsupervised Learning 

The choice of algorithm would be very different here since the data is not organized or follows a certain type. We might use clustering algorithms for grouping objects together or association algorithms when finding links between different objects, etc. 

5.  Training the Algorithms 

Once we have selected the algorithm we move on to training the model wherein we input data into the model, keeping the importance of model accuracy into consideration. 

Our team of engineers understand that setting the minimum acceptable threshold and applying statistical discipline are the key steps to accelerate the development of AI, in a way that it calls for minimal fine-tuning later.   

For training the algorithms and taking the next developmental steps, we employ tech experts who are experts in Python, R, Java, and C++. Depending on the project needs, we also involve experts who understand Julia – the top language for machine learning app development. 

6.  Deployment of the Project 

We generally advise our partners to go with ready-made platforms like Machine Learning as a Service for their product launch and deployment needs. These platforms are developed to simplify and facilitate Artificial Intelligence and aid the deployment phase of an AI project. They also provide cloud-based advanced analytics that can be used to add in different languages and algorithms. 

[Also Read: Consider Important Steps to Write a Masterful project Plan]

FAQs About the Steps of AI Project Management

Q.  How To Get Started with Artificial Intelligence And Machine Learning

There are six steps that are covered in the process of AI project management: Identification of the problem, testing the problem solution fit, data management, selecting the right algorithm, training the algorithm, and deploying the product on the right platform.

Q.  What is a good idea for an artificial intelligence project?

AI has gotten a scope across a number of industries. What is necessary is to find a use case that incorporates the technology in a way that generated data is organized and converted into actionable analysis. It is important to be realistic about your expectations from the AI solutions in terms of treating it as a tool helping in the advancement of your service, instead of it becoming a service itself.

Q.  Are AI projects better than traditional IT projects?

It depends from situation to situation. There are indeed some projects that do better with AI inclusion, while there are other applications that become unnecessarily complex with the technology’s integration. Ultimately, it depends on the use case and how valued it would become with artificial intelligence.

The post How to Manage AI Projects: From POV to Ready-to-Execute Solution appeared first on Appinventiv.

But hey! We are already halfway there in not reel but real life.

Remember using Siri for the first time on iPhone 4S? It was an otherworldly feeling, was it not? And since then, we all know how far we have come – Alexa, Google Assistant, Cortona and a hundred more. 

So, as an inspired designer, if you are as fascinated as I am and want to give the voice-based AI a chance, then you need to hone your skills and knowledge on how to design voice user interfaces. 

Luckily, you have stumbled upon the right article. Here is everything you would want and need to know about VUI and what makes them an important part of intuitive app search design.

What is VUI (Voice User Interface)?

Acronym of Voice user Interface, VUI is the interface that allows users to interact with a system through voice commands. The most popular and top voice user interface examples are Google Assistant, Siri, and Amazon’s Alexa. 

The biggest advantage of VUIs is that they facilitate an eyes-free and hands-free way of interacting with a system.

Similar to mobile apps running on any OS and a device, VUI contains three layers that need to work together for efficient voice interactions. Here, each of the three layers uses the layer that is below it while supporting the one above. It is the upper two layers in which the voice interface lies, residing in the cloud and not on the device.

Steps for designing voice user interface

1.  Research your audience

In this process of designing VUI, you need to employ user-first design just as you would while designing other digital products. The primary aim here is to gather information and understand the behavior and needs of the users since this information is what makes the foundation of the product requirements. 

What you should focus on at this stage is –

• Identify the pain points of users and how their experience is. By doing so, you will be able to analyze where the users can benefit. 
• You must gather information on the user language- how they talk and the phrases they use while talking. This will help you design a system for different utterances.

2.  Define

At this stage, you need to define the capabilities and shape the product. This includes –

• Creating key scenarios of interaction

These scenarios come before the specific ideas of the app and should be identified in order to be turned into conversational dialogue flow. They are a way to think about why someone would need to use a VUI. So, you need to design the scenarios having high value for your users.

Sometimes, it can be confusing as to which scenarios are important and which can be ignored. For this purpose, you can use a use case matrix to evaluate each one of them.

• Make sure these scenarios work with voice

What matters the most here is that the users are able to solve a specific problem more efficiently than they would be able to with the alternatives. The aim of this step is to find the common and specific cases which users will benefit from.

Among many, a few cases are – A. when users are pre-occupied and cannot use the visual user interface, and B. when they want to do something quickly. I.e, commanding the VUI to “Play some music” is much less time consuming than to do it manually.

• The three factors- Intent, Utterance, Slot

Let’s understand these two with the above-mentioned example of  “Play some music”.

Intent –  It basically depicts the broader objective of the voice command. There are two types of intents – A. High utility ( very specific and straightforward command, i.e., ‘turn on the lights in the living room) and B. Low utility (vaguer and hard to decipher). In our case, it is a high utility interaction.
Utterance –  It deals with the possible ways users can phrase a request. In our case, the alternative to “Play some music” could be anything from “I want to hear some music” to “can you play a song” and so on. All the UI/UX designers of VUI have to take the variations into consideration. 

Slots – When the intent is not sufficient, slots come into action. They refer to the additional information needed in order to deliver the best results for the query. They can be optional and required. In our example, the slot is ‘relaxing’ but it is optional since the category of music is not defined by the user. However, if the command was ‘book a taxi on Uber’ the slot would be ‘destination’ hence, required.

3.  Create a prototype

The dialogue flow is the answer to the question of “how to create voice interaction between user and technology”. The process begins with creating a dialogue flow for each requirement you are aiming to target with your product.

These are the following points a dialogue flow should cover – Main keywords for the interaction, probable branches where the conversation could head towards, and example dialogues for users and assistants.

A dialogue flow in our case is nothing but a prototype illustrating the back and forth conversations between users and voice assistants. Let’s look at an illustrated dialogue flow below for better understanding.

You can use several prototyping tools at your disposal for VUI. Some of the most popular ones are Amazon Alexa Skill Builder, Sayspring, and Google’s SDK.

Writing dialogues

A compiled set of dialogues is what makes the building blocks of voice user flow. Here are a few tips for creating engaging and conversational dialogue –

• Don’t make the process tediously long. Keep the number of steps to a minimum.
• You should not teach commands to the users. This is something that is natural. Instead, focus on making your voice assistant conversational.
• Try to keep your questions and responses brief. Here are the dos and don’ts.

Don’t –

User: “Tell me a good place to eat Chinese cuisine”
System: “I have found five places for you. The first one is “Eat Chinese” is located…, 15 minutes away from you, open from 8:00 AM till 8:00 PM, the second is “Chopsticks” which is located on…, 1 hour away from you,…”

Do –
User: “Tell me a good place to eat Chinese cuisine”
System: “There are several Chinese restaurants in the area — would you prefer to walk or drive?”

Identify errors

Isn’t it better to identify the probable errors you can make while creating dialogues than to fix the magnified mess later? Here are a few things you should definitely stay away from but always keep them in perspective to avoid error states.

• Ambiguity – Words are inherently ambiguous. Meaning, if a person says ‘Good’ it could mean ‘Okay’ or symbolize they are listening. So, make your AI aware of all the commonly occurring ambiguities for optimum performance.

   

• Misspellings/Mispronounce – Unlike on paper, words are spoken differently. One single word could have multiple pronunciations, something which could hamper the conversation flow between the user and the natural language processing system.

   

• Not providing relevant options – Always make sure that the users are getting something valuable and relevant out of the conversation. Irrelevant results for a query are least attractive and even less of a motivating factor for users to use your product again. 

