Student LogDesign and build an app with the AppShed team

This log is where you will record your work whilst you complete this project. Make sure you keep your log up to date – this is how your teacher will assess you. There is a page at the back of this Log for recording your marks.

This Student Log must be completed in electronic form as some tasks require you to insert images into the log, work on templates in the log, click on links from the log, etc.

A reminder – what’s the brief?

You are going to work with the AppShed team to fulfil a client brief. The client brief is:

Create an app to help Year 12 and 13 students make an informed choice about university or apprenticeships by

providing financial information

Name :

Class/tutor group :

The app development process

The graphic above shows the process of app development – from meeting with the client all the way through to support and maintenance of the app when it’s released. You will be working through these steps.

Task 1: What the client wants from the app

Fill in the table below based on what you expect the client to want.

Client specification:

Four key points the client makes about the app

1. 2.

3. 4.

Task 2: Complete a Requirements Specification

Now you have some ideas about what the client wants, complete the template below. This will provide you with the Requirements Specification that will help the whole design and build process.

Client Requirements Specification

Who is the app for?

What is the main purpose of the app?

Did the client specify any important information the app should include?

Did the client specify any design features that should be included?

Are there any resources provided by the client?

Was there anything else particularly important raised by the client?

Task 3: Listing the resources you have found that will help you design your app

List here the resources you have located, as you will need to make sure you include as many of these as you can in the final app (Weblinks):

Task 4: Research into the target audience

As an app designer it is important to do some research into the target audience the app is aimed at, in this instance year 12/13 pupils. It is very important to extract certain information from the target audience so you are in a strong position to create an app that appeals to them.

Look at the table below showing what information you need to collect from the target audience. Once your teacher has given you directions on how to collect this data, complete the table below.

Year 12/13 student 1

Year 12/13 student 2

Overall class themes and conclusion

Do you own a smart phone? If so, how often do you use mobile

phone applications?

What app(s) do you use most

often?

Year 12/13 student 1

Year 12/13 student 2

Overall class themes and conclusion

What features (what the app

does, its functionality) of the app(s) you

use do you like?

What features don’t you like in

apps?

What do you like about the design

(the look and feel) of the

app(s) you use most often?

Do you think you would use

an app that

Year 12/13 student 1

Year 12/13 student 2

Overall class themes and conclusion

gives you information on apprenticeships and university,

especially around funding?

Do you already use an app that

gives you information in

this area?

What information

would you like from an app like

this?

What features would you like an app like this

to have?

Year 12/13 student 1

Year 12/13 student 2

Overall class themes and conclusion

What themes/designs would you like to see used in

this app?

Task 5: App features research

Using the guidance document ‘What useful features could your app have?’ to help you, complete the following table:

Feature Reason

Three app features that would be useful

Three app features that would not be

useful

Make a note of any other features you think may be useful for your app:

Task 6: What similar apps exist that are aimed at your target audience?

WhatsApp, Angry Birds and Instagram are all very popular apps, each being downloaded by millions of different users. These apps are all very different in what they do, how they look and how they appeal to a user.

So what makes an app successful? What makes people download and use an app? Answer the following questions using the guidance document What are the characteristics of a popular app? to help you. You are going to look at different characteristics including:

Purpose of the app Functions of the app Features of the app that don’t work Design of the app Improvements to the app

In one sentence, sum up what you think the main purpose of each app is:

WhatsApp:

Angry Birds:

Instagram:

Write down one feature of each app that is useful to its purpose and explain why (hint – look at Task 6 guidance document for a list of some app functions)

WhatsApp:

Angry Birds:

Instagram:

Write down one feature of an app that is not appropriate for each of these apps and explain why:

WhatsApp:

Angry Birds:

Instagram:

Write down one way in which the design of the app contributes to its success and explain why

WhatsApp:

Angry Birds:

Instagram:

Suggest one way in which each app could be improved (think about what functions/features or design improvements could help the app)

WhatsApp:

Angry Birds:

Instagram:

Task 7: How can your app appeal directly to the target audience?

Part 1: Take a look at the three websites which you will use when creating your app. How will your app appeal to the target audience?. Study the table below and then fill in the gaps with relevant information for each of the websites.

Information the site is trying to

present (one sentence)

Ways in which the website

presents the information

Other ways the website helps the

audience to take in

information (e.g. use of

colour)

Good points

about this method

Bad points

about this method

Website 1

Website 2

Website 3

Part 2: With the information you have collected in the table above and with your specific target audience in mind, write down three ways in which your app could present information that would appeal to your audience.

