THE STEPS NEEDED TO TRANSFORM YOUR APP IDEAS INTO REALITY

ASK AN EXPERT: MIKE SARASTI



DIGITAL MEDIA PRO SHARES THE STEPS NEEDED TO TRANSFORM YOUR APP IDEAS INTO REALITY.

Q:
I’ve got a great idea for an app, but I don’t know how to make it a reality. Who can help me? Where do I start?

Miami is bursting with creative, entrepreneurial energy these days. I’m particularly excited about great ideas brewing in the mobile technology space. If you’ve got a great idea, here are a few words of advice to get you started.

Be completely inspired.
Understand from the get-go that it will take time to build a great app, so you’ll need to be really inspired from the start in order to follow through until it’s done. Feed your inspiration in every way you can. Surround yourself with great apps, great content and great art.

Narrow down exactly what you want your app to do.
Great apps are very focused. Decide the one thing you want your app to do better than the competition. This will keep you on track as you build your team, design the user experience and market the app to your audience.

Do the research.
Understand the tools currently available to your audience. How many apps out there do something similar? Read the customer feedback in the app stores to look for clues about where they might be falling short. Is your audience more likely to use Apple or Android? Deciding on a platform leads us to the most important step—building a team.

Hang with experts.
Building a great app is very rarely a one-person show. To build a great app, you’ll need experts in different areas: user experience, mobile development, graphic design to name a few. Tap into Miami-Dade County’s burgeoning tech sector by attending local technology “meet-ups” and collaborative spaces, like The LAB Miami, to find potential team members. Talk about your idea. Learn the lingo. Don’t settle for the first “developer” you find. These days, the term “web developer” can mean a lot of different things.

Look for self-starters—people who’ve built a product before, whether for fun or out of frustration. Take your time gathering the right team members who complement each other and are passionate about your idea. Sometimes you can find a group of developers who’ve already proven to work well together.

Don’t short-change your investment in the design process.
The best apps are simple and use thoughtful user experience design to solve a problem. Get user flows and interactions fully designed before you get busy with actual development; this will save you time and money.

As you move into development, stay inspired and agile. There will be moments of frustration, but if you keep the creativity flowing, your app will be the better for it.

twitter: @sarasti


About Mike Sarasti
Mike Sarasti is Program Manager overseeing special projects and digital media for Miami-Dade County’s Community Information and Outreach Department. He has extensive experience driving web development projects, user experience design, survey research, and digital media campaigns. Mr. Sarasti holds a Master’s degree in Interactive Communication from Florida State University and a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from Florida International University’s Honors College.



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