Even if the query does not have a positive result, your assistant should always reply and not leave the users hanging. That is, if a user requests “Book a flight to LA from Dallas for Tuesday”, what should follow is – “I couldn’t find any flights for Tuesday”. And what even better is – “I couldn’t find any flights for Tuesday. Would you like me to check for Wednesday?”.

Portray your brand’s identity

Even in human conversations, the tone of the voice matters a lot since it has an emotional value attached to it. Then, your dialogues are what is going to become the personality of your product and it should always make a positive impression in users’ minds. You need to create not ‘just dialogues’ but the ones satisfying users’ emotional needs.

Use existing content

If you use the data at your disposal (all the conversations your product has with the user), you can greatly personalize their experience. For instance, if a user commands “I want to order noodles”, your system should revert “ Would you like to repeat your last order of Hakka noodles from Chopstick?”

4.  Test your product

After everything has reached a near completion stage, it is time to test the seeds of your labor. You need to test the VUI you have designed to make sure it fulfills every benchmark on your checklist. There are two ways that you can use to test your prototype.

• With target users

You can create groups of your targeted audience and then implement testing sessions to observe how users are interacting with your product. You can use this occasion for tracking task completion rate and customer satisfaction score (CSAT).

• With test simulators

Similar to other simulators used in mobile app development, Google and Amazon also provide tools for testing the designed product. You can test the Alexa Skill and Google Action of the product with respect to the hardware devices and their settings.

5.  Refine

After your app has landed in the market, it is time for observation. It’s time to indulge in UX analytics. This stage deals with analyzing how the users are using your product. It can be a lot challenging if you are clueless about what metrics you are supposed to observe. So, here are the most prominent ones.

• Sessions per user or messages per session
• Languages used
• Intents and utterances
• User engagement metrics
• Behavior flows

Design guidelines for voice user interface

“Words are the source of misunderstandings” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Normally, visual user interfaces also have issues that need to be addressed, but the frustration from a faulty visual interface is nothing compared to that of a VUI. So, if your designed voice assistant fails to function well, it would be ditched like a hot potato. 

(You may also like to read our article on Visual Storytelling for App UI/UX Design)

You know what will help you in stopping that from happening? – VUI design guidelines. So, let’s have a look at them at once.

• Don’t wait for users to ask first

Unlike a visual user interface, users might not be able to get familiar with the functionalities right away. They might not even know how to start. In that case, one of the Voice UI best practices is to take the first step. For instance, if yours is a voice-enabled weather mobile app, it could say to the users – “You can ask for today’s weather or a weekly forecast.” Additionally,  you should also offer an easy exit option.

• Keep the list of action options short

Until and unless you want to overwhelm your user right in the beginning, you need to make sure that you provide only the most appropriate and basic options primarily. 

The verbal content has to be as concise and full of meaning as possible while being easy to be understood in one go. As recommended by Amazon for designing Voice user interfaces for mobile apps for Alexa, one must not list more than three options for interaction. Doing this will also ensure an engaging UX design of the VUI.

• KISS – Keep it simple and short

This principle is highly useful in designing VUIs. To make your voice app development the best out there, you need to make it easy for your voice assistant to understand commands. Suppose, you are designing a voice interaction to start a shop floor machine, the simplest way would be to attribute these multiple machines with numbers and then give commands like “Start machine 1”, etc.

• Let users know they are being heard 

Remember how agitated you feel when there is no activity sign on a webpage you just opened. Now, multiply this frustration in the case of VUI. 

It is very crucial to keep it in perspective that your user needs to be informed when the device is actively interacting. You must give users queues on when to speak and when the voice assistant is listening. An image above of Google Assistant shows how it represents this function (with dots forming a wave) and with Alexa as shown below (bluish light swirling around the top rim of the device). 

• Confirm when the task is done

Just like you need confirmation after you have made any transaction, the same thing is needed with a VUI. Else, how would the user know the task has been performed? 

For example, once the user gives the command “switch off the kitchen lights”, your assistant must respond with something like “Kitchen lights turned off”.  This will eliminate the need for the user to check the task done in person, which is essentially the whole point of having a Voice-based AI.

(Bonus Read: Mobile App UI Design Tips & Trends to Follow in 2020 {Exclusive})

Challenges of designing VUI

Like everything else, the voice-based interface also suffers from Achilles’ heel. In fact, there is not one but many. So, what are the challenges that VUI designers often come across and more often than not, fail to recognize or resolve? 

• Privacy and Security

The fact that these voice-based AI assistants are always waiting for queues listening to the sounds of their environment poses a big concern for the users. The paranoia of their privacy being tampered on is not irrational either. 

Initially, voice assistants like Alexa stored all the conversations they came across which is a big risk of voice AI in the eyes of users. Something of a nightmare happened to a couple when Alexa was caught sending their secret recordings to a stranger. Now, some assistants automatically delete the stored conversations every 24 hours or so. However,  these come at additional cost and UI friction.

• Convey what Voice assistants can’t perform

It becomes challenging for voice UI and UX designers to explain to the end-users what the Voice AI cannot do. For example, while using Google Assistant when you say “Make an event named Sales team meeting for Tuesday at 2 o’clock” it creates an event card instantly and asks later “Would you like to save this event?”

But what if you need to change the location or time of the meeting later, what then? It would reply “I’m not sure about what you said, would you like me to save this event?”. To avoid the bad user experience, the AI could simply say “sorry, I am still working on adding locations”. 

• Difficulty in prototyping and testing

Another challenge faced by the designers is voice UI prototyping and testing. Suppose, you have created a prototype and want to test it. You have given the initial prompt that users can shop groceries with your voice assistant. 

The challenge begins here – Users can say a particular thing in different styles, something which is hard to keep track of. It becomes all the more difficult to test the prototype on such queries when it is not yet fully developed with the voice search technology. 

• Support of language

Since the main tenet of voice technology is language, it becomes crucial for any voice-based AI to be fluent in understanding as well as speaking. Sadly, technology has only developed with respect to a few languages as of yet. Nevertheless, adding other languages and distinct accents to the interface is still a work in progress.

Future of VUI

Like a ritual, we are bound to look at the future prospects of every technology and voice is no different. From what we have gathered from the voice interface use cases such as Alexa, we know that voice technology integration alone cannot fulfill the daily requirements of the users.

The best way for it to become completely adopted is by shaking hands with the visual user interface – just like Google Assistant and Siri. VUI and visual user interface together can balance out each others’ shortcomings providing users with an amazing voice assistant experience. Additionally, this will allow them to do complex tasks with simple voice commands, which is what voice interfaces lack at this point in their development.

And who knows by the time this decade ends, we might all have our Jarvis and would be able to do it all like Tony Stark without a physical display.

Final Note

VUIs are here to stay and will be integrated in more and more products in the future. We hope that our blog was helpful in clearing all your doubts regarding designing of voice user interfaces. But, in case you still have any queries or want to learn more about VUI, you can connect with our team and our experts will gladly help you with innovative solutions.

The post How-to Guide for a Flawless Voice User Interface Design appeared first on Appinventiv.

The official launch of Android 10 and iOS 13 brought Dark theme User Interface in the limelight. Both Apple and Google have been dedicating their resources and attention to the dark mode since the past one year. 

If done correctly, the benefits of the dark mode are unprecedented. They can be read more easily in low light. They lower eye strain. They can highly eradicate battery consumption, based on the screen.

To get the Dark Theme ready for an app is becoming a mandate for every mobile app design company. Nonetheless, the dark mode app design challenges can’t be ignored. It’s not possible to simply reuse colours or invert the colours. You will obtain the polar opposite of what you require if you do so.

