Make your app feel premium, not vibe coded

One prompt builds a basic animation. Making it feel right took one builder 6 hours and 50+ prompts. AI gives everyone the same floor in a weekend, so taste is the gap people feel when they open your app and pay for it.

Here are my 7 rules.

1. Talk to one person.

Write every line the way you talk to a friend. Short words, short sentences. Read each screen out loud, and if it sounds like a manual or a contract, rewrite it until it sounds like you.

2. Sell the outcome.

Your user has a problem. Every screen is about them, their problem, and how you solve it. Show the result they want on the first screen, and keep the features for later, once they already believe you can deliver it.

3. Pick a style and stick to it.

2 colors and 1 accent. Then pick one design style: 3D, hand drawn, minimalist, or playful like Duolingo. Use the same icons, the same corners and the same motion on every screen, because consistency makes an app feel designed by one hand.

4. Make every tap felt.

Every tap needs a response. Add haptics to each interaction: vibration, a transition and a sound. Match the weight to the action: a regular tap stays light, while a purchase or a finished goal gets the heaviest one you have.

5. Keep every screen moving.

A still screen feels dead. Add a bit of motion to every screen, even the empty ones. My tip is a small loop animation, light in weight: in HealthClass, the class cat is hand drawn and loops on 6 frames.

Empty screens are the best place for one.

6. Question everything.

Go minimalist on every screen. For each thing you add, ask one question: is it necessary? If the answer is no, cut it, until each page has one goal and one action left for the user to take.

One page, one goal, one action.

7. Train your eye on competitors.

Open your competitors’ apps. Spot what feels wrong, and write each mistake down in one list. That list becomes your rules, so those mistakes stay out of your app, and every competitor you study makes your next screen better.

99% of users never notice a single detail. After 5 to 10 uses, they miss it in every other app.

My apps

This is how I build my mobile apps. Here are the two that show it best, one live and one coming soon.

Premium is felt before it is seen.

Jeremy