Why I decided not to make a mobile app as a UX designer

5 min readJan 14, 2021

And still… I got my Apple Developer License and released my first sticker pack on the App Store.

Okay, I know. A sticker pack? Not the biggest story on the internet, but there might be a lesson in it for all of you.

Background story

TL;DR: I am a product owner and UX designer with a management degree and a limited coding knowledge. I’ve been reluctant on creating my own paid mobile game app for more than 10 years.

By default I have a degree in Management & Business Administration, so I am not a Software Engineer at all. In the past 10 years I have had many side-hustle freelancer jobs, some of which where related to coding.

I work for a US company as a product owner and UX designer and I have just bought my very first Apple pencil to upgrade my designer game.

I instantly fell in love with it and as a real economist I immediately started to think about ways of monetizing it.

Ways of monetizing your skills

TL;DR: I want to try the quickest and easiest ones and only invest more time and assets in the bigger options later on. Creating stickers is easy, quick and you can earn a decent amount of money compared to your investments.

Here’s a list of my ways of monetizing my skills with the time needed and the possible amount of money. (The numbers represent a scale from 1 to 5, 1 being the easiest or least.)

1. Art Printable

Time: 1
Skill: 1
Brand: 1
Money: 2

With a little bit of time, you can create your own outlines and start selling them online. People might want to buy it to color the art at home or get a tattoo based on that. You don’t need your own brand or style and you can be a beginner artist. However, this might not be the way to become a millionaire.

2. Digital Print

Time: 1
Skill: 2
Brand: 2
Money: 2

It is almost the same as the first one, but you need to get familiar with preferences and settings for high quality prints. You might also want to have a watermark with your name or brand on it.

3. POD (Print-on-Demand) Marketplace

Time: 2
Skill: 2
Brand: 2
Money: 3

Creating fan art or trendy phone cases can make it easy for you to get a decent amount of passive income. Have a unique style or brand, combine it with holidays and you are good to go.

4. E-book

Time: 3
Skill: 4
Brand: 3
Money: 3

The only hardship coming with creating an e-book is that first you have to become an expert of the topic. If that is done, you just need to choose a popular topic and create a great curriculum.

5. Youtube Channel

Time: 5
Skill: 4
Brand: 5
Money: 5

This is a great deal of work. In my opinion it can be much more time consuming than creating a game from scratch. You need to be multidisciplinary, you need a great strategy and the willingness to invest a LOT of time.

6. Game

Time: 5
Skill: 5
Brand: 5
Money: 5

The only thing you need is a Crossy Road or a Tiny wings. Create a game, earn millions and retire early. Easy, right? I wonder why don’t we all do this. Because it takes time, skill, money and nerves. This article shows us the costs of creating a game.

7. Courses

Time: 5
Skill: 5
Brand: 3
Money: 4

That’s almost the same story as creating an e-book, but much more time consuming. You need lots of video footage, examples and skills to create a stunning a desirable course. However, you can earn plenty of money with courses.

8. Vector Images

Time: 2
Skill: 3
Brand: 2
Money: 3

With the newer trends there’s an increasing demand for high quality editable vector images. Of course you need to spend more time creating these than digital art images, but you can sell them for much more. Using a stock website makes it pretty easy: all you need to do is to upload your files and wait for the money to flow in.

9. Fonts

Time: 3
Skill: 3
Brand: 2
Money: 3

If you are familiar with fonts and calligraphy, it can be a great strategy to create fonts. For me fonts are really great, but creating one would not be a good idea at this point. My lack of knowledge and skills mean that I could not deliver a high quality product without first investing time into learning.

10. Stickers

Time: 1
Skill: 2
Brand: 1
Money: 2

You only need a couple of PNGs and Xcode to build your sticker pack. You can update it with new stickers if you’d like to, but it is not necessary. (You cannot really say that for apps.)

Strategy

Here we are. After deciding that I am starting my Apple Developer carrier with stickers, I only needed 3 days from the first sketch to a working iOS Messages Sticker Pack. (It can be done in a day, but I did it as a side hustle after work, so it took more time.)

My first package is free, because I would like to analyze everything, take a look at statistics etc. I’ll keep creating a few free packages and then I’ll be ready to sell them. The good news is that you can sell them for USD 1–2, which basically the price of a paid mobile app game. Compared to the amount of knowledge and work it requires, it is a really great deal. Even if the scale and the income is not equal to a game’s.

The topic of the stickers is travel and camping, because I miss travelling sooo much. COVID did not make last year easy, but I hope that this sticker pack makes it easier for you too.