Countless apps spring up inside the App Store, Play Store, Windows Store, and other application stores on a daily basis, making it even more difficult for developers to let their app survive amongst thousands of other apps. The success lies in small details that constitute an app. These small details are so significant that they can either make or break an app. We are talking about the particulars related to aesthetic mobile app user experience (UX) design.
Most apps commend themselves for providing a uniquely mesmerizing experience to the users. How much of it is true? There are currently hundreds of apps offering a one of a kind experience to app users. Do you qualify in those hundreds? If no, then why not? If yes, then is your app capable enough to outperform your competitors within those hundreds? As a mobile app designer or a developer, it is you who is responsible to set a user interface (UI) capable of raising UX benchmarks, which are impeccable.
The above questions might look frightening, especially when dealing with a mobile app having an under-performing interface, and an average looking app design. However, you might feel relieved to hear that you just need to follow a few UI and UX design principles, letting your app shine through the crowd instead of getting lost among them.
#1. Bring about an overall consistency with your layout
Consistency is a universal principle of UI/UX design. It relates to the app appearing same all the way irrespective of the screen size. The app should have a flexible layout whether accessed on a tablet, smartphone, smartwatch, smart TVs, or other IoT devices. It should not end up in a mess when shrunk to smaller sizes. Each section or screen should unfold so seamlessly, leading to an outstandingly smooth app flow.
#2. Maintain a balance between simplicity and intricacy
Structural design is probably one of the toughest jobs to do, as the app should find a striking balance, by being not too simple or too complex. If the app is extremely simple, users find the app to be common with everything predictable, leading to boredom in app usage. Alternatively, if the app is highly complex, users would end up finding it difficult in understanding features, ultimately building up frustration and forcing users to move away from the app.
#3. Your app should talk one-on-one with the users
When you treat the app as an individual rather than just a project, you are giving your users a sense of companionship. Users get overwhelmed when they see apps as comrades rather than an electronic tool. Ensure that the interaction between your app and users take place in a seamless way, with key components clearly visible right in front of user eyeballs.
Committing the mistake of hiding interactive elements can make communication bitter, leading to users getting annoyed. Ensure to choose a navigational model which users expect from an app like yours. Say, for example, if incorporating every single navigational part is difficult in your app real estate, try to integrate a drill down menu tab or drop down box in place, for a better hierarchical viewing.
#4. Concentrate on core functionality more than anything else
It is foolish to incorporate too many features within a single app. You might be aiming for a mobile app environment, wherein users can possibly do almost everything on the go. Firstly, decide on the app purpose and long term goals. Secondly, try to analyze the mandatory features users would quite certainly expect from your app.
Now, if you plan to integrate even more awesome looking functionalities, ensure that your app does not become too heavy or bulky to handle. If that is the case, then it is better to launch more such related apps carrying those features. If users are interested in your app, they would certainly be interested in the apps relating to yours.
#5. Give away surprises within the app slowly and gradually
How about your users getting bored of your app too early? It is because you have revealed everything too early without keeping anything in contention for later surprises. Avoid this by creating your app in a way that it has to offer something new every time, when explored daily. Instead of throwing away all the functionalities and features in one shot, provide things slowly and steadily, keeping users glued to your app through an enriching experience.
#6. Do not disregard people with physical disabilities
While creating apps, do not forget that you will be catering your app to people belonging to all age brackets. Your app should have font style, size, color as well as background color based on the visual capabilities and accessibilities of them all. Whether adolescent, teen, adult, or people belonging to higher age groups, they should be able to easily see the app content and use it with their own hands without much hustle.
Also, take into consideration people who are visually impaired, or physically handicapped. Try to incorporate features that will make their life easier, if even they can use your app with ease through sound or voice commands, and one-touch accessibility.
#7. Embed gestures in a refined manner
Swiping and tapping are the most common gestures expected out of every single app. However, the use of gestures in different apps varies from one another, as per their functional usage. Ensure to make your users familiar with the invisible gestures, by highlighting their use within the app.
#8. Design while visualizing smartphones build
Smartphones have a varied range of keyboards. Let your app automatically suggest the keyboard variations like alphabets, numbers, and more, based on the type of smartphone in use. Restrain your users from inputting too much text.
#9. Let your app decide the best orientation type
Portrait is the default orientation type for the majority of the apps you see around. However, the usefulness of landscape orientation mode cannot be ignored, in the case of too much typing.
#10. Your app should inform users of an action outcome
A responsive app is one that pretty much informs the users in advance regarding the outcome of a specific action they perform. The acknowledgment should appear as soon as the users perform an action. When your app anticipates user reactions, specifically accompanied by a visual response, the users have to, at least, bother about whether the action has turned out to be successful or not.
#11. Ask confirmation from users every time an action is performed
In most cases, especially non-technical users, perform certain actions intentionally or by mistake, resulting in the app acting undesirably. In order to avoid such a scenario, ask users to confirm the action every single time, so that users know what action they are going to perform, and whether the action is feasible to perform or not.
#12. Provide search features within the app to locate things easily
In-app search helps users to explore the app features with great ease. Making use of search functionalities like ‘auto complete’, ‘filtering’, and ‘recent searches’, users can use the app to their maximum advantage.
Images: ” A man is holding a tablet with USER EXPERIENCE texts on the screen. /Shutterstock.com“
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