The way a mobile app looks and the interactive experience that users get when working with it is equally important for developing a successful product. To make a mobile app fully reveal its potential for business, it must be convenient to use, pleasant to look at, and comprehensible for the target audience.
A correct UI/UX design will allow achieving this goal. In this article, we will share some tips on mobile app design and hope they will help you create a truly high-quality product popular with users.
Follow the Guidelines
The work with apps should be habitual and intuitive even to new users. Therefore, Google and Apple urge developers to unify the interfaces of native apps. Google Material Design was compiled for Android, and the Human Interface Guidelines were developed for iOS.
Make sure to add these pages to your bookmarks, as you will come around to them during your work. Do not forget that these documents are regularly updated, so review them from time to time to keep yourselves up-to-date with any changes. Do not consider these documents as something immutable. They are just recommendations, not strict instructions. They are here to help you, but you do not have to follow them always and everywhere. You can even mix recommendations and apply elements specific to one platform to the other.
Assist in Solving Problems
Unlike art, any mobile app design exists in the context of solving a specific problem. Users launch an app to solve their problems or find answers to questions. Help them do it quickly and easily, and then, they will be satisfied and may even recommend the app to their friends.
Label UI Elements
If the icon is not labeled, chances are high users will not understand what it is meant for. Even icons with quite obvious functions (for example, a hamburger menu — a column of three horizontal lines) can puzzle users, despite the UX designers’ expectations.
Things will become even worse if your app features completely different icons since it will be even harder for users to understand what they mean. Consequently, label your interface elements so that users do not get confused.
Use Micro-interactions
These are minor events that are part of a global system. They attract attention, communicate information, and reduce negative expectation impressions.
Some examples:
Animation after clicking the icon;
Navigation while scrolling the content;
Event indication (changing the number of unread letters or notifications);
Data entry visualization. A plastic card picture is often added to a payment form. After filling in the form fields, the numbers automatically appear on the image;
Call to action (CTA).
Micro-interactions work because they provide feedback and a clear understanding that the operation is completed or being resolved.
Follow the Sequence
If users get to know your app gradually, that is the best way to give them time to comfortably adapt to it. Users follow a specific path and get solutions to their problems. Consistency increases conversion rates and provides a positive experience.
Here are a few examples of how consistency manifests itself in design:
1. Step by step registration. Users specify their email, enter a verification code from the mail, and get access to their personal account.
2. Visual harmony. Typography, buttons, and blocks make an integral whole.
3. The unity of style. App versions for Android and iOS maximally resemble each other, allowing users to avoid discomfort when switching from one system to another.
Adjust to the Audience
It would be best to know who your target audience is to tailor the design accordingly. Consider all the parameters known to you: age and gender, preferences, and interests, the most popular services. Knowing this data, you will easily simulate users’ paths and determine their wishes and expectations from the interface in advance.
Answer the following question yourself: why does the user launch your app? Build the design based on the answer. Relatively speaking, if a person launches the app just to order food delivery services, the appropriate functionality for this action should be placed right on the main page.
Simpler Means Better
Do not complicate your interface with numerous details and elements, even if they seem nice to you. The mobile app design should allow users to perform minimum actions to achieve their goal: minimum clicks, minimum text reads, etc.
The same applies to functionality. There is no need to load your product with unnecessary functions. It would be best to develop the necessary minimum but ensure its uninterrupted operation.
We hope these tips will come in handy, and you will be able to use them while working on your mobile app.
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About Author
Mr. Bhuvnesh Mathur
Bhuvnesh got his Bachelor's degree in software engineering in 2017 and has been working in Vidhema Technologies since 2018 as SEO Lead and technical writer. He has a special knack of learning from all verticals and imbibing the extracts into his writing and enjoys learning techincal aspects of of writing for his experties as SEO and SMO. In his writing he express his experience and understading of different technologies.