How to brief an app redesign
Start with who struggles and where, not with how it should look. Here is what to write down first.
By The Solva Group. Published 8 October 2026.
An app redesign brief should name the people who struggle, the tasks that fail, the screens that matter most, the access a designer will have to the software, and how the result will be checked. The Solva Group recommends writing those five things down before asking anyone for a price.
Who struggles, and with what?
Name the roles that use the app and the moments they get stuck: a form nobody finishes, a number nobody can find, a step that needs a colleague to explain it. Watching two or three people use the app tells you more than a survey.
Which tasks fail?
List the jobs the app must let people complete, from start to finish, in plain words. Mark the ones that are slow, error-prone or avoided. A redesign that makes three important tasks easy is worth more than one that restyles every screen.
Which screens matter most?
Most of the time in a business app is spent on a handful of screens. Say which ones, and send screenshots. Say what people already know and should not have to relearn.
What access to the software exists?
Say whether the designer can change the app itself, or only supply designs for another developer to build. Say who owns the code and whether there is a test copy. This decides what can be promised.
Design only, or design and build?
A design-only job ends with screens and a written specification. Design and build ends with the change running in your app. Ask for the price of each, and for who is responsible if the built result does not match the design.
How will improvements be checked?
Agree the tasks a person must be able to complete on the finished screens, on a phone and on a desktop, with a keyboard, and with text people can read. Check on real devices with your own information.
Quick answers
Do we need to rebuild the app to improve it?
Not usually. Many improvements are to screens, forms and navigation, and leave the system behind them as it is.
Can you redesign an app someone else built?
It depends on the access we are given to it. We check before we promise.
What should we send to get a price?
Screenshots of the screens that matter, the tasks people struggle with, and whether we would be changing the app or only supplying designs.
Where to go next.
Prefer a written workflow plan?
Rather have the plan written for you?
A Workflow Blueprint is a paid, fixed-fee plan for one business workflow, with a written scope and a build quote.
What a Workflow Blueprint includesHow we approach app redesign
How we approach it
We keep what people already know where it works, design the screens around the tasks that matter, and build the change where we have access. You get a written scope and a fixed price before any development starts. See app design and polish.
Tell us what you need built.
A rough description is enough.