The process of developing mobile apps is constantly changing in front of our eyes. Mobile app design tips are one of the most prominent manifestations of this transience. The truth is emphasized even more by the changing patterns that appear in it on an almost annual basis.
Website Valley has listed the ones that are most likely to be the most popular in 2022. We’ve supplemented them with a breakdown of the various sorts of applications from a user’s perspective, key design principles, and potential pitfalls to avoid.
Types of Mobile Application
The mobile app design tips of an app are heavily influenced by its kind. As a user, you’re undoubtedly already familiar with the many categories that separate programs. There are applications that are designed for fun and amusement, as well as apps that are more useful.
We normally categorize applications based on their content in this way. The technological viewpoint, on the other hand, is important. It’s how the majority of programmers see their work.
icon-angle-right Content Perspective
An app for education would most likely seem different than one designed simply for business and money. The same may be said about weather applications, for example.
Only pertinent information, such as current humidity, temperature, and predictions, will be provided.
- Apps for your lifestyle may assist you with fashion, parenting, and real estate decisions.
- Nutrition applications allow you to plan and track your diet.
- Game applications transport you to your favorite game worlds, whether casual or competitive.
From a content standpoint, we consider how each app will assist us in solving a problem or accomplishing a certain goal. Of course, the ones listed above are only a few of the most common sorts of applications accessible today.
icon-angle-right Technical Perspective
When it comes to applications and how to improve their user interfaces and experiences, developers divide them into categories like native apps, web apps, and hybrid apps.
Native apps are those that operate on just one operating system, such as Android, iOS, or Windows. Because of the guaranteed top-notch performance, availability of numerous API choices, and superior overall user experiences, some mobile app developers still prefer to go native.
Because hybrid apps are designed to work on various platforms, they kill two or more birds with one stone. They do have a disadvantage when compared to native apps. They perform worse.
When it comes to user accessibility, web apps are hard to surpass. You don’t have to download them, so they don’t take up any space on your computer, and you can use them with only a browser to get all of their features.
They do have certain drawbacks, such as overdependence on the strength of internet connections and restricted API possibilities.
15 Best and User-Friendly Mobile App Design Tips
#1. Combine practical and intuitive experiences
Reduce the number of effort consumers must use to acquire what they desire. Organize data in such a manner that getting to your target involves the fewest possible steps.
Break down complex jobs into manageable bits. Secondary acts should be hidden. Tasks should be delegated. Make intelligent defaults.
Create interruption-proof mobile app design tips. Allow users to save their current state and return to it later. Users anticipate continuing their adventure from where they left off. Focus on the user’s goals, but don’t give them too much information. Please don’t interrupt.
#2. Invisibilize user interfaces
Remove extraneous components that do not assist user tasks and make the content the interface. Cards are an excellent method to present practical information. Maintain a bright and airy interface. Make room for breathing. To bring attention to the crucial text, use white space.
The most successful apps are laser-focused and offer only a few functions. Prioritize what’s vital and cut the nice-to-have features to reduce the feature set. Prioritizing content can help to simplify the UI and improve the user experience.
Clarity is enhanced by using simple and plain language. Avoid acronyms, brand-specific words, culturally particular assumptions, and technical jargon. Use terms and phrases that are easy to grasp. To preserve readability and usefulness at all sizes, choose a typeface that performs well in a variety of sizes and weights.
Use a font size that is easy to read. Users should be able to see text at a normal viewing distance without having to zoom in. The text should have enough color contrast. The text blends in with the backdrop due to a lack of contrast. For body text and picture text, aim for a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1.
#3. Get Rid of the Clutter
Get rid of the excess. Getting rid of everything in mobile app design tips that aren’t strictly required can increase understanding. One major action per screen is a good rule of thumb. Login barriers should be avoided. Instead of forcing early registration, progressively collect data.
Avoiding Information Overload, which occurs when a system’s processing capability is exceeded by the amount of data it receives. Because decision makers’ cognitive processing ability is constrained, decision quality suffers.
Chunking is beneficial. Break large forms into pages, gradually revealing fields as needed. Integrate autocomplete, spell-check, and text prediction tools to speed up this procedure.
User onboarding is important not only for lowering abandonment rates but also for improving long-term success metrics like user retention and lifetime value.
#4. Navigation Should Be Simple, Yet Discoverable
Users should be encouraged to engage and interact with the material through navigation. It should be implemented in such a way that it complements the app’s structure rather than drawing attention to itself.
Navigation must be easy to find and use while taking up little screen real estate. The bulk of app users’ demands should be met through navigation.
