I’ve always been fascinated with creating something that others can play and enjoy. Ever since I got my first smartphone, I’ve always wanted to create a mobile app. During lockdown, I decided to continue this passion by developing and improving on my series of mobile apps. Over the next three articles, I’m going to explain my process of creation for each of them. I’ll start off with my first app that I created, Numbagories.

Numbagories, which is part of a series of quiz apps that I have developed, is a FREE Android application where the aim is for you to solve the number puzzles (e.g. 12 S of the Z => 12 Signs of the Zodiac), earn points, earn achievements, evolve through the ranks, and complete the game. The quicker you solve the puzzles, the more points you will earn. In this article, I break down the process of how I came up with the concept of the game, the process of improving the design and usability, adding gamification to the functionality, and also the marketing of the app. But in the meantime, please download and play along.

Name

Not necessarily the very first step of the process, but it makes sense to start off with it here as I've been asked a good few times how I came up with the name. Well there were four main criteria I was looking for when trying to decide on the name of the app:

1. I wanted it to be relevant to the app itself - have some connection to the purpose of the app
2. I wanted it to be catchy and unique - a name (possibly made up) that people would have never heard of before
3. I wanted the possibility to extend the name to be part of a series - to use the same concept in order to expand to the other app ideas in the series
4. I wanted a name where the domain and handle for all major social media platforms were available



Sounds easy, right? Well it can be a little more trickier that you would think. After the initial step of brainstorming around the features and functionality, I had a discussion with a good friend of mine about the app. During the conversation, she had asked me to write down a couple of keywords related to the app. Two of those keywords were numbers and categories, which resulted in the 'Brangelina-ising' of the name Numbagories. From my perspective, this fit into each of the criteria I had previously mentioned above.... and tada, my app had a name. Personally, I think that once you place a name towards an idea it becomes a little more real. It makes it easier for you to visualise it coming together and also allows you to refer to it when thinking about the next steps; the next of which was to turn my brainstorming concepts into reality.

Design

A lot of work, careful consideration, iterative design and development, and testing goes into creating anything that people will use. There are a significant amount of important elements that need to come together coherently in order to create something tangible. Following some of the steps outlined in my previous article 'The Human-Centered Design Approach' and also understanding the importance of this approach outlined in my previous article 'Why You Should Thank Leonardo da Vinci - An Overview of User Experience (UX) Design', I began the journey of bringing my ideas to life.

From Concept to Reality

The brainstorming process for any idea is an extremely important one. It allows you to get all your ideas out onto paper, group them into similar areas, expand on them while thinking of the challenges, how people will interact, and also what people would be looking for, and also what it could potentially look like. This process is key in order to ensure that you've factored in all considerations which will ultimately save you a lot of time in the long run, as it is estimated the 50% of time is spent doing rework that could have been avoided (Usability.Gov, 2017) and that fixing an error after development is up to 100 times as expensive as it would have been before (Human Factors International, 2011).



Once all the thoughts have been laid out, I then worked on piecing them together into wireframe visualisations and behind the scenes functionality, which would ultimately form the basis of how the app would look and behave. The below shows the evolution of the wireframes, which I worked alongside a good friend of mine Cahail to help pull it together initially, which takes into account a number of other factors (e.g. colour scheme, usability, etc...) outlined in further sections of this article.

Colour Palette

When testing with users, it's important to initially focus on testing functionality, such as navigation controls, interaction with the flow, and information display. As the fidelity of the prototype increases, like the image above, you can start to introduce and test more metrics such as colour schemes, design, and visualisations.

When deciding on colour scheme, there is no one size fits all solution but there are a number of best practices that can be followed, one of which is the 60-30-10 rule (The Futur Academy, 2020). The first thing to do is to decide and organise your colour palette. This should be separated into your primary and secondary group colours along with your accent colour. The balance of colours here should follow loosely the rule outlined above, which will give your design consistency and purpose. When deciding on your colours, it's important to pick complimentary colours that work well together. The colours that I have chosen for Numbagories is shown below, with the addition of some softer neutral colours that bring the colour scheme together.

Logo

Sometimes we can overthink a logo. We look for something that looks amazing or funky or cool, but sometimes, the simplest are the best. Similar to the name above and my criteria outlined, I wanted to look for something that could be part of a series of apps and that by looking at them all side by side, you would know that they are all part of the same family. As a result of this, the following is the logo that contains the first initial of the app name along with the name underneath and a similar colour scheme in the background. This creates a clean and consistent feel that fits in with the app content and flow.



