WELCOME TO THE NEW, IMPROVED AND UPDATED VERSION OF THE BEST SELLING MOBILE APP DESIGN COURSE ON UDEMY
This course is not just about creating a pretty app, it’s about designing an app that works great and happens to be beautiful. We’ll teach you a complete design workflow that will allow you turn your idea into a fully designed and engaging mobile app using Sketch 3.
Learn to design engaging apps with this beginners mobile app design course
A skill that will change your life
Mobile apps are everywhere, transforming our personal and profesionnal lives. And what makes an app successful is how well it is conceived. The demand for people able to design such engaging and well thought apps is constantly growing. That’s why mobile app designers are averaging over $100k a year.
With Sketch 3 and this course, you’ll have the skills to produce professional designs even if you have zero previous experience.
Content and Overview
This course is efficiency oriented and is taught with an example. Each lesson represents a step in the design process that will be applied to the app we will be building and that we’ll help you apply to your own idea. You don’t need any previous experience as a designer, we’ll teach you everything you need to know along the way.
We’ll begin by teaching you what UX is, how it affects the UI design and how you can use UX research techniques to craft a great app. We’ll show you how to efficiently build a quick first version of your app and how to preview it on a device. This will get you used to Sketch and we’ll give you exercises to build up your design skills.
We’ll then work on the visual concept of your app, you’ll learn about colors, fonts and how to properly use them. This will allow us to create the final design of our app, beautiful and functional. In this section we’ll dive deep into Sketch amazing functions and best practices.
You’ll even learn how to design an icon for the app and showcase your finished app !
By the end of this course you’ll…
Welcome to the course!
0:00 Introduction
0:09 About me
0:22 Why I created this course
0:46 The goal of the course
1:05 What we'll be doing
1:50 Who is this course for
In this video I'll explain how to get the most out of this course.
0:00 Introduction
0:07 What we'll be making
0:48 Organization of the course
1:34 Personal project
2:42 Download the attached file
In this video we'll cover the definition and distinction between UX and UI.
0:00 Introduction
0:38 UX and UI
0:55 UX
1:10 UI
1:22 UX/UI distinction - cereals example
1:45 UX/UI distinction - sample app
2:24 Where to find the answers
ERRATUM: SKETCH 3 IS NOW 99$
In this video I'll introduce you to Sketch, the awesome design software we'll be using to design our app.
0:00 Introduction
0:14 Why we won't be using Photoshop
0:40 Why we'll be using Sketch
1:48 Vector-based drawing rules
2:39 Sketch vs Photoshop example
3:46 More reasons to use Sketch
4:26 Articles about photoshop users switching to sketch
4:38 Complete Beginner?
4:51 Sketch is good for your clients
5:25 Install Sketch
Sketch vs Photoshop
This lesson is the first in the UX research part. The goal of this section is to help you really understand what you want to build. The first step, described in this video, is to make sure you're tackling a real problem.
0:00 Introduction
0:37 Design is the art of solving problems
1:30 Lean Startup and Customer development
Customer Development manifesto
Startup Owner's Manual by Steve Blank
1:55 Iteration
2:15 Hypothesis: problem + customer
2:46 Test: talk to people
3:32 Learnings/ Refine
4:14 Problems tackled by Instagram
5:01 Homework: write your problem and customer hypothesis in less than 10 words
Knowing your users is crucial. You can't hope to craft a good product if you don't understand who you're creating it for.
In this video I'll introduce you to a very handy tool that will help you understand your users: the persona.
0:00 Introduction
0:52 Personas
1:29 Persona canvas
1:35 Proto persona
3:55 Interview tips
6:02 Validated persona
7:59 Homework: fill your proto persona and get out of the building
Abstract
Personas
Interview tips
Once we've made sure we're solving a real problem for a real category of people, we can start thinking about a solution.
In this video we'll explore different techniques to come up with as many ideas as we can. We'll then work on narrowing this ideas down to one main feature.
