Stage 03 · Design
A design that stands apart from the category, on purpose
Apple turns away apps that look like copies. AppFactory starts design by studying the leaders, then writes a brief that cites them and steers away from them, before a single screen is drawn.
The job it replaces
Hours of busywork, gone
Doing it by hand
- Screenshotting competitors by hand for a mood board
- A template look that matches every other app in the category
- The icon and the store screenshots designed as an afterthought
With AppFactory
- The leaders' screenshots and icons, collected with references
- A written brief with a direction of its own, citing what it learned
- Every screen, the icon and the store layout designed from that brief
What the agent does
Step by step
Collect the leaders
It downloads the leading apps' App Store screenshots and icons for your search terms in several storefronts, and keeps a record of where each came from. They are study material only and never go into your design.
Write the brief
Every choice in the brief, from palette and type to onboarding and paywall, names the references it learns from and says what this app does differently. The stage stays open until enough leaders are on disk and the brief is complete and cited.
Plan every screen
A structural plan for every screen, following the onboarding flow in the brief when there is one.
Design the boards
With the Claude Design service turned on, AppFactory prepares the project, the agent designs each board there, and the upload is recorded so later changes are caught. Without it, the agent authors the boards locally or uses assets you provide.
Export the icon
The icon board is exported as a full size master and installed into the app's asset catalog.
Add life, if you want it
Approved mascot poses get blink variants and go into the asset catalog, and free Lottie animations are recolored to your palette.
What you get
At the end of this stage
- A research folder of category leaders
- A design brief with citations
- Boards for every screen and the store layout
- The app icon, installed
Where it stops for you
- You review the boards before the app is built against them.
- The palette has to pass WCAG AA contrast, and the design counts as done only after every SwiftUI screen has been compared with its board and signed off.
Every stage, in one purchase
Founding members pay $99 once, every update included. Only 10 seats at this price, then $149.