What I Actually Do When a Client Says "I Need an App Designed"

My actual app design process, from the discovery call through visual direction, UX wireframing, and final screens.

”I have an idea for an app” might be the most common first message I get from potential clients. What follows is my actual app design process, from the first conversation to the final screens. What follows that message is where the real work begins, and it’s rarely what people expect.

Most clients assume the process starts in Figma. It doesn’t. It starts with a conversation, and that conversation shapes everything that comes after. Here’s my actual process, from the first call to the final screens.

It Starts With a Discovery Call, Not a Design Tool

The discovery call is the most important conversation in the entire project. I need to understand the product at a fundamental level before I open any design tool. What problem does it solve? Who is it for? What makes it different from the alternatives? What features does the client have in mind?

I also ask about visual direction, have they seen apps they love? Brands they admire? Any existing assets? But here’s a key insight from years of doing this: most clients don’t have a clear visual direction, and that’s completely fine. They might say ”something modern” or ”clean and minimal” but can’t articulate what that means visually. My process is built for exactly this, I help them discover their preferences by reacting to real options, not by expecting a perfect brief upfront.

The practical logistics matter too. Timeline, budget, who approves the work. Understanding the approval structure early prevents painful surprises weeks into the project.

After the call, I always send a written summary. It sounds basic, but having both sides aligned in writing before any design work begins prevents the most common source of project friction: mismatched expectations.

Visual Direction Comes First

This is where my process differs from what you might expect. I don’t start with wireframes or user flows. I start with how the app should feel.

I do a deep dive into visual inspiration, screenshots from real products, references from across the industry, abstract mood boards that capture an emotion rather than a specific UI pattern. Then I organize everything into distinct visual directions. Not a random pile of screenshots, but curated options, each representing a different vibe.

I walk the client through each direction, explain my thinking, and let them react. They usually pick one to three directions that resonate, sometimes combining elements across them. ”I love the color palette from this direction, but the typography from that one, and the spacing should feel more like this.”

That kind of specific feedback is gold. It is one of the most important moments in the app design process. We’ve gone from a vague idea of ”modern” to concrete shared references that both of us understand.

UI Mockups: Finding the Exact Look

With a visual direction chosen, I create three to five mockup screens showing different ways to execute within that direction. Different corner treatments, color balances, information density, typography weight. These aren’t real screens with real content, they’re visual explorations.

Clients almost never pick one and say ”perfect.” They mix and match, a button style from one mockup, the card design from another, the header treatment from a third. That’s exactly the point. The real value of multiple options is helping clients articulate what they want.

Only after we’ve locked the visual direction do we move on to how the app actually works. This separation is deliberate and non-negotiable in my process.

The UX Phase of the App Design Process

Now I switch lenses completely. Visual decisions are done. It’s time to focus entirely on structure, flows, and usability.

We start with a brain dump of every feature the client wants, every dream, every idea, every feature they’ve seen in competitor apps. No filtering. Get it all out.

Then comes the honest conversation: what’s the MVP? Out of this entire list, what are the three to five core features. I wrote a full post on MVP scoping and how to decide what to build first. Out of that must exist for the product to work at launch? Cutting features isn’t killing them, it’s being strategic about what to build first and learning from real users before building more.

I map the screen flows, how a user moves through the app, which screens connect to which, where are the dead ends or unnecessary steps. Then I wireframe each screen: low-fidelity, grayscale, no visual design. Just structure and hierarchy. Where do elements live? Is the navigation intuitive? Can someone accomplish their goal without confusion?

Bringing It All Together

The final phase is combining the approved visual direction with the approved wireframes. The colors, typography, spacing, and personality meet the actual screens and features. The product starts to feel real.

By this point, there are rarely big surprises. The visual direction was approved. The UX structure was approved. Combining them is refinement, not reinvention. Sometimes a color that worked in a mockup needs adjusting for a data-heavy screen. Sometimes spacing shifts when real content replaces placeholder text. But the big decisions were already made collaboratively.

As Nielsen Norman Group highlights, error states and empty states are where user experience often breaks down. I also design the screens people forget about: error states, empty states, loading indicators, and success confirmations. These ”invisible” screens are often where user experience breaks down in real products.

Why This Order Matters

Separating visual design from structural design might seem like extra work. I go deeper on this in why I design UI and UX separately. It’s actually the opposite, it saves time and produces better results.

When you try to design how something looks and how it works simultaneously, both suffer. You get distracted by color choices when you should be thinking about user flows. You compromise structural decisions because they don’t fit the visual direction you started with.

By locking the visual direction first, I’m not solving two problems at once during the UX phase. And by the time I’m combining them, both halves have been independently approved. The result is a product where the aesthetics and the functionality were each given proper attention.

If you’re looking for a designer for your app, this is the process I’d walk you through. Every project adapts it, but the app design process stays the same, because it works.