0:00 Introduction
0:56 Tips to find solution ideas
1:02 Do a semantic exploration
2:22 Look at other products that solve similar problems
2:41 Look at common human behaviors when trying to solve a similar problem
2:59 Think about what your target is already using
3:18 Think about the key issues that affect the problem
3:42 Try to solve the opposite problem
3:56 Solve a similar problem in a different field
4:25 Brainstorm with monetization in mind
4:48 Find your Main Feature
7:08 Only keep necessary sub features
Find a lot of solutions
Find THE solution
In this lesson we'll learn how to write user narratives in order to figure out how our app will work.
0:00 Introduction
0:37 User Narratives
2:28 Start with a goal story
2:58 Break into small stories
4:36 Desire Engine
5:34 Trigger
6:10 Action
6:16 Variable reward
8:13 Commitment
9:41 Feed narrative
10:40 Explore narrative
11:35 Notifications narrative
11:47 Profile narrative
User Narratives
Desire Engine (canvas in this lesson folder)
Mockups are the blueprints of our app, a necessary step to transform a concept and user stories into a real interface. In this video we'll start building the mockups of the sample app.
0:00 Introduction
1:22 Mockups = Layout
1:30 Content is king
2:30 Using sketch to build mockups
3:16 Open "Mockups template 1x"
3:22 Overview of the mockups template
4:46 Narratives
5.13 Bottom bar
7:24 Top bar
8:25 Changing the icons
12:43 Group and Lock navigation elements
13:49 Duplicating artboards
12:51 Inverting the tabs in the new art boards
17:22 Changing the titles
18:02 Planning the Camera Flow
24:18 Camera Flow screen 1
30:24 Saving
31:15 Camera Flow screen 2
36:30 Camera Flow screen 3
Definition
Building your mockups
In this lesson we'll continue working on our mockups.
0:00 Introduction
0:06 Feed flow narratives
0:46 Feed flow screen 1
8:17 Feed flow screen 2
13:12 Explore flow screen
15:22 Explore flow screen 1
16:24 Explore flow screen 2
19:06 Explore flow screen 3
23:37 Homework: notifications and profile screens
24:10 Conclusion
This lesson is the first in the visual concept section. We'll start with the beginning: finding inspiration.
Remember, "good artists copy, great artists steal".
0:00 Introduction
0:29 Good artists copy, great artists steal
0:46 Gimmebar
1:45 Gimmebar plugin
2:20 Start collecting inspiring things
6:30 UI inspiration
8:03 Sidebar
8:32 Conclusion
In this video I'll introduce you to the basics of Typography and I'll show you how you can apply what you've learned while designing.
We'll also learn how to identify a font we like and install it on our computer so we can use it in our designs.
0:00 Introduction
1:10 Typography basics
2:09 Kerning
2:45 Tracking
4:03 Leading
5:08 Text alignement
6:56 The Measure
7:32 Typefaces
9:56 Mixing typefaces
10:49 Typefaces and mobile apps
11:11 Finding cool fonts
Google webfonts that don't suck
More Google webfonts that don't suck
11:53 Identify a font
13:21 Add a new font to your font book
Elements of a typeface
Typography basics
Typeface
Mixing Typefaces
Mobile apps
In this video we'll talk about how colors are formed and how to handle colors on your computer. The RGB and HSB models will have no secret for you.
0:00 Introduction
0:45 How colors are formed
1:26 Subtractive colors
3:03 RGB Model
4:48 Hex code
5:57 HSB
6:26 Hue
8:10 Saturation
9:20 Brightness
10:17 Alpha
11:18 Homework: play with colors
Subtractive colors
Additive colors
RGB Model
HSB model
Alpha
In this video I'll tell you about the meaning of colors to help you choose a base color.
