GOALS & REQUIREMENTS      |       PROJECT PLAN     |     STRATEGY & ROADMAP

Our clients break the mould, so why shouldn't we? Our full-service approach to design allows us to be flexible but also very personal with each of our clients. We carefully match each client project with the right team at Ninth Coast.

We love getting to know our clients – their products, their businesses, and their goals. By properly understanding each other from the beginning, we can create an effective strategy to ensure everyone's happy at the end of the day. Once we understand the client's priorities we develop an extensive roadmap to meet budgets and timelines.

WIREFRAMES & INTERACTIONS     |     VISUAL DESIGN & IDENTITY     |     UI SPECIFICATION

Without a proper blueprint it's hard to build something beautiful. Before we start designing we define the information architecture and overall navigation for the client's project – we call this the "app flow". We plan where information needs to be, and how users will access it. Having a big picture understanding before designing a single pixel let's us work more efficiently, but it also provides for a better end result. Next, we create detailed wireframes for the higher level architecture, making it easier to approve key layouts and user interactions. When things are tricky to explain, we create interactive, tappable prototypes and videos. Then, we translate the wireframes and requirements into compelling visuals and identities, supported by competitive analysis and the brand guidelines we set out in the beginning. This creative concept is then presented to the client for review and approval.

Once we have the client’s approval on our wireframes and creative concept, we produce all screens necessary for the UI, as dictated by the project's flow. This requires a lot of elbow grease and an eye for detail, as we work tirelessly to create the final screens, graphics, and UI elements for the project. We give everything a final look over, and a lovingly applied coat of polish before we combine the designed screens with the app's flow, and top it off with the interaction layer.

APP DEVELOPMENT     |     BACK-END DEVELOPMENT     |     INTEGRATION

They say beauty is only skin deep – the same is true for an app or website. We understand that every successful mobile product needs a well thought-out flow, so they thoroughly analyze everything that may affect stability and productivity. We then choose the right technologies for the job, and plan resources accordingly, ensuring we can deliver everything to the client on time and up to our exacting standards. We figure out which components and libraries we'll use, and if we can't find anything to our satisfaction we develop our own. We gather all required assets and documents. We bring these together to build, screen by screen, the user interface as laid out in the app flow. At this stage, the client can already see the interface working, as it would be in the final product. At the same time, our design team examines every aspect of the developed interface to see if any improvements or tweaks are necessary.

While our UI guys are busy moving pixels around, our server-side experts are busy working in the background. This back-end technology needs to be easily scalable to support multiple platforms and apps. We challenge ourselves to seamlessly integrate every element of the project into a single, reliable product.

QA & TESTING     |     BUG FIXING     |     APP SUBMISSION

With all the work we put into everything we do, we’d be kidding ourselves if we didn’t take quality assurance seriously. We scrutinize every pixel that we create. We actively seek out and fix bugs as we release work-in-progress versions. We continue testing as the two halves become one, pairing the app and back-end together. We document every issue we find – then we fix them and provide the necessary reports. We use a continuous integration approach to build, test, and gather crash and usage reports automatically. Our clients are instantly notified when a new version of their app is available for download, and they can provide feedback on it right away.

It’s common knowledge that launching an app can be just as challenging as developing it, if not more so. That’s why we assist our clients throughout the process of submitting their app to the various app stores.

ANALYTICS     |     UX & CODE IMPROVEMENTS

Every successful mobile app is a result of constant iteration and refinement. We don’t just disappear after launch – we stay around to offer assistance with strategy, design and continued development.

We integrate advanced analytics systems in our apps, making it easy to understand how people use them and to measure how business goals are being achieved. We take user feedback on board, enabling us to suggest needed UX improvements and to introduce new functionality in future versions. We’re here for the long haul.