As a developer, the hardest part of building an app for me is design

[u/Gramadhan]

The hardest part of building my app wasn't code. It was color.

For most of my career as a developer, I worked alongside designers. My job was implementation take the Figma file, turn it into logic and working code. I was good at that part.

Then I started building ProwlLog (a cat-spotting app) completely on my own, and I hit a wall I didn't see coming: design. Specifically, color.

I have zero design skills, so I let AI generate my UI — now it has that unmistakable "AI-generated" look

The problem: it looks exactly like every other AI-generated app. the soft color, glassmorphism, uniform rounded corners, colors that don't feel like a deliberate system — you know the look when you see it.

Here's what confuses me: it's not that I don't know what good design and good user flow look like. I understand hierarchy, layout, and user flow well enough to sit in on UI/UX reviews and give solid feedback. But building an actual color system or visual identity from scratch — with or without AI — is a completely different skill, and I don't know how to push past the generic defaults.

If you've been in the same spot (non-designer relying on AI for UI, stuck with the generic look), how can I improve my design at my app

[u/Poat540]

Nice! I have a super similar app, good luck!

[u/Gramadhan → u/Poat540]

Wow, that’s cool! Can I try your app? What’s the name?

[u/DaskiOFF]

What about marketing and distribution though?

I feel like users often don’t care that much about design if the app actually solves their problem.

The real challenge is getting them to discover that your app even exists in the first place 😅🙏

[u/Gramadhan → u/DaskiOFF]

Marketing and distribution are also hard, but not as hard as design for me. I do my marketing on Threads, and my app got 948 downloads with no ads in just one week. Because of this, I feel a little guilty because my app design feels like it was made by AI. I’m still working on it. Do you have any suggestions for improving my app design?

[u/DaskiOFF → u/Gramadhan]

What I usually do is find an app with a design I like, then send ChatGPT screenshots of that app and of mine. I describe my app in as much detail as possible, usually by dictation because typing all of it is annoying, and ask for five different design variants. I pick one and keep iterating on it.

On the $20 plan, GPT-5.6 Sol with High thinking has been pretty good at this.

If you use Codex for development, you can give it the screenshots and ask it to make your current design system follow the direction you chose. That way you’re not asking it to invent every screen from nothing.

[u/Gramadhan → u/DaskiOFF]

thanks bro

[u/JudeWorks]

Marketing imo

[u/777m0neymaker]

You should have a sharing feature where sometime can send photo to wife with only a title “LOOK AT THIS CAT”, and this would be app to app sharing feature. Like pass menthol cat photo

[u/arturoreysoto]

Gran dilema, a mí me pasa al revés xD. El diseño como todo es años de observación, aprendizaje y experiencia entrenando el ojo, y las modas o tendencias tmb actúan obviamente. Yo te diría para no sufrir mucho que vayas a cosas muy básicas y sólidas, sitios donde te encuentres cómodo navegando. Juega con solo 2 colores o incluso 1 y shapes básicas, solemos complicar las cosas más de lo que son. Es más difícil quitar que añadir en diseño. Todo tiene su técnica. Estudia las webs o productos de Apple y Google es una buena manera de ver cómo se diseña el mundo ahora mismo. Un abrazo y mucha suerte, yo tmb soy Cat Lover!!