When dark mode is designed incorrectly, it causes eye strain and makes reading in low light more difficult. The low brightness of this theme creates a sense of security in a dark environment. As a result, when creating gloomy themes, make sure they’re enjoyable, balanced, and readable.

In this article, we are going to look into how mobile app designers can get started with delivering a dark mode UI design experience to their users. 

How to Design Dark Theme for Android App?

Google comes with an extensive documentation support that helps designers get started with understanding how to design dark themes for Android app. 

The tech giant has established four principles that defines the dark theme User Interface and gives a starting point for how to develop dark mode app design – 

1. Grey vs black 

The first thing you might notice is that the default background for apps in dark theme is not black, but instead a dark grey: #121212.

There’s lots of discussions about why we chose grey vs black, especially since the platform in Android 10 uses a black background. This is largely a trade-off between usability vs power savings.

Using a pure black #000000 color as the background in the platform, allows the system apps and surfaces to use as little power as possible when they’re open on OLED displays. These system surfaces tend to be quite simple, typically just text and simple icons, so to battle contrast issues we can adjust the text and icon colors to suit.

In apps though, your surfaces can contain anything: complex colorful vector animations, bright imagery, contrasting branded surfaces and lots more. Placing these against a pure black background means that the resulting contrast is much higher, which can increase eye strain. Hence using a light coloured or grey background is the solution.

2. Attention to detail in Color with accents

When defining a color scheme for a dark UI, Google recommends to apply limited color accents in dark theme UIs, so the majority of space is dedicated to dark surfaces. Also, keeping the dark background makes the photo visuals deeper and creates eye-pleasing contrast with the accent color.  Using split complementary colors can help. The scheme has one dominant color and two colors adjacent to the dominant color’s complement. Doing this provides the needed contrast without the tension of the complementary color scheme.

3. Conserve the Battery Life 

Dark themes reduce the luminance emitted by device screens, while still meeting minimum color contrast ratios. They help improve visual ergonomics by reducing eye strain, adjusting brightness to current lighting conditions, and facilitating screen use in dark environments – all while conserving battery power. Devices with OLED screens benefit from the ability to turn off black pixels at any time of day or by reducing the use of light pixels.

4. Choosing accessibility compliant color combinations 

Accommodate regular dark theme users (such as those with low vision), by meeting accessibility color contrast standards.

There are different properties they have fixed in the Google Material Design Guidelines for Dark color scheme and overall mode – 

Elevation: In the process of designing dark theme, the components retain the same default shadow components and elevation levels as in case of the light theme. What differs is the illumination of the surface of elevation levels. 

The higher a surface elevation, the lighter would be the surface. The lightness is shown through a semi-transparent overlays’ application. Overlays also make it possible to differentiate between the components and see the shadows.

Accessibility & contrast: The background in dark theme UI design should be dark enough to show white text. They must use a contrast of a minimum of 15.8:1 between the background and text. Doin this ensures that the body text passes the WCAG’s AA standard of 4.5:5:1 when added to surfaces at highest elevation.

Colors: Designers should focus on using desaturated colors for they increase legibility. The choice of primary and secondary colors must also depend upon the consideration of both light and dark UI themes. 

Light text on dark backgrounds: When a light text comes on dark background, it must use these opacity levels:

• High-emphasis text has an opacity of 87%
• Medium-emphasis text and hint text have opacities of 60%
• Disabled text has an opacity of 38%

States: States communicate the status of interactive elements for dark theme layouts or components by using the overlays. In dark theme, states must use the same overlay values as the default light theme. There are two containers which inherit the state overlays: Surface and Primary. 

Surface containers which use the Surface color must apply an overlay which matches the color of text or icon. For the surface containers which use the Primary color, the state overlay must be white. 

How to Design an App for iOS in Dark Mode? 

With dark mode, Apple has revisited the meaning of UI styling and colors in iOS. Let’s look into the changes that Apple has brought to help you with designing for dark mode on iOS 13.

Semantic colors 

Apple has introduced semantic colours for commonly used UI components to balance the feel and appearance of iOS apps in both light and dark mode. These colours do not have the best RGB value; instead, they change the iOS interface style directly. Furthermore, in dark mode, these semantic hues aid in dealing with the overlay colour and text.

System colors

Apple has brought nine predefined system colors that are supportive of dark system-wide appearance and dynamic. Hence, these colors modify to chosen interface styles.

Vibrancy and Blur Effects

With iOS 13, Apple has introduced 4 blur effects and 8 vibrancy effects, which automatically adapts to the iOS interface style. 

Here are the blur effects in the dark and light mode:

Apple has also introduced 4 vibrancy effects in iOS dark mode typography suite, 3 in overlay and 1 for separator. Here they are:

SF Symbols 

Apple, in their Human Interface Guidelines, offers a collection of more than 1500 symbols for Product developers and designers to use in their applications. They automatically look amazing in the Dark Mode for they have been optimized for both light and dark UI. 

Tips for Effective Mobile App Dark Theme Design

Dark mode is one of the most requested features over the past few years. Both Apple and Google made the dark theme an essential part of the UI. Dark mode’s reduced luminance provides safety in dark environments and can minimize eye strain.

There are certain processes that need to work properly when creating dark mode UI. After all, you want your product to be amazing, right? Let’s check off all the boxes for a best practices checklist on how to design a dark mode for your app.

1. Avoid the pure black color

A dark theme must not be of white text on black background. In fact, it can be difficult to look into a high contrast screen. 

When you add dark mode to your app, it is safest to use dark grey as the primary color for the dark mode components, as it lowers the eye strain and also it is a lot easier to look at shadows on a grey surface compared to black.

2. Avoid the use of saturated colors on the dark themes 

The saturated colors that look great on the light surfaces can vibrate against the dark background, making the text extremely difficult to read. 

You should use light tones for they have better readability and they don’t make the UI unnecessarily expressive, which saves unnecessary eye strain.

3. Consider the emotional side of your app design 

When you design a dark theme for your app, chances are that you must be aiming for translating the same emotional feel of your light theme design in the dark theme as well. 

But it is unwise to do so. Because, ultimately different colors project different emotions. As a result, your dark mode colors will evoke a different feeling. This is why it is necessary to find a common ground emotional set for both your theme UIs.

4. Test the design in both the appearances 

Just like how your users would toggle between both the theme UIs at different times of the day, it is necessary to test the app two times of the day to see how it is functioning in different light conditions. And to ensure it meets your criteria.

5. Incorporate dark mode into animations and illustrations 

If your app contains animations or heavy graphical elements, you will have to prepare for their adoption in dark theme as well. In case the illustration contains a subject and a background, it would be good to fully desaturate the background colors to help keep the attention on the subject.

6. Meet accessibility color contrast standards

Ensure that your content remains comfortably legible in Dark Mode. Dark theme surfaces must be dark enough to display white text. Google Material Design recommends using a contrast level of at least 15.8:1 between text and the background. Use color contrast tools to test contrast ratio.

7. Don’t just reverse

If you’re transitioning from standard to dark mode, the original theme may provide useful visual signals. To create a dark theme, don’t simply flip the colours. You could be transforming colours with psychological significance into meaningless bland tones. Make a conscious decision regarding the colours you use.

8. Use the right “on” colors

‘On’ colors are found on top of key surfaces and elements. Usually, they are used for text. For a dark theme, the default ‘on’ color is pure white. But it’s a bright color and would vibrate visually against dark backgrounds. For this reason, Google Material Design suggests using a little darker white.