Gamification

In my previous article 'From stamps to a $5.5 billion industry - An Overview of Gamification', I gave an overview of the importance and also potential when integrating gamification elements across many diverse sectors. I have chose to include a number of different achievements and rewards within the app in order to give the user satisfactions of completing the levels and give them something to aim for, on top of the joy they'll receive when successfully completing a level. I chose to split these out into 'In-Level Achievements' and also 'Evolution Achievements'. The in-level achievements are awarded while playing and completing a level with a specific focus on speed and accuracy. The evolution achievements are awarded for progression through the game. Both, in addition to achieving points for completing the levels, give the user a sense of completion, achievement, and also satisfaction. On each of the social media channels outlined below, throughout the course of the next few weeks, I will provide further information on each of these achievements and what needs to be done in order to be awarded them.

Marketing

Once the app has been designed, developed, and tested, it's time to publish to the store and market the app. The following are the steps that I've taken, and continuing to take, in order to market and brand the Numbagories app.



Domain and Social Media

In parallel to coming up with the name as outlined above, I secured the domain http://www.numbagories.com/ along with the handle @Numbagories for each of the major social media platforms.



Poster

Once I was happy with the design of the app, a poster was a good way to visually represent the app. This should be branded, provide an overview of what your app looks like, a quick description of what the app does, along with details of how to download, get in touch, and find out further information.





Intriguing Tagline

As the poster is only aimed at giving people an overview, it's important to compliment this with additional information. It's important to have a catchy tagline that intrigues the user enough that they will want to download the app.

Are you someone who likes to be challenged? Do you like to play word games that will keep your mind guessing and your brain ticking? Then download one of the most exciting FREE apps that you will ever play RIGHT NOW…. This is guaranteed to keep you entertained for hours with its engaging puzzles and phrases.

Website

Once the design, social media handles, poster, and additional information was complete, this can all be displayed on the website. The website is a good way to provide all the information to the user in a single interface.



Additional Information

At this point, everything is pretty much setup to allow people to find out information and download the app. The constant promotion and marketing of the app will be crucial in order to get more people to download, more feedback to improve, and more people invested in the series of apps. To complete the information, the following is the full text in relation to promoting Numbagories. In my next article, I will describe the 2nd app in the series of quiz apps.

Numbagories is a FREE Android application where the aim is for you to solve the puzzles, earn points and achievements, evolve through the ranks, and complete the game. The quicker you solve the puzzles, the more points you will earn. Try and earn all the achievements to gain extra points.

Are you someone who likes to be challenged? Do you like to play word games that will keep your mind guessing and your brain ticking? Then download one of the most exciting FREE apps that you will ever play RIGHT NOW…. This is guaranteed to keep you entertained for hours with its engaging puzzles and phrases.

Comprising of 101 brilliantly addictive levels, ranging in levels of difficulty, Numbagories is suitable for all ages and will have your mind boggled, your tongue twisted, and your head rattled as you race against the clock to achieve those precious points.

The aim is to solve a collection of the most commonly used phrases. But it's not going to be easy. You will only be presented with the number and the initial letter of each word. The quicker you solve the puzzles, the more points you will earn. The more puzzles you solve, the more achievements you will earn. Try and earn all the achievements to gain extra points.

So what are you waiting for? Name that Numbagory!

◆ INSTANT FUN ◆ No intricate rules or registration. Just download and play now.

◆ ENGAGING AND ENJOYABLE BRAIN TEASERS FOR ALL AGES ◆ Ranging in levels of difficulty, this puzzle game caters for all ages, all levels of knowledge, and a game that the entire family can play.

◆ ADDICTIVE AND EXCITING PUZZLES ◆ Discover the link between the number and the letters provided to solve the puzzle. Can’t find the answer? Use the hints or share the level to play along with friends.



Everyone who is anyone is playing this game! Don’t be the only one left out. Download it NOW for FREE to play along.

Promotional Video

This is optional, and can take a bit of time, but it's a really nice way to compliment all the previous material and finalise the marketing with a professional feel. There are many different ways and styles to create a promotional video. The route that I've chosen is to combine all the material and screenshots into a 60 second clip that displays all the relevant information to the user.



Find Out More

Already a fan of Numbagories, then like and follow us on our social media channels to support and stay up to date with the latest news:



• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/numbagories/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/numbagories
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/numbagories
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/numbagories

References

• Human Factors International, 2011. The ROI of User Experience. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O94kYyzqvTc. (Accessed 25 September 2020)
• The Futur Academy, 2020. How to Apply a Color Palette to Your Design - Tutorial. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXcKOqviLE0. (Accessed 25 September 2020)
• Usability.Gov, 2017. Benefits of User-Centered Design. [online] Available at: https://www.usability.gov/what-and-why/benefits-of-ucd.html. (Accessed 25 September 2020)