Mobile App Design from scratch with Sketch 3 : UX and UI

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

Abstract

• UX (User eXperience): deals with the overall experience associated with the use of a product = WHY
• UI (User Interface): specific interface of the product = WHAT

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.

Install Sketch

  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 

Article by Jean-Marc Denis

Article by Meng To

Article by Nick Schmidt

Article by Khoi Vinh

Article by Meng To 2

Article by Meng To 3

  4:38 Complete Beginner? 

  4:51 Sketch is good for your clients 

  5:25 Install Sketch 

Abstract

Sketch vs Photoshop

1. Built for UI design
2. Intuitive and efficient
3. Vector based
4. Exporting made easy
5. Lighter in terms of HD space and memory footprint
6. Cheaper: $50 once vs $25/month for 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

Lean Startup principles

Lean Startup by Eric Ries

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

Abstract

• Design is the art of solving problems. Before anything else you have to understand you problem
• Work by iterations. An iteration is made of 3 steps: Hypothesis / Test / Learnings/Refine

• Focus on one (or 2) problems at once

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

• Personas are models used to represent your users and to keep them in mind
• Build a proto persona first
• Then go talk to your target

Interview tips

• Talk to your target
• 1-1
• Define your goals and keep them in mind
• Get ready to hear things you don't want to hear
• Ask open ended questions
• Rephrase what people tell you
• Look for insights and write them down
• Validate with currency

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

Abstract

Find a lot of solutions

• Focus on quantity
• Do a semantic exploration (sun with 10 branches)
• Look at other products that solve similar problems
• Look at common human behaviors when trying to solve a similar problem
• Think about what your target is already using
• Think about the key issues that affect the problem
• Try to solve the opposite problem
• Solve a similar problem in a different field
• Brainstorm with monetization in mind
• Prioritize your ideas by asking which ones are the most efficient and the most feasible

Find THE solution

• Prioritize your ideas by asking which ones are the most efficient and the most feasible
• Get out of the building to get feedback on these ideas
• Pick the main feature, what all the app will be focused and oriented towards
• Only keep the sub-features that are needed to make the main feature work

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

Nir Eyal's blog

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

Abstract

User Narratives

• The persona is the voice of the story
• Start with a goal story: As [user persona] I want to [accomplish something] so that [some benefit happens]
• Break into smaller stories
• Write the stories on post its and stick them to the wall
• Remove as much friction as possible, make the first steps of the flow very easy

Desire Engine (canvas in this lesson folder)

• Trigger: something that triggers the use of the product. External (like an email or a notification) then Internal.
• Action: what the user does with your product
• Variable reward: give the user a reward that varies after he has done the action to get him hooked
• Commitment: action that makes the user more likely to come back and that improves the service for the next go around

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

Abstract

Definition

• Mockups (or wireframes) = blueprint of your app
• Mockups allow you to create a layout that serve your content.
• For each screen you're designing ask yourself what the user is going to do with the content.
• Most common actions with content: create, consult, share and edit

Building your mockups

• Plan the flow according to your user stories
• Not more than 1 or 2 steps in a screen
• Below each screen write in 1 or 2 sentences what the user is supposed to do in the screen

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

Don't copy, steal by Meng To

0:46 Gimmebar

Gimmebar

1:45 Gimmebar plugin

Gimmebar chrome plugin

2:20 Start collecting inspiring things

Dribbble

Behance

6:30 UI inspiration

Pttrns

Mobile patterns

UX Archive

Android app patterns

Android niceties

Android UX

8:03 Sidebar

Sidebar

8:32 Conclusion

Abstract

• Don't be afraid to steal ideas.
• Collect inspiration all the time. Use Gimmebar

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

Kerning game

2:45 Tracking

4:03 Leading

5:08 Text alignement

6:56 The Measure

7:32 Typefaces

Typeface Classifications

9:56 Mixing typefaces

Medium.com

10:49 Typefaces and mobile apps

11:11 Finding cool fonts

Google Fonts

Google webfonts that don't suck

More Google webfonts that don't suck

ilovetypography.com

Myfonts bestsellers

11:53 Identify a font

What The Font

Font plugin

13:21 Add a new font to your font book

Abstract

• Typography is both verbal and visual

Elements of a typeface

• Type size (cap height): overall height of capital letters
• Ascender: upward tail on letters like h, l, t, b, d, and k
• Descender: downward tail for letters like g, q, and y
• Counter: white space located inside letters like o and p
• X Height (corpus size): height of the letter x
• Baseline: the line upon which most letters "sit"

