Mobile App Design Strategies for a World-Class UX
Ashutosh Chandra | 24th July 2020
For a great product, building its features, and functionality is not enough. Users expect the interface to enhance the overall experience, while still functioning perfectly and fulfilling their every need. Agencies that offer mobile app design services can fulfill those needs. The new and Improved buttons, forms, and animations can make an app design feel unique and state of the art. But there is an upper limit to the pace of innovation, which means we should not innovate too far beyond what is widely accepted. Although the feel of these new app designs is different, they must also be familiar enough to be intuitive. There are some commonly accepted standards and principles when it comes to designing mobile apps.
In this blog, we will discuss some of the effective mobile app design strategies that span the onboarding, engagement, and retention processes of simple yet functional design. So, let’s dive right in.
Key Mobile App Design Strategies for a World Class UX:
Prompt the Mobile Onboarding Process
The final stage of building a product often focuses on the initial stage of the customer’s onboarding experience. Sometimes, teams do not spend enough time crafting that “first-mile” onboarding experience for users. Never underrate the importance of designing an amazing onboarding experience. This will immediately set the stage for your product and create a memorable first scene, hypothetically speaking.
Also, Read | User Onboarding Techniques To Revamp UX
Include Interactive Loading Screens or Skeleton Screens
The computational power of our mobile phones outperforms the most expensive computers in the world from only a few decades ago. Yet we still see loading screens. Hopefully, future innovations may eliminate loading screens entirely. But for now, we must handle them with poise. In the loading screen, designers can provide entertainment in the form of subtle animations.
Simplify the Mobile User Experience
Overly complicated UX design can create an environment of feature creep. Feature creep occurs when the product offers more features than customers need, which complicates and confuse users. A functional design promotes clean and simple design elements. Although the functional design is often associated with hardware, it can equally apply to software architecture. For instance, creating a mobile app that users can navigate successfully almost subconsciously.
Related Strategies A Designer Can Use To Simplify A Design
Appeal to Intuition
It is important to create an onboarding process that educates users about how to use the app. But at the same time, there is no substitute for learning by doing. Most of the users simply opt-out of the onboarding flow, and choose impatience over practicality. Designers build the essential interfaces to account for these users who will not bother with the onboarding tour. This means designing intuitive elements that users can “self-taught” on first use.
Design Mobile Forms for Apps
Long forms on mobile devices can be troublesome most of the time. Some devices have autocomplete features that make completing forms a breeze. But we can’t expect this while designing forms. Chunking is a technique sometimes used for memorization that compartmentalizes information into bite-sized chunks. Phone numbers, for instance, are much easier to remember when broken into combinations of three and four digits, instead of ten. Implementing this strategy to simplifying the process of filling out mobile forms is to break the forms into digestible chunks.
Size Elements for Mobile
Consider the finger pad size while deciding the size of buttons, text, and other elements within the design of mobile apps. Keep visual acuity in mind. Your app should be clearly viewable from an arm’s length away. On average, this is about 36 inches. Mobile app design elements such as graphics, text, and color palettes should be clearly viewable from a reasonable distance.
Consider Reachable Thumb Zones
Don’t forget to consider the positions in which users hold their devices while designing an app. For instance, it’s possible users are lying down in bed or walking to work, which can put different levels of strain on finger positioning. Designers must design mobile apps with reachable zones in mind for the best possible user experience in every physical position. When the important features and frequently used elements are in the bottom three-quarters of the screen, it increases engagement and user satisfaction.
Conclusion
From the user experience perspective, mobile app design is as important as the technical functionality of the product. Our rational senses appreciate the business logic of mobile apps but the app design appeals to our emotions and creativity. Contact Oodles mobile app design services for more assistance.