0:00 Introduction
0:25 Additive and subtractive colors
1:41 Subtractive colors wheel
2:58 Tints, shades and tones
3:21 Color Scheme
3:59 Choose a base color
5:52 Warm, cool and neutral colors
6:16 Warm colors
6:40 Red
7:50 Yellow
8:34 Orange
9:50 Cool colors
10:17 Blue
11:20 Green
12:08 Purple
12:58 Neutral colors
13:17 Black
13:59 White
15:03 Cheat Sheet
15:21 Style guide
Color Theory
Tints, shades and tones
Color Scheme
Colors meanings
Once you've made up your mind about your base color, how can you decide what colors you can associate with it? The answer in this video.
0:00 Intro
0:23 Monochromatic color scheme
0:49 Complementary color scheme
1:15 Spilt complementary color scheme
1:30 Analogous color scheme
2:01 Triadic color schemes
2:14 Tetradic color schemes
2:42 Kuler
4:23 Adding contrast to a color scheme
5:10 Creating a color scheme from a photo
6:13 Kuler mobile app
6:41 Create your color scheme
10:11 Homework: add the new colors to the style guide
10:37 Color inspiration
12:53 Homework: go ahead and try to create a few color schemes
Traditional color schemes
Create a color scheme
A quick your of Sketch to get things started.
0:00 Intro
0:40 Toolbar
1:34 Layers list
1:40 Creating geometric shapes
3:25 Layer options
3:38 Inspector
3:55 Canvas
Toolbar at the top
Layers
Inspector on the right
Canvas
We'll start the design of the UI with the navigation (the top bar and the bottom bar)
0:00 Intro
0:19 Flat vs Skeumoprhism
0:52 Artboard dimensions
1:47 Retina vs non retina, pixels and points
3:22 Screen sizes
4:36 1x vs 2x
5:33 Designing the navigation system
6:04 Top bar
22:39 Bottom bar
33:02 Conclusion
Being able to preview your designs on the device you're designing for is crucial. I'll show you how to do that.
0:00 Introduction
0:10 Sketch Mirror
1:00 Skala
There's two ways you can add icons to your designs: using existing icons and designing your own. In this video I'll show you how to integrate existing icons
0:00 Introduction
0:37 Refresh icon
0:49 Copying an icon from and icons set
1:00 Pasting and modifying the icon
2:02 Resizing the icon
3:02 Changing the color of the icon
3:58 Styling the icon
5:22 Changing the icon while keeping the style
6:27 SketchMine
7:23 The Noun Project
8:42 SVG and Sketch
9:32 Conclusion
In this video we'll create our own icons for the tab bar. I'll show you how you can create almost any graphic representation by assembling simple shapes.
0:00 Introduction
1:00 Home icon
2:48 Boolean operations
7:35 Explore icon
11:43 Camera icon
15:40 Notif icon
20:26 Profile icon
Boolean operations
Pixel view
Vector edit mode
Double click on a shape to make the vector points appear
By the end of this video the first screen of our app will be complete and you should be more at ease with sketch and its different tools.
0:00 Introduction
0:03 Locking the navigation
0:31 Quick look at the mockups
0:48 User picture
1:28 Using a mask
3:22 Align elements using guides
5:39 Align elements using a grid
7:28 User name
8:53 Photo
10:04 Likes
12:37 Comments
16:21 Box model
17:08 Like button
22:45 Comment button
Masks
In this video we’ll design the camera flow screens.
0:00 Introduction
0:39 Create a new page
1:06 Camera Flow 1st screen
19:00 Camera Flow 2nd screen
36:00 Camera Flow 3rd screen
53:40 Conclusion
*** If you like the course so far, don't hesitate to rate the course! (you can always modify you review later) ***
In this video we'll craft our own redesign of Instagram!
0:00 Introduction
1:55 3 ways to design an app
3:24 Top bar
4:18 Bottom bar
5:00 Layout / visual hierarchy
13:01 Styling the top bar
15:45 Refresh icon
16:53 Title
17:39 Styling the bottom bar
18:25 Bottom bar icons
3 ways to design an app
Layout / Visual hierarchy
Link Style
In this video we'll replace the layout (the grey rectangles) with the final elements of our redesign.