Typography basics

• Kerning: space between individual characters
• Tracking (letter spacing): space between letters in a line/block of text
• Leading: vertical space between lines of text
  • Body text: 1.2-1.5x size of the font
  • Title: 1.1-1.2x size of the font
• Text Alignement
  
  • Left: default, easiest to use
  • Center: for titles
  • Right: for buiness cards or letters
  • Justified: alignment on the left and right sides. Be careful of rivers of white space (reduce tracking).
• The Measure: optimum width of a paragraph: 52-78 characters
  
  • Small measure less leading, wide measure more leading.

Typeface

• Typeface design for a set of characters
• Font: specific size, weight and style of a typeface
• Typefaces families
  
  • Serif: typeface with serifs (small lines attached to the end of a stroke in a letter or a symbol) + combination of thin and thick strokes. Easy to read
  • Sans Serif: typeface without serif and with even strokes. Easy to read
  • Script: typeface that imitates handwriting. Only for titles

Mixing Typefaces

• Avoid using fonts from the same family
• Play with size, weight, color

Mobile apps

• One typeface for the text
• One typeface for the title/logo

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

Color game

Abstract

Subtractive colors

• When light hits an object, you attribute it a color depending on what part of the color spectrum the object absorbs or reflects.
• Primary subtractive colors Cyan, Magenta and Yellow

Additive colors

• Objects that generate light, like digital screens, create colors by mixing Red, Green and Blue lights
• Primary additive colors, Red, Green and Blue (RGB model)

RGB Model

• Intensity of each color ranges from 0 (no light) to 255 (full intensity)
• A Hexadecimal value is a number between 1 and 16 represented by a number or letter from 0 to F (0123456789ABCDEF)
• Hex code: each color intensity is represented by 2 hex values -> #FF0000 = pure red

HSB model

• Hue: a color in its purest form
  
  • The Hue scale ranges from 0 to 360
• Saturation: purity of the hue
  
  • 0% (desaturated) to 100% (fully saturated)
  • x axis of the color picker
• Brightness: how light or dark a hue is
  
  • 0% (dark) 100% (bright)
  • y axis of the color picker

Alpha

• Alpha is the opacity of the color
• 0% (full transparency) 100% (full opacity)

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

Cole Townsend

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

Abstract

Color Theory

• Color theory was developed by painters therefore relies on the subtractive color system
• Primary colors for color theory: Blue, Red and Yellow
• Secondary colors are created by mixing primary colors 2 by 2 Orange, Green and Purple
• Tertiary colors are created by mixing a primary color to a tertiary color, e.g red-orange

Tints, shades and tones

• Tint : add light to a hue
• Shade: add black to a hue
• Tone : add grey to a hue

Color Scheme

• Choice of colors used in the designs
• Framework to come up with color schemes

1. Select a base color
2. Select secondary colors using harmony principles
3. Adjust tints, shades and tones

Colors meanings

• Warm colors: red, orange and yellow. Arousing and stimulating. Advance to the foreground
• Red: fire & blood, love & passion, Energy, strength, power, romance, determination, action, confidence, courage, vitality, desire, danger
• Yellow: sunshine, hope, joy, cheerfulness, wisdom, intellectual energy.
• Orange: energy, joy, tropics, enthusiasm, creativity, success, determination, attraction, encouragement, stimulation, strength
• Cool colors: green, blue and purple. Calming and relaxing. Tend to recede
• Blue: sky, sea, stability, depth, expertise, trust, intelligence, calm
• Green: nature, growth, renewal, fertility, freshness, and hope, healing, wealth, money, stability, endurance, harmony, safety. Used a lot to signify validation
• Purple: royalty, power, nobility, luxury, wisdom, ambition, extravagance, creativity, mystery, magic
• Neutral colors: Black, White, Grey. Often serve as the backdrop, combined with brighter colors
• Black: death, darkness and mystery, power, strength, authority, prestige.
  • Good anchor color for media content. Don't use it if you have a lot of text
  • Use Dark grey instead of pure black for text.
• White: cleanliness, purity, perfection, space, objectivity, goodness, innocence, purity, virginity, health
• White and light grey is great as a background color if you have a lot of content.