Different priority levels should be assigned to typical user tasks. Paths and destinations with high importance and frequent use should be indicated in the user interface.
Navigation must be available all of the time, not only when the user is likely to need it. Make actions and options visible to reduce the user’s memory load. Users should be able to grasp the menu selections with the help of icons and other graphic elements.
#5. Build for One-Handed Operation
Screen sizes will continue to grow, and 90 percent of consumers use their phones in one hand. The screen gets less accessible as the size of the display increases.
The top-level menu’s frequently used controls, and popular action items should all be positioned in the screen’s green zone, which is easily accessible with one thumb. Place damaging activities in the hard-to-reach red zone to prevent users from tapping them by accident.
#6. The Aesthetics of Speed Is Important
Make sure users don’t have to wait for stuff. Make the app responsive and speedy. It’s critical to offer some type of feedback in response to every user activity in order to keep the interaction predictable.
Feedback recognizes activities and assists users in comprehending the outcomes of operations. They may wonder if an app has executed the activity due to a lack of feedback. For the user, an app that gives visible feedback minimizes guessing.
Using a progress indicator, let folks know that things are going to take along. The progress indicators tell consumers to wait. Thus we should replace them as soon as feasible with skeleton screens.
#7. Thoughtful, Timely Notifications Are Essential
Before you send a message, think carefully. Users are inundated with ineffective alerts. People delete smartphone applications for a variety of reasons, the most common of which are annoying alerts.
It’s all about making every message count on mobile. Don’t bombard people with push notifications.
The benefit that consumers receive from alerts should outweigh the inconvenience. Don’t send push alerts only to keep consumers interested. It is vital to personalize content in order to inspire and delight customers.
Sending push alerts at strange hours is not a good idea. Send alerts at the most convenient times for the user, based on their time zone.
#8. No Web Experiences
On an app, don’t try to recreate web experiences. In mobile apps, users anticipate specific interaction patterns and UI components. Keep the color palette, font, and other mobile app design tips components visually consistent.
Ensure a consistent experience across all devices. It also strengthens the brand’s reputation. Instead of utilizing highlighted links, utilize buttons.
Users should not be sent to a browser. This leads to a higher rate of desertion and a lower conversion rate. Avoid building dead-end pages that obstruct the flow of users. Error and empty states should include advice and actions for moving ahead.
#9. Integrate security and trustworthiness from the beginning
When a user first uses your app, don’t ask them to rate it. When a user completes a task, don’t prompt them to rate the app. Wait until consumers demonstrate that they will use your app again, and they will be more inclined to review it and offer more detailed comments.
Within mobile app design recommendations, ensure that your permission policies are visible and that your users have control over how their personal information is shared. Display trusted security badges to boost trustworthiness, especially when people are entrusting their personal and financial information to your company.
#10. Personalize the Experience
Personalization allows users to have a more personalized and relevant experience. Personalize the user experience wherever feasible by displaying appropriate content and material in the app based on user data.
It’s simple and effective to personalize by including the user’s name on the screen and in communications.
Personalization should steer consumers toward the stuff they want and away from the content that isn’t relevant to them. It can also help you avoid becoming distracted.
#11. Delight with Animations and Micro-interactions
To make the interface feel more human and to establish an emotional connection with your users, employ attractive animation. There’s no need for clutter or unnecessary text when animations and micro-interactions capture attention and provide the perfect tone.
When loading results, use animations to make the UI look more responsive. The immediacy of transitions gives the impression that the program is reacting to user input.
#12. Interactions with the Echo Core
Echoing may be used to emphasize a primary interaction across an experience, as well as to unify the design of a product by using familiar visual design components and, hopefully, to make tedious interactions enjoyable.
When a single interface mobile app design tips is reused in several settings across a product experience, this is known as echo. People can study the same interaction model in one area and then apply what they’ve learned elsewhere since the model is reused.
#13. Gradually engage
Gradual engagement refers to the process of moving a user through an app, truly interacting with it, and appreciating its benefits.
#14. Hide Show Passwords
It’s more difficult to type complicated characters into password fields with sloppy fingers and tiny displays. By not presenting sign-out activities upfront, you can keep customers logged in for as long as feasible. Passwords are seldom entered as a result of this.
#15. Act Just in Time
Only show relevant features when they’re needed. They came to the surface barely in time. When the keyboard isn’t in use, turn it off. It aids in the communication of otherwise unnoticed gesture-only functions. Make important information available just when people need it, not all of the time.
About the Author!
Ellie Singh is a mobile app developer at Website Valley, a leading app development agency. Also, she is passionate about writing on the innovation & technology and have been in this field for 3 years.