0:00 Introduction
0:04 User picture and user name
3:24 Photo
4:34 Likes
7:16 Comments
9:14 Buttons
13:25 Scrolled screen
In this lesson your job will be to recreate the designs I’ve prepares for the redesign of the camera flow.
We’ll also learn a bit more about the vector tool.
0:00 Introduction
0:10 Exercise
1:07 Vector tool
3:00 Vector point modes
6:00 Scissor tool
7:10 Vector game
Abstract
Vector tool
Click anywhere on the canvas to add a first vector point
Add another vector point and a line will connect bothe points
Hold down the mouse and drag away when you add a point to draw a curve
The two small dots connected to the new point are called control points. Their position determines the exact curve between the main points.
Hold shift to align the new point at a 45° angle
Hold the alt key, to make a circle appear, you can place your new point anywhere on the circle
Use the arrows on the keyboard to move the control point to be more precise, and count
Close the path by selecting the first point again. Or press Enter or Escape if you don’t want to close the path
Point modes
Straight: no control points and therefore just straight lines.
Mirrored: Control points mirror each other; they are opposite each other and at the same distance from the main point. If a vector point is not straight, this is the default.
Asymmetric: Distance between the control points and the main point is independent, but they do mirror each other.
Disconnected: Control points are completely independent of each other.
Rounded: The point is rendered as a rounded corner with a specific radius, that you can change here
Scissor tool
If you don’t have it in your tool bar, right click > customize toolbar
Allows you to cut a segment between 2 vector points
In this lesson we’ll talk about how to export the elements you’ve designed so they can be integrated in your app. We’ll also see how you can make you and your teams's job easier by using a styleguide.
0:00 Introduction
0:25 Easy way to export
0:38 Export mode
1:08 Export
2:15 Select what to export
3:02 Trim transparent pixels
3:40 Also export as Half/Double size
4:36 Talk with the developer before exporting
5:33 Exporting the icons
8:34 Documenting our design
14:27 Export file
15:10 Style guide
16:01 Conclusion
Abstract
Talk with the developer before exporting
Export file
Collect bricks: design elements you and your team can use to build the screens of the app
Prepare slices: Slices of elements from a same category have to have the same size
Style Guide
Document everything from colors to typography, buttons, content, margins, …
This style guide is for the developer
And for you and your team to keep the consistency of the design
Export
Select a layer or a group of layers, go to file>add slices for selection
Entre the export mode by clicking the export button in the toolbar on the right
You can create new slices and edit existing ones in the export mode
Export slices as PNGs
The slide preview can be dragged outside sketch to export
If you don’t want to export everything that’s inside the slice, check “only include the following”, uncheck everything in the menu below, and recheck what you want to keep.
Trim transparent pixels will reduce the size of the slice by removing the unused pixels
Also export as Double size if designing 1x or Half size if designing 2x
@2x naming convention for retina files
Now that you have a great design for your app, let's create an icon that will represent it.
0:00 Introduction
1:12 Icon template
1:34 Getting started
2:13 Camera icon
5:04 Camera icon gradient
5:36 Camera icon long shadow
8:00 Letter icon
9:35 Letter icon gradient
10:07 Letter icon long shadow
13:18 Flat instagram logo
25:24 Flat instagram logo embossed
27:44 Instagram icon redesign
29:17 Instagram icon redesign no brown
29:48 Instagram icon redesign no viewfinder
30:00 Homework: come up with your own design of the icon
32:09 Prepo
33:10 Inspiration
Two easy and beautiful ways to show your designs in context.
0:00 Introduction
0:21 Using a minimal iPhone template
1:56 Using a realistic iPhone template
4:50 Using real pictures
Thank you for taking this course.
Don't hesitate to rate this course if you've like it, I love getting feedback and it would mean a lot to me.
If you want more insights on Design and Startups; follow me on twitter: @MaximeCormier
Before we dive in, download the course files and make sure you have access to a Mac.
