My Recent Development Experience
I just finished working on a mobile application project where I used only Expo for development and Figma for design work. The entire project took me around 150 hours to complete from start to finish.
What I’m Looking For
I’m curious about what others think of this approach and whether there are any improvements I could make for future projects. Since I kept the tech stack pretty minimal, I wonder if I missed out on any important tools or frameworks that could have made the process smoother.
Questions I have:
- Is 150 hours reasonable for this kind of setup?
- What other tools do you usually pair with Expo?
- Any design workflow tips when working between Figma and Expo?
Would love to hear from anyone who has experience with similar projects or has suggestions for optimizing this kind of development workflow.
The timeline seems reasonable, especially given the complexity of your app. I had a similar experience with Expo, and while the framework is great for streamlined development, incorporating additional tools can enhance your workflow substantially. For instance, integrating React Navigation early on simplifies routing significantly. Also, consider using Expo Vector Icons and a UI library such as NativeBase or React Native Elements to prevent reinventing the wheel.
Regarding your design workflow with Figma, ensure you export your assets in various resolutions and keep your files organized before diving into coding. This approach minimizes the need for back-and-forth adjustments. Utilize Figma’s developer handoff feature as well; it helps you obtain precise spacing and color codes. Lastly, one aspect I neglected initially was setting up a robust state management solution like Context API or Redux Toolkit from the beginning. It pays off as the project evolves and complexity increases.
Been there with Expo + Figma. 150 hours sounds about right.
The manual handoff between design and dev always kills me. You’re probably burning tons of time translating Figma designs into React Native components and tweaking spacing.
I automated most of this with Latenode. Built scenarios that pull design tokens straight from Figma’s API and spit out component boilerplate. Also handles asset optimization and exports at different resolutions automatically.
Biggest game-changer was automating the repetitive stuff - icon processing, color updates, basic component generation from Figma frames. Got my similar projects down to ~100 hours.
Latenode plays nice with Figma’s API and pushes updates straight to your repo via GitHub. No more copy-pasting hex codes or manual asset exports.
Definitely worth a look: https://latenode.com
150 hours is solid for Expo + Figma workflow. I’ve worked on similar projects and that’s totally normal timing. What saved me the most time was sticking with Expo’s built-in components rather than custom styling everything. Also throw in TypeScript if you haven’t - it’ll catch bugs way earlier.
Your approach sounds efficient. I’ve built a few Expo apps and keeping the stack minimal definitely leads to cleaner code and fewer headaches. ESLint and Prettier are game-changers if you set them up early - they’ll save you tons of time on formatting and catch dumb mistakes before they bite you. For Figma to Expo, try Figma Dev Mode. It gives way better CSS translations that play nicely with React Native’s StyleSheet. 150 hours sounds reasonable depending on complexity. My last project hit 180 hours, but that included auth and backend integration which adds a lot of overhead.