• Disabled text utilizes darkness of 38%.
• At 60%, medium-emphasis text is executed.
• High-emphasis text must have the darkness of 87%.

9. Get deep

The higher a layer is, the lighter it should be. This will create a visual hierarchy in dark mode that goes from the most used elements in your display to the least.

With this, you now know everything there’s to know about designing the dark mode version of your app. The next actionable step is to talk to a team of experts who have implemented the UI in applications. You should see this as a way of getting closer to achieving your intent to offer a healthy experience to your end users.

Wrapping Up

With this, you now know everything there’s to know about designing the dark mode version of your app. The dark mode app design is a revolution that is just getting fired up. That means it’s the perfect time to go dark and get creative. The next actionable step is to talk to a team of UI experts who have implemented the UI in applications and get a real view of the importance of UI design in app development. You should see this as a way of getting closer to achieving your intent to offer a healthy experience to your end users.

Want to learn more about dark mode app design? Get in touch with the experts in app development.

FAQs About Designing Dark Mode App

1. Is Dark mode better for the eye?

Yes. The dark mode app design prevents instances of tiring and drying of eyes with prolonged mobile phone usage. By not being contrasting, it becomes easier for users to scroll through the application in the dark. 

2. How do you design for dark mode?

While both Apple and Google have their documentation explaining the process of designing a dark theme application, there are some tips that must be considered. Some of them are: avoid solid black colour, keep the emotional aspect of using black colour in mind, look at the transitional difference between white and dark mode app design. 

3. Is there anything as unhealthy dark mode? 

Yes, there are instances where dark mode can do more harm than good. They can cause hazing effect or when not enough attention is paid to the contrast style, they can strain the eyes to a huge extent. 

The post How to Design Dark Mode: A 2021 Guide for Mobile App Designers appeared first on Appinventiv.

Well, you need a Design System. It will help you work better, faster and improve your team collaboration.  

But what really is a Design System? 

Well, a Design System is a fairly new idea in the digital transformation landscape. But one that has stirred up a lot of emotions and interest lately. 

Known by many names such as Atomic Design Methodology, Component Design, and Design Language, the idea behind a full stack design system is creating a series of design components that can be reused by you and your team.

Airbnb and Uber have fundamentally changed how digital products are designed by implementing their own unique design systems. The advantages of a component-based design system was that these companies were able to drastically change the pace of innovation and production within their teams. 

What is a Design System? 

When too many people work on the same project and face the same challenges in a design team, each person finding a unique way to solve the problem can result in an incoherent experience for the user when they use the product. The fundamentals of a Design Systems is to manage design at scale.

If you ask me about the Design System definition, I would say it is a series of elements that can be combined and reused on a product by the whole team. It includes colors, designs, components and character styles. These series of components can be reused in different combinations.

Product Design has always been about consistency and predictability. With a unified Design System ux, you can build products better, faster and it results in a cohesive experience for the user. 

A Design Systems guide helps companies render exceptional UX and strengthen their brand. 

The Handoff Problem

Previously, designers and developers faced a lot of problems. Due to iterations, requirement changes and siloed nature of design and development, handoff posed a lot of challenges. More often than not, it resulted in developers being blocked by designers and poor product decisions. 

By focusing on commonly used components, there has been a greater collaboration between designers and developers and previously siloed teams are now working off the same mental model. Seeing already existing design system components eliminates a great deal of duplicated effort. 

The component-based design model is a great step. It has significantly reduced the need for handoff. 

Design System is a consistent approach to product development, one that encompasses guidelines, principles, philosophies, and code. A design systems guide is the perfect tool for scaling the design practice, eliminating the need for hand-off and facilitating greater collaboration.

Why Should You Use a Design System?

There are many benefits of a Design System. It helps the entire company deliver better and more consistent design solutions efficiently. A Design System eases out the process of designing delightful experiences for end-users. 

1.  Facilitates Consistency- 

Building a Design System begins with classifying all the visual components within a product. This helps in highlighting the biggest inconsistencies within the product and helps the team decide the product’s relevant and most commonly used elements and components. Consistency in Design is the most crucial Design Principle. 

2.  Better communication- 

For the team involved in product development, open source Design Systems are often referred to as the single source of truth. It helps the team to plan, develop and maintain product quality.

Single source of truth (SSOT) is a concept that organizations apply as part of their information architecture to ensure that everyone uses the same data when making business decisions.

Since the Design System is a single source of truth, this implies it also includes the vocabulary that may be used in the project. Gone are the days when a developer referred to a button as the red colored one. This leads to better discussions between the developers and designers and allows them to talk in the same naming convention. 

3.  Clarity to Developers- 

With a design system in place, developers have a clear vision of how to build the required design systems components while maintaining the unified styles. 

4.  Iterate Faster- 

By implementing a Design System, teams can iterate a lot faster. You can release new designs with lesser resources in small chunks and with shorter feedback loops. It helps you stay organized and up to date with all the design changes your team makes. 

5. Better Customer Experience:

With consistent experience created with design systems, cognitive load is reduced when switching from a mobile app experience to a desktop browser experience. By creating a consistent language that our internal and external users can understand, a better experience can be created for the people who are using your products.

6. Leveraging Each Other’s work– 

Since Design Systems can be shared across multiple teams, efficiencies can be extended across teams and products. It has become easy to leverage other people’s work, use each other’s innovation without reinventing the wheel. 

Operating at scale and improving efficiency and consistency are the main advantages of using and maintaining a Design System. Since you are reusing components in a Design System, the time and effort spent on building one really pays off in the long run. Your design and development team can just tweak the existing products, enhance the experience or focus on building other products. 

More often than not, a Design System is interchangeably used with a Style Guide or a Component Library. However, these are sub-components of a Design System. 

A Design System is far more complex than simple style guides. It includes everything from colors to documentation. What a Design System really does is, it defines a common visual language for the product teams. 

It speeds up the design process. A System Design bridges the gap between the teams involved in building a final product with consistent graphics standards, making it super easy to create websites from components. It is like a rulebook for the design and development teams and can be broken down into: 

Design System – The entire set of design standards along with principles, patterns, and components on how to achieve them. 

Pattern Library- A sub-component of Design System, a pattern library is a repository of reusable components and user interface design elements. Essentially, a  pattern library is a collection of design elements that surface multiple times on a site. 

Style Guide-  Another sub-component of the Design System, a Style Guide emphasizes the visual presentation and determines how products should look. It includes colours, fonts, brand attributes and logos.

Examples of Design System 

With a staggering rise in the number of devices, environments, and browsers, there is an ever-increasing need to develop thoughtful interface design systems. 

Design Systems are an industry standard. Not only do they provide the best team collaboration and keep your project organized, it also provides design guidance which is especially important in larger design teams. In recent years, leading tech firms have shared their design concepts and conventions, and here’s a list of design systems that are best: 

1.  Material Design

 Material Design System is widely known for its simplicity of navigation. It is a design language developed by Google in 2014 to create consistency across all Android design and devices and is widely adopted by Android and Web App developers. 

2.  Atlassian

Atlassian Design System is quite exhaustive and is widely used to create straightforward and beautiful experiences.

3.  Polaris

Polaris from Shopify is widely popular for simplifying the designer-developer workflow. 

4.  Carbon

Carbon Design System is IBM’s open-source design system for products and experiences, with the IBM design language as its foundation. 

5.  Human Interface Guidelines

 Human Interface Guidelines is a Design System prepared by Apple for all their platforms which provides in-depth UI resources and practical information. 

