What are the stages of mobile app design development?

Question

User interface

The area is new for me, I am interested in the main stages of design development after discussion with the customer.
1. Prototype . I'm looking in the direction of Axure, I also installed Pixate, though I haven't looked at it yet. Where is it more convenient to create a prototype, wireframe, show transitions between screens with arrows? How long should a prototype take? I spent 2 days on my first one, isn't that normal?
2. Design. Can I use fonts other than San Francisco? And if so, in what parts of the application? I suspect that, for example, only the system font should be in the navigation bar.
3. Icons.I understand that true designers draw their own, but I don’t have such experience, and I don’t have time to study either, especially since the Internet is full of icons. Can I use everything or is it better to take Creative Commons?
4. Layout. I work in FS, are there any peculiarities in working in FS when developing a layout for a mobile application? What are the secrets, tricks, plugins? For example, in order not to draw a navigation bar or a tab bar (which is at the bottom) every time, there may be some blanks. What plan of mocaps is better to use in psd or does it matter at all?
What should the correct layout look like? Each screen in a separate psd or is it possible to group all the screens in one psd? How to cut design for developers? I will need to give the prepared design to the developers. I have no idea at all how this is done in mobile development.
I read the guidelines, + there are many other useful materials, but there are not enough technical details on the development process. I would be grateful for any advice (except for courses, schools, books, etc., there is no time for this now, I need information "on the case").

Answer 1

1. The prototype is created so that the designer knows where this or that element was located. When creating a prototype, you need to not only cram the controls, but also think about how convenient it will be from the user's point of view (usability). Read about usability.
2. Stick to one font throughout the application.
3. Choose icons that match the general style of the application. Achieve harmony.
4. There is a full video on this topic, here is an example of the first one that came across https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhE9k_0vrwY.
It is better to have a separate PSD file for each page.

Answer 2

p.3 Look at https://fortawesome.github.io/Font-Awesome/
I advise you to take the course www.mobile.jazov.com This course contains answers to all your questions. It is cheaper to choose the option "independent study" and not "in a group" you will not lose much.