1:

2:

3:

Task 8: What concepts and images could inspire your app design?

Based on what you have learnt from the document What could inspire the design of your app? and what you think would work for your app, complete the table below:

What is the key information that your app is trying to get across? (One sentence only – remind yourself of the brief!)

What sort of design would appeal to your audience?

What colours would be suitable for your app and why?

What design should your app convey?

What could provide inspiration for your app icon?

Remember not to plagiarise someone else’s work (see Extension Task 9)

When you have created your app icon, insert a copy into the box below (click inside the box first):

Task 9: Making an app plan

Before you can start building your app, you need to plan how each screen will look, how the app will flow and what the user journey will be (how a user will navigate through the app).

Below you will see a blank plan for your app – a splash screen and 5 tabs (the maximum you can have on an AppShed app). Use as many of tabs as you plan to have in your app.

SPLASH SCREEN

Features on this screen (image or loading screen):

GENERAL APP INFORMATIONNAME OF YOUR APP:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF APP:

ICON SELECTED FOR THE APP: YES/NO

OVERALL COLOURS/THEME FOR APP:

HOMEPAGE - TAB 1:

Text on this screen:

Features on this screen:

FEATURES ON THIS TAB LINK TO:

ICON:

COLOURS/THEME:

TAB 2:

Text on this screen:

Features on this screen:

FEATURES ON THIS TAB LINK TO:

ICON:

COLOURS/THEME:

TAB 3:

Text on this screen:

Features on this screen:

FEATURES ON THIS TAB LINK TO:

ICON:

COLOURS/THEME:

TAB 4:

Text on this screen:

Features on this screen:

FEATURES ON THIS TAB LINK TO:

ICON:

COLOURS/THEME:

TAB 5:

Text on this screen:

Features on this screen:

FEATURES ON THIS TAB LINK TO:

ICON:

COLOURS/THEME:

Task 10: Making changes to the app? Problems

When you get into building an app, you often find problems crop up that you hadn’t considered in advance. Or you might find a better way of doing something. Recording these changes will help you in the future when you develop more apps. Use the table below to describe any changes your made.

Problems faced when creating the app

How these problems were overcome

Changes made to the app Why?

Task 11: ‘Testing, testing!’

Your app must meet the expectations of the client that you agreed right at the beginning. You don’t want to produce an app for them that doesn’t match their needs or that contains bugs and faults, so it is important you thoroughly check your app.

You must work through the app as a user would, record any ways in which the app doesn’t work, such as faulty links, spaces where images should be but are missing, etc, and record them in the table below. Any parts of the app that you want to improve should be noted down here too (even the best app developers find things they would like to improve!). You will then need to fix the problems and record the method that you used to fix them in the table below.

Don’t be disheartened if you find lots of errors in your app – all, including the best app developers make mistakes and constantly check and update their products. It is much better to find these bugs now than to miss them and leave them in the final product.

If possible, you could swap with a class mate and you can draw up a list of problems or faults for each other – it is easy to miss mistakes in your own work. And you will hear from Rajesh that the best person to test an app is someone who doesn’t know anything about it!

Problem or fault in app Solution to this problem

Learning Outcomes

Learning outcomes Tick when achieved

Understand the app development process and its stages

Work with a team to design an app, recognizing and understanding the roles of each team member

Listen to a client brief and identify the problem an application needs to solve

Define the client problem in detail so that a solution can be planned and achieved including creating a requirements specification

Collect resources and information that will support the app development process

Use information provided to determine the content of the app in planning the solution

Carry out audience research to understand the user preferences to inform the design

Carry out product research to understand how other apps have addressed the problem, e.g. providing text based information creatively

Make use of research to inform the design of screens in the app

Make decisions about information that needs to be in the app

Understand how mood boards are created to reflect design ideas

Create a mood board using requirements specification and research outcomes

Understand how client requirements can change and how to accommodate the changes

Create an app plan or flow chart of the app screens including movement from one to the other and the user journey, making use of the information decisions already made

Understand the limitations of certain software when working through a project

Make informed choices about the use of software when working through a project

Use a suitable software program to create an app

Organise and carry out user testing of the finished app, including identifying any need for change

Understand the need for quality control and testing

Identify strategies for marketing an app based on research

Understand the need for support and maintenance of a completed app for a client