Chapter 2. Who’s using the app?

You’re unique. There’s no one in the world who’s exactly like you. That’s a fantastic thing. You get to bring something unique to the apps that you create. The downside of your uniqueness is that the people who use the apps you create can be vastly different from you. If you’re creating apps for yourself, that doesn’t matter. If, as I suspect, you want more people using your app than just yourself, then it’ll pay to consider who those people are. The consequences of not doing so can include a lot of wasted effort in creating something that doesn’t meet the expectations of the people using the app, or that doesn’t work the way they want, need, or expect. It’s hard to create something that’s intuitive for a person if you don’t know anything about that person. Worse still, you may create something that they didn’t want at all.

In this chapter, I’ll introduce you to Mitch and share some of his experiences learning about the differences between himself and the people he builds apps for. Let’s begin by focusing on the most important thing to remember—the people who’ll use your app aren’t like you.

2.1. You aren’t your users

2.2. Who’s the app for?

2.3. People aren’t all the same

2.4. What are people doing?

Summary