Mobile phones have become a basic necessity of life and people are using phones throughout the world and in very critical and normal moments. Studies show that a user typically uses a smartphone for around 5-6 hours every day. Most of this time is spent using an application or surfing the internet, but the thing that sets apart a good and bad app is the user experience offered by the application.
Nowadays, people have very high expectations from an application, they need faster response time, easy to use, and good interaction. Below are some useful tips to develop a great user experience design for your application:
1. The Correct Colors, The Right Manner:
Color is the most important element of an application, while designing an app, the selection of the color palette is like putting the foundation stone of your mobile application. Colors directly affect the user’s feelings and help them in connecting with the interface. Color should be selected based on your company’s relevance. This makes the application vibe and look similar to your website. You should avoid using too many colors, patterns, and tricky shapes to make the least distraction while using the app. It’s always a good option to use a bright color theme that makes the entire design clean and organized.
2. Users Reign Supreme:
You are developing the app for your users. If you do not take time to give thought to your users, then they might don’t like it. It is very essential to know your customer from the inside out. Dive in deep into the stats and utilize that data to figure out solutions to their daily life problems. This requires the complete analysis of the user base and then the use of the analysis report to develop the application. The three techniques to achieve this are:
3. User Persona
It is a fictional entity build with the help of character traits shown by the targeted user group. Creating a persona is very important to attract users into using the application.
4. User Scenarios
Scenarios are the best way to get the detailed information regarding the behavior of the user persona created by you. User scenario helps in designing the interface and designs according to the user’s preference and their goals.
5. Experience Maps
Figure out all the possible outcomes for every interaction. As you come up with an experience map, you can easily chart out every action that the user persona is likely to perform in the process of interaction with the app. These maps are well developed in grasping feelings and outcomes that surround your past actions.
6. Make it Responsive
In today’s time, users are having a wide range of devices to use these applications. The user interface must be built in a way that the app works on multiple devices across different platforms. Now, it’s in the hand of customers to decide the market portion.
7. The Right Format
An app user, you must have faced a situation where the app hangs while downloading a large-sized file. However, the size of the file is not the reason behind this issue. The android platform works with PNG, BMP, JPEG & WebP.
Cardinal Rules of Interaction Design
1. Goal-Driven Design
Create your designs for your users. Detailed research of user’s life with the help of interviews, surveys, etc. will help you in developing personas of the targeted audience you are creating the app for.
2. Usability
The most important part is that the app should be usable by the targeted audience. They should inspire and motivate for downloading your app into their mobile devices.
3. Learnability
The user way to use the app should be strictly inherent for an amazing UX. For this design, patterns help in a great way. When these patterns are recognizable to the user, they will easily accept the application.
4. Feedback and Response Time
Feedback helps in knowing about the beginning and end of the task. The indication could be a simple beep or a typical dialogue box. The feedback should be authentic with a human feel to it, also responding under the guidelines related to timings.
5. Soften the Elements:
A digital screen comes with pixels, these pixels are rectangular. Generally, in every app, the user interface is specifically to have variations of rectangle buttons. You can soften the corners of those rectangles.
6. Simplicity is the Key:
Keeping things simple is the toughest task. This doesn’t mean to keep it minimal design, it means that the app should be very easy and appealing enough for the first-time users without reading manuals and all. Having a simple UI helps the user to navigate through the app conveniently.
7. Design your Logo Well:
The logo will not in making your business successful but will make sure to leave a bad image of your business. People think about the logo as a one-time work, but you have to timely refresh it and make changes according to time and have to evolve with the world.
8. Find Iterative Design to have an Edge:
An iterative design uses the data collected through the help of multiple evaluations like user testing to develop and grow. Iterate the interface design so you can create more appealing and interactive mobile applications that serve your targeted client base. Each iteration can earn you a great lesson to improve the performance of your app.
8. Font Style, Size & Clarity:
Stylish fonts carry some aesthetic vibe but can be irritating to read on a small screen device. If the user can not figure out the content of the application, then the purpose of that app fails. Font and content must be not only authentic but beautiful to the eyes also.
10. Adhere to Platform Guidelines:
Some apps use familiarity as a plus point for the user. Successful apps have a very simple user experience that has controls designed the way they were built for. It is advised to use only those controls accepted and liked by the users of the app.
11. Involve Real Users:
As a designer, your opinions will be biased, and it is always a good option to have real users for reviews, suggestions, and criticism. This can help you figure out the flaws and features you have to add and need to drop out. It is good if this thing in the beginning phase of your UI design for avoiding any confusion. This will save you time and effort.
12. The ‘Back’ Button:
The ‘back’ button is the most likes feature if an application and users need to go back and forth various times. This is a very important feature for IOS devices as it only has a home button and no navigation buttons at all.
13. Leverage Art of Iconography:
In the past few years, there is an entire vocab of icons among the users. Using a bright and unique icon will help in getting your app popular. It will also help you in improving your rankings in the UI design.
14. Image Quality:
Naturally, humans are appealed to and amused by visuals, it attracts them. When high-quality JPEGs are displayed, the visual treat of the UI reaches the top in very little time. To make that level UI, you’ve to upgrade from low resolutions images to high ones and make a visually appealing design. Images with 264 pixels per inch or higher are optimal for use.
15. Optimize Content for Varying Screens:
When your app starts gaining users’ love, it is very much possible that they would be using that app across multiple platforms and in various contexts. Make sure to get all measurements accurately so that it can be seen on multiple screens and can have changed views when there is an environmental change in the display. The interface must be very responsive, no one wants a slow response time application.
16. Keep an Eye on Security Matters:
In the process of developing an app, security regarding issues is left for a later time. The security of the user data or any other sensitive data must be kept secured all the time. The designer must co-ordinate with the back-end team to take proper measures to regulate the publishing and keeping all the data safe and secured.
17. Beta Test Your Design:
Beta users can prove a new and fresh approach or suggestions that you must have skipped. A good group of beta testers can be very fruitful for your application design and the whole team. Take note of the reviews and feedbacks, after that try to work on them and incorporate those changes into your application.
Conclusion:
App designing is all about proving comfort and usefulness to the customers looking for that app. With the help of these amazing tactics, you can develop mind-blowing mobile applications, that can solve many problems and make life easier.
Punit 
Krishan Jangir