Welcome to the course ! Let's get to know each other.
In this video we’ll explain who we are and what you can expect from this course.
In this video we'll introduce you to Sketch, the awesome design software we'll be using to design our app. And we'll show you how to install it on your Mac.
In this course we'll explain how the course works and how to get the most out of it.
Before we dive in, download the materials needed for the course.
This lesson is the first in the UX research part. The goal of this section is to help you really understand what you want to build.
We'll start by explaining the definition and distinction between UX and UI. We'll see why it's important to take time to work on User eXperience.
Design is the art of solving problems. And you can't hope to craft a good product with a good design if you don't understand what problem you're solving.
We'll help you make sure you're tackling a real problem that you truly understand.
Knowing your users is crucial. You can't create a great app if you don't understand who you're creating it for.
In this video I'll introduce you to a very handy tool that will help you understand your users: the persona.
Once we've made sure we're solving a real problem for a real category of people, we can start thinking about a solution.
In this video we'll explore different techniques to come up with as many ideas as we can. We'll then work on narrowing this ideas down to one main feature.
In this lesson you'll learn how to write user narratives in order to figure out how your app will work.
To make sure we're building an engaging app, we need to think in terms of psychology. And that's we'll do in this lesson, using a great tool called the Hook Model.
In this section we'll show you how to quickly and efficiently turn your idea into a first version of your app. This will allow us to start learning how to use Sketch.
In the first video of this section, we'll give you a general overview of Sketch, the design software we'll use throughout the course.
To create a functional design, you need to understand what an app is made of. That's what we'll show you along with the necessary iOS guidelines.
The most efficient way to build the first version of your app is to use standard elements and then customise them. In this lesson we'll show how to handle and chose the elements. Let's play LEGO !
In this video, we'll use and explain the basic text functionalities of sketch while showing you how to integrate text in your designs.
In this course we'll start working with colors in a very practical way.
In this lesson we'll see how to use the alignments and grid tools that will help us create clear designs.
In this part of the course, we'll show you 2 useful ways to handle images in sketch and tell you why you should choose one or the other
Buttons are essential for the user to interact with your app. So let's see how to create them and deal with them.
Ok, we've already learned a lot, it's time to practice and work a little bit on your own now!
In this video we'll show you how we completed the exercise from the previous lesson.
In this lesson we'll show you how to preview your designs on your device.
It's time to show the first version of your app to the world, let's see how to do that.
What use is your app if don't have an icon for it ? Let's design a first version of your icon!
In this new section, we'll start working on the the v2 of your app and its beautiful and fully designed interface. We'll begin by talking about the visual concept of your app.
In the first lesson of this section we'll talk about inspiration, where and how to find it and current design trends.
Let's take a few minutes to understand how the color picker works in Sketch.
Now that we know how the color picker works, let’s choose the colors we’ll use in our app and create a color scheme.
In this optional video we'll talk about color Harmony and how to mix colors together.
How to choose fonts ? how to mix typefaces ? All you need to know to handle text in your app.
In this course, while continuing or work on the design of our app, we'll show you how to use a great tool in Sketch: Text Syles.
In this video, we'll learn more advanced Sketch functionalities like boolean operations, vector editing, etc. by drawing icons from scratch.
Symbols is one of the greatest functionality in Sketch for mobile app designers, we'll explain you why and how to use them.
We've been through a lot of features that are built IN sketch. Let’s now have a look at what has been built ON it : Plugins.
In this video we'll complete our Styleguide and practice our skills by upgrading the camera flow.
In this video we'll show you how to export elements individually. We'll also use a great new tool to prepare the specs for the developer.
Now that your app looks great, let’s create a more complex and graphic icon.
This will allow us to build up our graphic design skills. And this will also be the opportunity for you to put your Sketch knowledge into practice.
You know the screenshots you see on the app store, they look cool right? That's what we'll do here !
Your app is gorgeous, let’s see how we can show it to the world.
Congratulations!
We have a little gift for you!