6.  Grommet

Created by Hewlett- Packard, Grommet is a design system that can help you embrace atomic design methods and build a library that meets your needs.

7.  Mailchimp

Mailchimp’s design system is all about bold and creative designs with a focus to provide a consistent structure to the design language. 

8.  Digital Telepathy

Digital Telepathy is a Digital Design agency. Over the years they have refined a results-driven design methodology to iteratively improve the experience of customers.

9.  Sushi

Since the initial design system tools were not scalable, Zomato recently came up with a new design system called Sushi. It provides a new and enhanced experience to its users with the Zomato app. 

10. Fluent

The Fluent Design System was developed by Microsoft and includes guidelines for the designs and interactions used within software designed for all Windows 10 devices and platforms.

How Can Design Systems Benefit Designers? 

Now that you know what is a design system in UX and UX review, and the many benefits of having one, a design system benefits designers and simplifies the tasks for them. As a leading mobile app design company, we noticed that for Designers it has become easy to break down the UI into small parts rather than consider the whole webpage as one entity. You can think of a particular page as a set of components and quickly find and use the right component, pattern or style option( color, icons, fonts, etc.) from the Design System. 

Conclusion

Instead of re-thinking the foundation of each new experience for your products, a Design System keeps designers, developers, product managers as well as multiple stakeholders aligned with the design vision of the company and allows the team to easily focus on pixel-perfect development. 

The post What is a Design System and Why You Need One? appeared first on Appinventiv.

Though you are aware what type of wallet you need, but don’t know the cost or time taken to get the customized version.

Same is the case with machine learning projects. And to help you out with this dilemma, we have provided detailed information for you to have a successful project.

Machine Learning is like a coin that has two-sides. 

On one side, it helps to eliminate uncertainties from processes. But on the other side, its development is full of unsurity. 

While the end result of almost every Machine Learning (ML) project is a solution that makes businesses better and processes streamlined; the development part of it has a completely different story to share. 

Even though ML has played a massive role in changing the profit story and business model of several established mobile app brands, it still operates under nascency. This newness, in turn, makes it all the more challenging for mobile application developers to handle an ML project plan and make it production ready, keeping the time and cost constraints in mind. 

A solution (probably the only solution) to this difficulty is black and white Machine Learning app project estimate of the time, cost, and the deliverables. 

But before we head on those sections, let us first look into what makes the difficulty and burning of the night candles worth it. 

Why Your App Needs A Machine Learning Framework?

You might be thinking how come we are talking about framework in the middle of time, cost, and deliverables estimations.

But the real reason behind the time and cost lies here, that informs us about our motive behind app development. Whether you need machine learning for:

For Offering Personalized Experience

For Incorporating Advanced Search m

For Predicting User Behaviour

For Better Security 

For Deep User Engagement 

Based on these reasons, the time, cost and deliverable will depend accordingly. 

Types of Machine Learning Models

What type of model would you consider to adjust the time and cost? If you don’t know, we have provided information for you to understand and choose models, depending on your requirements and budget.

Machine learning amidst its different use cases can be categorized into three model types, which play a role in turning rudimentary apps into intelligent mobile apps – Supervised, Unsupervised, and Reinforcement. The knowledge of what these Machine Learning Models stand for is what helps define how to develop an ML enabled app. 

Supervised Learning 

It is the process where the system is provided with data where the algorithm’s inputs and their outputs are labeled correctly. Since the input and output information are labeled, the system is trained to identify the patterns in data within the algorithm. 

It becomes all the more beneficial for it is used to predict the outcome on the basis of future input data. An example of this can be seen when social media recognizes somebody’s face when they are tagged in a photograph. 

Unsupervised Learning 

In the case of unsupervised learning, the data is fed in the system but its outputs are not labeled like in the case of supervised model. It allows the system to identify data and determine patterns from the information. Once the patterns are stored, all the future inputs are assigned to the pattern for producing an output. 

An example of this model can be seen in cases where social media gives friends suggestions on the basis of several known data like demography, education background, etc. 

Reinforcement Learning

 Like in the case of unsupervised learning, the data which is given to the system in reinforcement learning is also not labeled. Both the machine learning type differs on the ground that when correct output gets produced, the system is told that the output is right. This learning type enables the system to learn from the environment and experiences. 

An example of this can be seen in Spotify. Spotify app makes a recommendation for songs which the users then have to either give a thumbs up or thumbs down. On the basis of the selection, Spotify app learns users’ taste in music.  

Lifecycle Of A Machine Learning Project

The lifecycle of a Machine Learning project deliverables timeline usually appears like this –

ML Project Plan Setup 

• Define the task and requirements
• Identify the project feasibility 
• Discuss the general model tradeoffs
• Create a project codebase

Collection and Labeling of Data 

• Create the labelling documentation 
• Build the data ingestion pipeline 
• Validation of data quality 

Model Exploration 

• Establish the baseline for model performance 
• Create a simple model with initial data pipeline 
• Try parallel ideas during the early stages
• Find the SoTA model for the problem domain, if any, and reproduce results. 

Refinement of Model

• Do model-centric optimizations
• Debug models as complexity gets added
• Conduct error analysis for uncovering failure modes.

Test and Evaluate

• Evaluate the model on test distribution 
• Revisit the model evaluation metric, ensuring it drives desirable user behaviour 
• Write tests for – model inference function, input data pipeline, explicit scenarios expected in the production. 

Deployment of Model 

• Expose the model through REST API 
• Deploy the new model to a subset of users to ensure that everything is smooth before the final rollout. 
• Have the ability to roll back the models to its previous version 
• Monitor the live data. 

Model Maintenance

• Retrain the model for preventing model staleness
• Educate the team if there is a transfer in the model ownership

How to Estimate the Scope of a Machine Learning Project?

The Appinventiv Machine Learning team after perusing the Machine Learning type and the developmental lifecycle goes on to define the Machine Learning app project estimate of the project following these phases:

Phase 1 – Discovery (7 to 14 days)

The ML project plan roadmap begins with the definition of a problem. It looks into the issues and operational inefficiencies which should be addressed. 

The goal here is to identify the requirements and see if Machine Learning meets the business goals. The stage requires our engineers to meet with the business people on the client side to understand their vision in terms of what issues they are looking to solve. 

Secondly, the development team should identify which kind of data they have and if they would need to fetch it from outside service. 

Next, developers have to gauge if they are able to supervise algorithms – if it returns the correct response every time a prediction is made. 

Deliverable – A Problem Statement which would define if a project is trivial or or would be complex. 

Phase 2 –  Exploration (6 to 8 weeks)

The goal of this stage is to build upon a Proof of Concept which can then be installed as API. Once a baseline model is trained, our team of ML experts estimate the performance of the production-ready solution. 

This stage gives us the clarity on what performance should be expected with the metrics planned at the discovery stage. 

Deliverable – A Proof of Concept 

Phase 3 – Development (4+ months)

This is the stage where the team works iteratively till they reach a production ready answer. Because there are far less uncertainties by the time the project reaches this stage, the estimation gets very precise.  

But in case the result is not improved, developers would have to apply a different model or rework on the data or even change the method, if needed. 

In this stage, our developers work in sprints and decide what is to be done after every individual iteration. The outcomes of every sprint can be predicted effectively. 

While the sprint outcome can be predicted effectively, planning for sprints in advance can be a mistake in case of Machine Learning, for you will be working on uncharted waters.

Deliverable – A production ready ML solution

Phase 4 – Improvement (continuous)

Once deployed, decision makers are almost always in a hurry to end the project to save costs. While the formula works in 80% of the projects, the same doesn’t apply in Machine Learning apps. 

