June 26, 2020Have you ever seen a complex landing page of a website or an app and wanted to stay there for more than 5 seconds? Have you ever wanted to read the overdoze of text and the look at the pictures with striking colours in an app? Well, nobody would probably like to even keep such an app in their phone for more than 2 minutes.
This has led the app development companies to work on the design as much as they work on the development procedure of an app. The design of an app plays a pivotal role in the success of that particular app as it can either make the future of a company or break it. So, it is on you to decide what to offer to your users. Give them a page full of text, images and links or a clear page with important things that they need the most.
App developers have started laying emphases on the design these days to ensure more users for the app. They have become very creative and innovative with designs and have been making it look real and quite handy.
How important is the UI (User Interface)?
Extremely important indeed! It is the page which interacts with the users making an app likeable or not likeable. It should be interactive and easy to use, therefore any app’s UI should be created keeping in mind the views of the customers and the users. A developer’s main aim it to create an interactive UI.
What is UX (User Experience)?
Giving the best experience to the users is the idea behind UX. By giving a positive experience like no other to the users is of the utmost importance which helps in converting the regular customers into loyal customers. The journey of a user should be converted into an exciting experience, and that is the main aim of UX.
Deliverables of UX/UI
Both of these have different deliverables as their functions vary from each other. Going through various phases, the work of UI/UX is never ending as the companies have to take care of their customers or users throughout their lifetime.
Losing even a single user can hamper their goodwill. The deliverables of the two are made to deliver better communication and documentation with the clients.
First let’s take a look at the deliverable of UX:
Customer Needs:
The app developers have to understand the behaviour of the users, therefore they must understand the expectations of the users from the products and deliver a product accordingly. The understand of a buyer’s persona helps the developer to communicate well with the client and give reasoning on which features are more important in the app.
Competitive Analysis Report:
Keeping a tab on the strengths and weaknesses of other competitive apps helps an app in thriving well in the market. A competitive analysis report helps in measuring the amount of competition your app is going to face once it is launched. If at any point of time you fail to understand the competition level in the app world, all your efforts of developing the app will go in vain and the app might not be able to fare well.
Related Blog: How to give your best shot at Creating a Voice User Interface Design?
User Journey:
These are the minute specifications of user behaviour towards your app. It helps in identifying the expectations of the users from your app. It also emphasises on the time spent by a user, his reactions, needs and thoughts on your app.
Interactive Prototype:
Last and the most important deliverable of UX, this one helps in saving a lot of time and gets the work done efficiently. The designer gets the leverage to convey his ideas to the company or his employers about what might work in the favour of the app. It also lays light on how the product is going to look once it is launched in the app world.
Now take a look at the UI deliverables:
Visual designs:
Would you want to open an app and stay on it for even 2 minutes if you see a cluster of words and colours? Well, many might just want to delete the app right away. Understanding the elements of visual design is very important. These elements include the likes of colours, layouts, images, photography, typography, etc.
Mood boards:
Getting the basic idea of what the developer in working on is called mood boards.
Dynamic photography:
If you want to improve the overall functioning of your app, then you must invest time in dynamic prototyping of the app. With this, the UI can be created in accordance to the likes of the desires.
A look at the components one needs to consider while designing UI/UX mobile applications
Interaction design:
An interactive and well-coordinated design is all that users like to see in their apps. There are certain elements that contribute to an interactive design. These important elements include the likes of fonts, images, colors, aesthetics, text, etc.
Information Architecture:
Navigating is something which all users want an easy hand with. The IA lets you make a smooth navigation system which will enhance the user experience letting them switch from the browser without any hassle.
Wireframe:
No app goes to the app store for installation without clearing the testing phase. Wireframe ideally means testing the app before letting the users download it. A sample should be created with similar design and should be launched before actually launching the main application.
Usability:
This component deals with the self-serving ways of the users. The developers have to make sure that the users can solve issues themselves. It overlooks the point that the users are self-sufficient and are getting apt information they need for the application in use.
Visual design:
An app should be interactive and should look appealing to the eye of a user. The complex the app, the lesser number of downloads it will see. Therefore, it should be easy to user and attractive to look at.
Next, let’s look at the importance of mobile app in UI/UX design.
Creating an app with attractive features and failing at its design is a failure at the developer’s part. The app might never be able to pick pace in this case. UI/UX play a pivotal role in the development of an app. Let’s look at some importance pointers:
- Attraction for users: A well designed has a longer life as compared to those which aren’t made with UI/UX in mind. An app should be able to grab the attention of users and they should stay on it for long. A well designed app also attracted loyal users.
- App stores features: If an app receives good rating and reviews on app stores, the app is likely to be featured on top and get noticed by the users. It is important to make sure that the UI/UX of an app is good to be features on play store of app store.
Also Read: How to Design Dark Mode for Mobile Apps?
- Creating an impression: The first impression should always good so that the users come back to the app again and again. If one succeeds is making an attractive app, it will also be liked by the users and get a good word of mouth, which is the best kind of publicity. This will increase the usage time and win the confidence of the users. All this can only be done with the help of an efficient UI/UX design.
- Customers become loyal: A person using an app with exceptional design and good elements will always win users that are loyal to the app and would never want to uninstall the app from their device. A perfectly designed app with the help of UI/UX gives satisfying experience to the users which is of utmost importance to the developers.
While developing an app with the help of UI/UX, here are the best practices you should keep in mind:
- Make use of convectional elements like colours, symbols, buttons and icons.
- Maintain a uniformity in the design so that the changes don’t stress the users.
- Choosing a UI designer should be done carefully as they are the driving force behind creating an appealing app.
- Make the app much interactive as possible for better returns and generating the interest of the users.
- Consider designs that are specific to certain platforms.
- Make an app keeping in mind the speed of the app. The speed should not become heavy with these designs.
- Maintain simplicity as users more likeliness for simpler apps as compared to those which are difficult to use and loaded with features.
Conclusion
Making an app is easier, but making it keeping the UI/UX in mind is of the utmost importance. It might take a little more time of the developer, but helps the app to sustain in the app store in the long run. An app should be attractive and interactive, for which all companies should consider employing special UI/UX designers.