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

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

Colour Lovers

Color Collective

Dribbble

12:53 Homework: go ahead and try to create a few color schemes

Asbtract

Traditional color schemes

• Monochromatic scheme: different tones, shades and tints within a specific hue
• Complementary scheme: colors opposite to each other on the color wheel
• Split complementary scheme: one hue plus two others equally spaced from its complement
• Analogous scheme: colors adjacent to each other on the color wheel
• Triadic scheme: colors that are evenly spaced around the color wheel
• Tetradic scheme: four colors arranged into two complementary pairs

Create a color scheme

• Use Kuler
• 2 easy and effective ways to create a color scheme
  
  • 1 color + shades/tints of this color + 1 color at least three spaces away on the color wheel
  • 1 color + shades/tints of this color to create neutral colors

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

Abstract

Toolbar at the top

• Right click to add tools to the toolbar

Layers

• Layers list in the right panel
• Every object is a layer
• Shapes Shortcuts:
  
  • R rectangle
  • O oval
  • U rounded rectangle
  • L Line
• Set default style by selecting a shape and going to Edit > Set style as default
• Hold shift while resizing to keep proportions
• Hold alt while resizing to resize both sides symmetrically
• Right click on the layer name to access the layer options

Inspector on the right

• The inspector allows you to modify the properties of the selected layer

Canvas

• Infinite canvas
• Create artboards (presets or custom) by clicking the art board button in the toolbar

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

Screensizes

Dimensions converter

4:36 1x vs 2x

5:33 Designing the navigation system

6:04 Top bar

22:39 Bottom bar

33:02 Conclusion

Abstract

• Skeuomorphism design imitates the aspect of real life objects
• Flat design is more simple, uses less effects and focus more on content
• 1pt = 1px non retina = 4px retina
• 1x = design non retina / 2x = design retina
• Hold alt when an element is select and hover over another element to display the distance between the two
• Give a recess look:
  
  • gradient with the darkest color at the bottom
  • glow (white shadow) at the bottom
  • inner shadow (dark) at the top and the bottom
• Hold the cmd key to select a layer inside a group
• Hold alt+cmd and click to get a drop down menu with every layer under your mouse

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

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

SketchMine

7:23 The Noun Project

The Noun Project

8:42 SVG and Sketch

9:32 Conclusion

Abstract

• Use icons from templates and icons set
• Flatten the icon before your resize it
• Use a dark shadow at the bottom and a white inner shadow at the top to make an object come out of the screen

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

The Noun Project

20:26 Profile icon

Abstract

• You can create almost any graphic representation by assembling simple shapes

Boolean operations

• Use them to combine shapes
• Boolean operations in sketch are non destructive
• Union: merges shapes
• Subtract: subtracts the shapes at the top from the one below it
• Intersect: displays the intersection between the shapes
• Difference: remove the overlapping part

Pixel view

• Use it if you need to be more precise
• View > Show pixels

Vector edit mode

• Double click on a shape to make the vector points appear

• Hold cmd + click to add a vector point in the middle of a segment

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

Abstract

• Use the magnifying glass to select a color from an existing element
• Content -> Padding -> Border -> Margin

Masks

• Masks are used to selectively show parts of other layers
• Right click on the layer you want to use as a mask
• All the layers above the mask will be affected
• Unless you right click on them and select ignore underlying mask
• Or unless you put the mask and the layers you want clipped inside a group

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

Asbtract

3 ways to design an app

• Standard: use only standard UI kit elements
• Custom: use only custom elements
• Hybrid: mix between the standard and custom

Layout / Visual hierarchy

• Use grey rectangles to create the layout of your app and make sure the visual hierarchy is well balanced
• Position everything carefully
• Once your pleased with your layout, replace the grey rectangles by the real elements

Link Style

• You can link the style of an element to use it later on for another element by clicking the link button at the top of the inspector and clicking the + button

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

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

Long shadow article

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

Prepo

33:10 Inspiration

Inspiration

Abstract

• Find one simple graphic element that represents your app
• If you can't find any graphic element, use the first letter of the name of your app
• Export without the mask

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

Placeit

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

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