What happens is that the data changes throughout the Machine Learning project timeline. This is the reason why an AI model has to be monitored and reviewed constantly – to save it from degradation and provide a safe AI enabling mobile app development. 

The Machine Learning centered projects require time for achieving satisfying outcomes. Even when you find your algorithms beating the benchmarks right from the beginning, chances are that they would be one strike and the program might get lost when used on a different dataset.

Factors That Affect The Overall Cost

The way to develop a machine learning system has some distinguishing features such as data related issues and performance related factors which decide the last expense.

Data-related Issues

The development of reliable machine learning depends not just on phenomenal coding, but the quality and quantity of the training information also plays a crucial part.

1. Lack of Suitable Data
2. Complex Extract, Transform, Load Procedures
3. Unstructured Data Processing

Performance-related Issues

The adequate algorithm performance is another important cost factor, as a high-quality algorithm requires several rounds of tuning sessions.

1. Accuracy Rate Varies
2. Performance of Processing Algorithms

How We Estimate the Cost of a Machine Learning Project?

When we talk about the estimation of the cost of a machine learning project, it is important to first identify which project type is talked about. 

There are majorly three types of Machine Learning projects, which hold a role in answering How much does Machine Learning cost:

First – This type already has a solution – both: model architecture and dataset already exists. These types of projects are practically free, so we won’t be talking about them. 

Second – These projects need fundamental research – application of ML in a completely new domain or on different data structures compared to mainstream models. The cost of these project types are usually one which the majority of startups cannot afford. 

Third – These are the ones we are going to focus on in our cost estimation. Here, you take model architecture and algorithms which already exist and then change them to suit the data you are working on. 

Let us now get to the part where we estimate the cost of the ML project. 

The data cost 

Data is the primal currency of a Machine Learning project. Maximum of the solutions and research focuses on the variations of the supervised learning model. It is a well known fact that the deeper the supervised learning goes, the greater the need for annotated data, and in turn, the higher is the Machine Learning app development cost.

Now while services like Scale and Amazon’s Mechanical Turk can help you with gathering and annotation of data, what about Quality? 

It can be extremely time consuming to check and then correct the data samples. The solution to the issue is two faced – either outsource the data collection or refine it in-house.

You should outsource the bulk of the data validation and refinement work and then appoint one or two people in-house for cleaning the data samples and labeling it.

The research cost 

The research part of the project, as we shared above, deals with the entry level feasibility study, algorithm search and the experimentation phase. The information which usually surfaces from a Product Delivery Workshop. Basically, the exploratory stage is the one every project goes through before its production. 

Completing the stage with its utmost perfection is a process that comes with an attached number in the cost of implementing ML discussion. 

The production cost

The production part of Machine Learning project cost is made up of infrastructure cost, integration cost, and maintenance cost. Out of these costs, you will have to make the least expenses with the cloud computation. But that too will vary from the complexity of one algorithm to another. 

Integration cost varies from one use case to another. Usually, it is enough to put an API endpoint in the cloud and document it to then be used by the rest of the system. 

One key factor that people tend to overlook when developing a machine learning project is the need to pass continuous support during the entire lifecycle of the project. The data which comes in from APIs have to be cleaned and annotated properly. Then, the models have to be trained on new data and tested, deployed. 

In addition to the points mentioned above, there are two more factors that carry an importance on the estimation of the cost to develop an AI app/ML app. 

Challenges in Developing Machine Learning Apps

Usually, when a Machine Learning app project estimate is drawn, the developmental challenges associated with it are also kept into consideration. But there can be instances where the challenges are found mid-way of the ML powered app development process. In cases like these, the overall time and cost estimation automatically increases. 

The challenges for Machine Learning projects can range from:

• Deciding what set of features would become machine learning features
• Talent deficit in AI and Machine Learning domain 
• Acquiring data sets is expensive 
• It takes time to achieve satisfying results

Conclusion 

Estimating the manpower and time needed to finish a software project is relatively easy when it is developed on the grounds of modular designs and is handled by an experienced team following an Agile approach. The same, however, becomes all the more difficult when you work on creating the time and efforts wise Machine Learning app project estimate. 

Even though the goals might be well-defined, the guarantee of whether or not a model would achieve the desired outcome is not there. It is not usually possible to lower the scope and then run the project in time boxed setting through a predefined delivery date. 

It is of prime importance that you identify that there will be uncertainties. An approach that can help mitigate delays is ensuring that input data is in the right format for Machine Learning. 

But ultimately, no matter which approach you plan to follow, it will only be deemed successful when you partner with a Machine Learning app development agency that knows how to develop and deploy the complexities in their simplest form.

FAQs about Machine Learning app project estimate 

Q. Why use Machine Learning in developing an app? 

There are a number of benefits that businesses are able to avail with the incorporation of Machine Learning into their mobile apps. Some of the most prevalent ones are on the app marketing front – 

• Offering personalized experience
• Advanced search 
• Predicting user behaviour 
• Deeper user engagement 

Q. How machine learning can help your business?

The benefits of Machine Learning for businesses goes beyond marking them as a disruptive brand. It ripples down to their offerings becoming more personalized and real-time. 

Machine Learning can be the secret formula that brings businesses closer to their customers, just how they want to be approached. 

Q. How to estimate ROI on developing a Machine learning project?

While the article would have helped you in establishing the Machine Learning app project estimate, calculating ROI is a different game. You will have to keep into consideration the opportunity cost in the mix as well. Additionally, you’ll have to look into the expectation that your business has from the project. 

Q. Which platform is better for an ML project?

Your choice of whether to connect with an Android app development company or with iOS developers will depend entirely on your user base and the intent – whether it is profit making or value centric. 

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For a holistic, UX driven development, extending the engagement of UX Designers in all spheres concerning the product is a mandate. And that’s exactly where the need for Product Designer stems from. 

According to a report by The Bureau of Labour Statistics, Michigan, California and New York have the highest employment for Product Designers and witnessed new opportunities and prospects. The overall job growth rate for Product Designers is about 4%, through the year 2022. 

There are  User Experience Designers, User Interface Designers, Interaction Designers, Graphic Designers, and each one of these disciplines comes with a separate set of roles and responsibilities. 

The role of a Product Designer is gaining momentum because they handle the end to end design of a product. They not only drive the project but influence all design-related product decisions, big or small. 

Product Designers decide the look and feel of a digital product. They get hold of what customers truly want, to build products that are widely successful. 

The role of a Product Designer in app development is a fundamental one. Their sole responsibility is not to craft appealing designs or oversee the aesthetics but take charge of the overall design process and the success of the product. 

This article delves deep into the role of a product designer in app development and details how they bring meaningful products to life. 

What Is Product Design? 

Product Design is a holistic approach to creating products by combining target audience needs and business goals. The role of Product Designer in app development is not only user-centric but also business-oriented. 

Product Design is at the intersection of various design principles which encompasses UI Design, User Research, Information Architecture, Design Thinking, and Visual Design. It is about analyzing how a new product ties in with market needs and user preferences.

Product Designer role and responsibility is to be a generalist. They identify new opportunities for a product. The need to be analytic and research-oriented is growing to make informed design decisions. 

Product Orientation 

Previously, Designers took user and business requirements from Product Managers. Now, since the scope of work and the role of Product Designer in app development has evolved over the time, they work closely with Product Managers, Engineers, and cross-functional teams throughout the app development lifecycle. 

Product Designers are not just responsible for the design but the overall success of the product. They seamlessly integrate functionality and experience to offer value to the end-user. 

What Is Product Design Strategy?

