iOS Creating "Source Files"

[showkati]

Hi all!

So I'm currently in the finishing phases of designing my first app. Im going to be sending it out to get coded/created and they are requesting source files. They were very vague in what they wanted specifically (they assumed I've done this before)

I have some questions:

Icons/Logs
Ive done some researching on googling and discovered that i might need to save all my icons and logos as a png and put it into a nice neat folder.

The thing is, i developed the entire app in Adobe Illustrator, so everything is essentially a vector and self-contained in the one .ai file. Would i still need to save everything individually or could they just pull all they need from the .ai file?

Font
Do i have to just tell them which font I'm using or do i have to describe how the font is used frame by frame? The font i used is a standard font
(Helvetica Neue). However, with the font, i did used different thicknesses. Does that all have to explained as well or can the coders look at the file and see for themselves?

Thanks again
I hope my questions make sense

 

[Punkjumper]

Developers don't get paid to transform .ai layers into pngs and decifer fonts. You should have mockup psd files of the screens and all the graphics in proper resolutions and properly named, icons in the correct sizes etc

 

[firewood]

With most iOS app developers (pure developers/coders, not designers), it's best to assume they know nothing about photoshop files. Many know nothing other than plain text descriptions, and jpgs or pngs of all your icons, sub-images, and screen mockups. Even you drawing on paper is better than giving them some bizarre unusable adobe file format.

After they get started, they may ask for the same pngs, but scaled to a different size. You should be prepared to create those from your vector artwork for the app developers.

 

[PhoneyDeveloper]

You should provide the screens in pdf format.

You'll need to provide the images as png files. Because of the different screen resolutions of iOS devices most images will need to be provided in multiple sizes. Depending on the interface design there may be different appearances on iPhone and iPad, in which case you might need to provide different images or different sizes of images for the two platforms.

Regarding the font it just depends on what your developer knows and can determine from the screens you provide. Certainly telling him the name of the font is a good idea. Expect screenshots back from the developers soon and check for anything that's not the way you want it. Fonts are not necessarily chosen by name in the code. There is a system font, which can change with different OS versions. I generally use that font unless I'm told different.

Developers are not artists. You or your artist should provide all art. You will be wasting developers' time and asking them to do things they aren't good at. When I work with artists they tell me I'm not allowed to create any art for the app, which is how I like it.

In the end the main thing is to respond promptly to questions and requests from the developers. That will keep them working at full speed. Do what you're good at and let them do what they're good at.