WHAT WE OFFER

App Design Services

We create modern web and mobile apps with unique branding, flawless designs and real impact. We transform app designs into interactive app prototypes, showcasing your idea before app development.

User Experience (UX) Design

Understanding your audience is central to designing an app for them. Our Melbourne-based team use a human-centred approach that focuses on designing apps that reflect the needs, perceptions, and behaviours of your audience. To deliver a great user experience, our app designers consider the ways your users will interact and experience the product. We document this through a range of activities such as user flows, user journeys, wireframes and user stories. By putting people first, Wave Digital has established a reputation for producing award-winning iPhone and Android app designs that are intuitive, delight and stand the test of time.

→ UX & UI for Mobile Apps

Visual Design (User Interface Design)

We use our extensive experience in designing apps to create designs that are not just visually appealing, but that also improve user experience. Our app design process expertly crafts flows, interactions, and visual designs to your users’ behaviours. Wave’s design team also work closely with our app developers to ensure the visual designs reflect the technologies being used. For example, creating a neutral design for React Native mobile apps versus an iOS or Android specific design for native development. Our design approach results in human-centred and visually impressive outcomes from wireframes through to your final mobile and web apps.

→ App Animation and Illustration

Brand and Visual Identity

Wave Digital’s Melbourne-based design team help visualise the heart and purpose of your product brand. Defining your Startup or company’s purpose and vision is no easy feat, and communicating it clearly to your customers is even trickier. We work with you to uncover and articulate your story, and identify the best way to share it. We apply research and strategy to not just create an effective logo but to also develop a compelling visual identity system. We use colour, typography, imagery, grid systems, and graphics, alongside your logo to build brand recognition. Aligning your visual identity to your brand strategy, we’re able to encapsulate your brand within your web or mobile app and any other outputs.

→ See also Apps for Startups

App Prototypes

Prototypes are becoming increasingly popular and it is easy to understand why. For founders and businesses, prototypes are not only a good inexpensive first step that de-risks their investment. They also provide a hands on early ‘working’ product that can entice support from users, stakeholders and investors. Our app designers are skilled at using the latest prototyping software. By linking wireframes or visual designs together, the Wave Digital team can create a highly interactive prototype that mirrors how the app will function. And with no coding involved, an app prototype can save you time and money.

→ App Prototypes → See also Apps for Startups

CLIENT REVIEWS

We deliver an app design process that engages our clients, places a spot light on the user and clarifies app requirements, with the outcome – beautiful, intuitive designs.

Adam Gernon,

Chief Technology Officer,

CXi Software

“Exceptional service provided by Guy and Wave Digital from ideation and throughout the design consultation process. Guy’s team delivered a superior final product by leveraging their innovative design expertise.”

Amelia Hyatt,

Senior Research Officer,

Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre

“We were extremely happy with our final product, the design consultation and process, and the team at Wave. We would recommend their services without hesitation.”

OUR EXPERIENCE

Wave Digital are proud Victorian participants in the Apple Consultants Network – a testament to our app design capability.

Zyppyz Web App

Zyppyz

The Happy Habit app

The Happy Habit

SafeSnap App

eHealth NSW

Book a FREE 30 minute consultation

Get tailored advice from Wave Digital’s Managing Director, Guy Cooper, about your app idea and options for commercialisation, along with insight into the app development process.

Book a free consult →

APP DESIGN PROCESS

The app design process starts with people. We first aim to describe the product from the user’s perspective through scenarios and user stories. This, combined with benchmarking research and competitor analysis informs the design brief for the wireframing process. We also create the information architecture. Our team work with you to confirm a structure, identify critical information, refine language, and place key content. We then leverage existing brands, or the brand and visual identity we have created, to produce the app visual designs. At this stage, we can produce an interactive app prototype or video animation which quickly and easily highlights to users and investors, how your app will work.

→ Apps for Startups → Strategy Process → App Development Process → Support Process

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What is the difference between UX and UI design?

User experience design (UX) is the process of designing a product that is engaging, useful and enjoyable for the user. When designing the user experience for a mobile app or web app, the designer will be considering:

who the users are and their motivation for using the app
how and when they will be using it
how a user feels during and after using your app
whether the app meets their specific needs including what is most important to them

Delivering a successful UX means making the app relevant, easy to use and intuitive. By designing an app so that the end user is comfortable with the technology on an ongoing basis, users are more likely to return to the app more regularly.

User interface design (UI) complements UX by focusing on the visual design of the app interfaces – the look and feel. A UI designer will be considering how the elements of the app look on the screen and how they function. For mobile apps, they will be taking into account the specific design patterns for iPhone (Wave Digital are proud participants of the Apple Consultants Network) and Android. Do you think you have an eye for detail? For app UI design, this is critical. For example, an app designer will be deciding whether to use rounded or bevilled corners on a small button, and whether or not to use a shadow. By making sure the app is visually appealing, UI enhances the user’s experience of the app.

For more information on the process, see UX & UI design for mobile apps.

What is the difference between low fidelity and high fidelity design?

During the app design process, we use a mix of low fidelity and high fidelity designs, depending on the project and the client’s needs.

A low fidelity design is like the skeleton of a screen, indicating the rough layout without explicitly articulating finer details like icon style, font type, imagery and colour scheme. Low fidelity designs are used to quickly mock up and communicate the core layouts and functionalities of a digital product. This allows us and our clients to make decisions about the more important things and not get distracted by aesthetic details.

A high fidelity design is an accurate visual representation of how the app will look when built. During high fidelity design, all details are defined i.e icon style, font type, imagery and colour scheme.

What is a user story?

User stories are used to describe software features by capturing their purpose from the perspective of the end user. They usually follow this format:

As a [user type], I want to [user need], so that [benefit].

An example from Wave Digital’s meditation app, The Happy Habit App, would be:

As a [meditation learner], I want to [be reminded to meditate], so that [I can build a consistent habit].

What is a user journey?

A user journey is a sequence of steps showing how a user might interact with a product or service for a particular scenario.

For example, the user journey to ‘book a carspace’ on Wave Digital’s Zyppyz app would be as follows:

Search area for space
Browse spaces
Send a booking request to the carspace owner
Receive confirmation
Proceed to park in space

We have our own developers - can Wave Digital just help with app design?

Yes. We can provide app user experience, visual design and branding services (or a mixture) to supplement our client’s development capability. This option suits a range of clients. For example, companies with an in-house development team or smaller businesses who have been using a single freelance developer. At Wave, we also offer a design QA review service after the interfaces have been developed (prior to launch).

We also have experience working with organisations that have internal graphic designers but that still look to Wave for app design services. This is because designing for mobile requires specialist capability and knowledge. A great graphic design does not necessarily translate to a great mobile design.

Examples of where Wave Digital has provided design services to complement our client’s internal development capability are CXi Software and Aeon Timeline.

Got an app idea?

Whether you're a Startup or Business, we'd love to hear from you.

Send us an email, pay us a visit or simply send us a few details. We’re here to answer your questions →