How We Redesigned Our App
We just launched a new version of DEFQT — photo-editing app for iPhone, check it out here.
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This is my 5th article on Medium, you can find the others here.
What it is?
We just launched a big update to our small side-project app called DEFQT, which is a photo-editing app for iPhone, that let's you edit your photos and destroy them beyond recognition, which is something lot people on their phones do.
The project was started by me, Teodorik Menšl and Anthony Fresina about 3 years ago and we are happy to report, that are small project has been downloaded more than 200.000 times and has about 20.000 tracable #defqtapp and #defqt hashtags just on Instagram.
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We were also posted on ProductHunt by Chris Messina and featured by Apple in couple markets.
Not bad for something we started for fun.
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You can read about our humble beginnings here — How we made our first app with zero budget or check our daily updated Instagram.
What's new?
We came long way from our first version, even though it might not be visible at first sight. We worked on all our effects and our intention is to make app, that is easy to use and has reasonable amounts of customisation, so your pictures always came out good.
We are very aware, that there are apps like Glitché and apps from Pixite suite, that offer way more options, but over time we figured out, that there is something nice about simple & easy to use mobile editor, that can still create lot of interesting results, without being overly complicated.
We are going to add new effects with each version, but only the ones, that are easy to use and have a artistic value for every user.
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Visual redesign
In this version we focused mainly on the visual refresh of the app, that felt old after 2 years of use. We asked our users about problems they had, how are they using it and what would they like to see, so it was easy to support all the changes.
The flow of the app is still same, but we changed the colours to the new all-black look, which works much better with the square photos, than the grey ever did, since it makes the interface look more unified.
We also changed the defects screen from rectangles to squares, to better present the effects and have better distinction from Free/Premium effects and added popups with our hashtag, that can lead to featuring our Instagram every week.
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Avenir typeface, that we used since version 1.0 was changed to San Francisco by Apple, which made the interface appear more modern.
Icon
One of the main changes, that every user with installed app instantly noticed is the new app icon — something we've been discussing over few months, constantly evolving and tweaking to make it appear great next to other used photo apps like VSCO or Instagram.
The icon is still using the same wave idea, that we had since the version 1. but with different shapes and we are planning to change the colour regularly.
We are very happy with we were able to create and we hope you like it too.
Nobody can say, that the icon looks like flying bacon now :)
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What's next
We have finally reunited all in Prague, so this means, we are going to update the app more often now.
We were playing with idea of dedicated iPad app, but so far nothing is set in stone, so let us know, if you have any ideas for app like this.
One thing is for sure — no Android in plans.
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The 2.3 version was designed mainly for future updates, where we can use all the adjustments, that we created with this redesign.
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Download the app below and let us know your thoughts!
We also have new Behance Case Study with more details!
Follow us on Twitter @defqtapp or visit www.defqt.com for more!
Developed by Mutable Studio. Designed by Teodorik Mensl and Michael Dolejs. Made with love in Prague & San Francisco.
Thanks for reading!
DEFQT team
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