Well, Product Design isn’t about creating a user-friendly interface or an attractive and appealing app. A Product Design Strategy takes a holistic approach to app development and entails combining Design Thinking with an agile mindset.  

It puts the user at the center stage- studying their needs and interests are paramount to build a product that not only users love but also accomplishes business goals. 

Product Design Strategy is about striking the right balance between user needs and business goals and not losing sight of either one during the app development lifecycle. 

The Other Facets Of Design: UX Vs UI Design  

The Product Design framework encompasses disciplines like UX Design, UI Design and Product Management. UI, UX Design is an integral part of the app development process. 

User Experience Design

User Experience Design entails creating products and providing services which render a  meaningful and delightful experience to the users. User Experience Design is a process, one that involves seamlessly integrating aspects of branding, usability, design, and functionality when building a product.

The aim of UX design is to study user behavior, understand user interests and motivations with the intent to offer engaging digital experiences after proper ux review. UX Design is about crafting experiences that are intuitive, visually stimulating and seamlessly guide users in accomplishing the desired action.

UX is essential for the success of a mobile app. It involves defining the what, why and how of a digital product. 

User Interface Design

UI Design is about creating interfaces with emphasis on responsiveness, aesthetics, and usability to foster a great experience.

UI brings together purpose and aesthetic by combining Visual Design( the look and feel) with Interaction Design( how a product works). The focus is more on colours and typography.

User Interface Design improves the quality of user interactions and offers a visually appealing product to the customers. UI Designers dig deep and draft a visual language that the user understands. The focus always lies on enhancing usability and creating a splendid visual journey. 

UX and UI are both vital elements of design. While UX makes an app usable, UI makes it visually appealing. While UI/UX Designers approach problems differently, a lot of emphasis lies on how to make an emotional connect between the user and the app. 

Product Designer Vs UX Designer 

Product Designers are experts in various disciplines of design. They always take business objectives and user needs into consideration. They are responsible for the functionality as well as the user experience of a product. 

Product Designers role and responsibility is to have a holistic understanding of product design, including visual and experience design, and business acumen. They work closely with Product Managers and lead developers throughout the discovery, design, and development process to bring great ideas to life.

Whereas, UI/UX Designers focus on the target audience, study their behaviour and craft designs that meet user needs. They are solely responsible for the design phase and making customers happy by offering them a delightful experience. 

Role Of A Product Designer In Each Phase Of App Development 

A Product Designer plays a series of roles in an app development company. They are responsible for the digital product design process. During the pre-discovery phase, they capture the product vision and ensure that their end designs will meet client and user expectations. 

Discovery Phase – 

Projects usually commence with a Discovery Phase. A Product Design Sprint is a great way to build a functionally designed prototype in a span of few days and validate assumptions with real users. 

During the discovery phase, Product Designers conduct detailed user research. This process entails analyzing user and business requirements and generating requirement based solutions to tackle design challenges. 

1. Research

Using qualitative and quantitative research methods such as User Interviews, usability testing, and data and analytics helps in making informed decisions on how to provide value to the customers.

A Product Designer conducts User Interviews which helps in identifying and analyzing user needs and determining goals. This is followed by User Persona Creation and journey mapping.

• User Persona 

Creating User Personas is an ideal approach to understand user habits, behaviour patterns, and pain points. Personas include all the essential details about the user, which makes communicating insights regarding the target audience to the multidisciplinary teams an easy task. 

User Personas help a great deal in strategizing, driving smart design decisions and narrowing down a design solution. 

• Moodboards

Mood boarding is a powerful tool to find ideas and inspiration. Design mood captures the right mood and style of the product and helps the Product Designer characterize interface elements. 

Creating a mood board helps ascertain the right colour palette, fonts, style and helps determine the visual vibe of the product.

• User Journey Mapping 

By mapping the user flow, A Product Designer defines the entire user experience. Through journey mapping, they establish the user flow in an app- right from when a user discovers an app till the end task is accomplished. It maps out the entire journey and outlines any design flaws or loopholes that require immediate attention. 

2. Product Planning 

During the product planning phase, a Product Designer provides insights regarding user behaviour and works closely with key stakeholders and product owners to plan out the core product features. 

• Wireframing 

Wireframes outlines the layout of a product and plays a fundamental role in structuring the product early on. 

Product Designers target usability and efficiency while demonstrating how interface elements will appear. By creating wireframes in Invision and Adobe XD, you can rapidly generate feedback and make pertinent changes according to the client’s unique requirements.

Making wireframes brings usability to the center stage. It fleshes out the skeleton and provides due clarity to the cross-functional teams on functionality and navigation. Building wireframes is an optimum and fast method to generate feedback and iterate accordingly. 

Development Phase 

In this phase, Product Designers are concentrated on the Visual Design of the product. In-depth user research and analysis, creating persona and journey mapping, mood boarding and wireframing – all the research and product planning aspects come together in order to develop a  cutting edge app with stellar design. 

• Prototyping 

A high-fidelity clickable prototype is a visual representation of the end design. It emulates not only the key functionality but also defines the look and feel of the product. Through rapid prototyping, Product Designer capture insights on user interaction.

Rapid prototyping is a great method to highlight any flaws and resolve usability issues before launch.

A Product Designer is involved in all stages of app development. Even after creating designs, they play an active role in development, delivery, and post- support. 

• Heuristic Evaluation 

Heuristic Evaluation is conducted to test whether a product is user-friendly. This crucial step helps in ascertaining a product’s usability. 

Usability experts review a product on a set of predetermined guidelines. User control and freedom, error prevention, aesthetic and minimalist design are a few parameters that experts take into consideration

Through heuristic evaluation, Product Designers identify design flaws and make them addressable in an iterative process. 

Delivery 

During the final stage, Product Designers ensure that the requirements and specifications are clear, understood and duly implemented. 

•  Usability Testing 

 Before diving straight into the market, the product is tested with real-time users for factors like usability and accessibility. The approach of a Product Designer from the very start is user-centric. They observe how the user interacts with a product and what fascinates them to take action. User feedback and reaction is duly incorporated to build an even better product that is scalable.

Post-release phase 

The job of a Product Designer doesn’t really end once the product is launched in the market. Sometimes, the UX is so complicated that users can’t navigate through an app with ease, while other times users don’t really use the app the way the user flow was predicted. 

Incorporating simple designs or reworking on the app’s UX post-release is another responsibility of a Product Designer. 

This can also be seen as the workflow and set of deliverables that a Product Designer has to offer right from discovery to post-launch. 

Future of Product Design 

It’s quite difficult to predict the future of product designers since disruptive technologies are changing the landscape and new design trends are gaining momentum. But AI will likely cast a huge impact on Product design in the coming years. 

In the near future, Product Designers will leverage the power of AI to create prototypes and speed up the product design and conceptualization process.

With the help of AI, designers can now come up with an array of realistic prototypes that will allow them to build something incredible.

Conclusion 

The possibilities with Product Design solutions in App Development are endless. What’s highly important is to build cross-functional teams and conduct creative sessions that are conducive for designers and developers to work hand in hand in order to change how we look at old products and bring revolutionary ideas to life.

The post What is the Role of a Product Designer in App Development appeared first on Appinventiv.

The domain gets all the more solidified by the Play Store statistics that there are approximately 2.8 million apps on Play Store and that almost 3739 apps get released on it daily.

Numbers like these solidify how Play Store for Android is an excellent option to upload your application on. 

Now, if you are wondering “How to submit app to Google Play Store”, then end your quest here. We have covered end-to-end all about the process of Google Play uploads. Without any further ado, let’s dive into Google play publish.

