Part 5

UI Design basics: How to start

All the steps of starting a new mobile app project from scratch.

After we went through all the very basics of UI design based on Designing User Interfaces free chapters it’s time to start moving those rectangles!

This is the exciting part!

If you missed the previous chapters (1,2,3) and all the types of screens you’ll be designing for,

When you’re just starting out, it’s good to do the “project init” screens from scratch. That will give you the practice and confidence you’ll need at this point. After a while, however, you can build your own starting templates to make the process even faster.

The first question should be:

What are you going to design?

If you’re just starting out and/or building your portfolio, it’s best to work on mobile apps first. That’s simply because due to the smaller canvas, it’s actually easier and faster to come up with something good. Making a website — and especially a landing page — requires more skill, due to the fact that the screen is larger, so you need to figure out a complex structure of content vs (often large) whitespace.

This can get tricky. So let’s start with apps, shall we?

Mobile app design

First thing to do, is deciding on the device your design will “live on”. Again, if you’re aiming to build out a UI portfolio first, it’s likely up to you, whether you’ll use an iPhone or and Android as reference.

If you want a truly unique, engaging showcase of your work, you shouldn’t really use Material Design or iOS components all too much anyway. They make the project look generic, and in the fast-paced modern world people will simply scroll right through them without pause.

If you’re working on your portfolio, avoid using generic styles, and try to make it interesting. Design by Diana Malewicz