Step-by-Step Process to Upload App To Google Play Store

Now that the obvious is out of the way, let’s move on to the steps regarding how to upload app on Play Store. Make sure you follow each in the exact chronological order to avoid any mistakes in the process of Google app publish.

1. Google Play Developer Console

In order to upload an Android play store app, a developer dashboard is imperative. Google Play console is kind of a backend controlling center, from where developers submit Play Store apps for Android. There is a one-time fee of $25 by which a developer can open an account, loaded with functions and control features. After paying this one-time fee, you can upload Google Store Play apps for free.

You need to fill out all the credentials asked while creating the account, such as your name, country and more. Once you submit your account it will take upto 48 hours to get approved.

2. Link Developer Account with Google Wallet Merchant Account

If the app getting uploaded to Play Store supports in-app purchases, then you will need a merchant account. To create one you can sign in to your Google Play Console account and click on ‘Reports’ followed by ‘Financial Reports’ option. After this, you may select the ‘Set up a merchant account now’ option and simply fill out your details. 

The merchant account will automatically get linked to your Google Play Console account and will allow you to manage and examine app sales.

3. Create Application

This is yet another step towards how to publish an app on play store. 

Once you are logged into your developer or publisher account, here are a few steps you need to take to publish app to google play:

• In the menu, go to the ‘All applications’ tab
• You will see an option ‘Create Application’ – select it
• From the drop-down menu, choose the application’s default language
• Enter your application’s title (it can be changed later)

• Now, click on “Create”

4. App Store Listing

It is at this point of Google Play uploads, your preparations will come handy.

In this step around how to upload an app to the play store, you are required to fill out all the information and details you have already prepared with caution before. The table below shows what information you need to fill in the app listing-

Make sure to use appropriate keywords in your app description to increase the chances of your app showing up in searches. Along with this, make sure to use all the data we have talked about in the prerequisite section for app listing.

5. Upload App Bundles or APK To Google Play

Now, you are required to use the files such as App bundle or APK and signed app release and upload them into your application. This is how you do it: Navigate to the ‘Release Management’ and then ‘App Release’ tab in the menu. After this, you will be asked to choose any one type of release from four options- internal test, close test, production release, and an open test. 

Once, you have made a decision regarding which type of release you want, you may select ‘Create Release’. 

At this point, you will be redirected to the New release to the production page. Here, you are again required to make another decision- to opt for Google Play apps store signing on the app or not. If you choose the latter, then simply click on the ‘OPT-OUT’ option.

Now, select ‘Browse files’ and then look into how to upload apk to google apps store while naming and describing your release through on-screen instructions. You can also click on ‘Review’ to confirm the information. When everything is taken care of, press ‘Save’.

6. Time For Content Rating

The next step regarding how to publish Android apps on the Play Store is to rate your app. This is crucial because it is listed as ‘Unrated’, it might get removed altogether from the store, so it is imperative to rate the application.

For Content Rating, you must again navigate to the menu on the left side of the screen and then select the same. By clicking on ‘Continue’ you can move forward and then type your email address in the respective field and then ‘Confirm’ it.

Now, you may fill the questionnaire for your app rating. Follow this by selecting the ‘Save Questionnaire’ and then choose the ‘Calculate Rating’ option to see your app rating on the Play Store. The last thing to finalize your app’s content rating is to click on ‘Apply’.

7. Fix App Pricing and Distribution

Now, you have to be clear about what countries your app is going to be available in. The point to note here is that Google doesn’t support publishing an app for all regions. The app will be published in selected countries instead of world-wide.

Moreover, assigning a price to your app is crucial. If you want your app to be free, make sure that this decision is permanent, as Google does not allow you to convert free apps into paid ones. Although, the price of the app can be altered. 

To do all this, go to the Pricing and Distribution tab in the menu, and then make a choice whether your app is going to be Free or Paid. You may now select the countries you want your app to be released. Additionally, if your application is suited for children under the age of 13, you may select the option of ‘Yes’ for Primary Child-Detected. If otherwise is the case, simply select ‘No’. Similarly, select the options for allowing ads into your application.

8. Finally, Publish the Application

Once you are confirmed about everything being correct, take the last step of this guide on how to upload android app to Play Store, i.e, add the application to the platform. You need to go back to the ‘App Releases’ tab and then select ‘Manage Production’ followed by ‘Edit Release’. After this, click on ‘Review’ and then choose ‘Start rollout to production’ option. To bring this process to an end select the ‘Confirm’ option and Voila! You have successfully uploaded the app to the Google Play Store apk account for free.

Once you upload app to google play store free, all there is left to do now is to just wait for your application to get approved. It generally took about two hours for your application to get reviewed. But with apps store Google Play’s updated privacy policy, it will now take hours and even days for the same, encouraging mobile app development companies to create even more flawless applications that get selected instantly. So, hold your excitement in the place and just wait.

How To Get Your App Featured On Play Store?

Your job is to make sure the app gains popularity and thousands of downloads doesn’t end here. After successful execution of the steps regarding how to upload an app to Google Play App Store, it is now time to get it featured on Play Store.

There are certain practices such as user interaction and visual design services, working on the latest technologies, localization, etc. that helps your app to get featured. Getting featured on Google Play Store apk can benefit your app to an extent that it increases the attention of users on your app by multi-folds.

What To Do After Play Store App Submission?

With the question of “How to publish app on Play Store” answered, you might think “What is there to do next?”. Well, we have got you covered with this as well. Here are some practices you can do to ensure your application enjoys global exposure on Google apps store.

1. Promote App On Social Media

Social Media is a great medium to skyrocket the popularity of your application. The fact that 42% of the world’s population uses social media is enough to justify the statement. There are some platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Pinterest, and a lot more that are constantly in use. So, promoting your app on these platforms promises more traffic and eventually more downloads.

2. Initiate Press-Release

Press-release is another way through which you can promote your brand. With this, your brand will come into limelight and many publications will cover your app release which will eventually allow your app to reach a wider user base and develop an authentic connection.

A press release that covers the words, attributes and insights of the mobile app developers and application itself has proved to be an incredible app marketing strategy. It is a great example to show users that what they expect is good.

3. Focus On App Maintenance And Update

You cannot just publish your application on the app store and let it be. You need to efficiently maintain your application and introduce frequent updates, attending to the issues and bugs faced by users. Maintaining something is a constant task rather than a one-time thing. So, make sure you keep your app updated with the latest tech-stack and fix whatever needs fixing.

4. Practice ASO

App Store Optimization is a celebrated practice among all the top Android app development companies. Famously known as ASO, it primarily focuses on the activities which target aspects that can generate more attention and visibility of your application on app store. These practices are focused on increasing the conversion rate of impressions into downloads on the application.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. How Long Does it Take to Publish an App on Google Play Apps Store?

There is no fixed time limit for publishing an application on Google apps store. Though the process of submitting an application through the Google Play Store Console is simple and concise, the duration of your app getting reviewed and selected can vary between hours and days.

Q. How Much Does it Cost to Put an App on the Play Store?

There is only a one-time fee of $25 which you pay when you publish your first application. After this, all the apps you publish on google app store for android are cost-free.

Conclusion 

We hope that the above instructions were helpful in guiding you through the process of how to publish an app on google play. Once you upload app to app store, you require an active marketing strategy to attract the customers. After android app publish, your app requires continuous efforts to make it a success, or competition will overshadow it.

At Appinventiv, we have experts who can help you choose the right app marketing strategy for your android app store. We can help you in making your app a success. 

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