Users are increasingly using their smartphones to access information over the internet. It has made businesses pivot their focus on designing elegant mobile applications. The top brands can now communicate with their audience. They find it convenient to access their preferred brands through their mobile app.
Mobile applications must make it easy for users to navigate the app without problems. A satisfactory user experience can ensure their success. Mobile users are tech-savvy and wouldn’t use an app that isn’t easy to use. Therefore, adhering to mobile UX design best practices is essential to ensure satisfied users. We will discuss some core principles designers should consider when designing an app.
The Main Actions Must be Accessible
Smartphone UX designers must remember that smartphone users are always cramped for space when accessing the app. In addition, studies have shown that many users use only one hand. Therefore, you must pay attention to your users’ hand position when designing the mobile app.
People can have different ways of using the app. A few of the users will be using both hands too. Place the most common actions in the middle, which allows easier access. If you test the app on different devices, it will help you better ascertain its usability.
A Simple Design Works Better
When finalising the mobile UX design, remember that, worse yet, the layout must be easily understandable by the user. If the layout and the navigation aren’t simple, the user will lose interest and leave the app. Worse yet, they may uninstall the app from their smartphones. Users should not need an elaborate tutorial to understand how to use the app.
The layout must be consistent, and the designs must be creative. Any inconsistency may make the user lose trust in the app. The use of unnecessary menus will not work. The design elements must the users will not be unfamiliar and confused when using your app. UX designers must create the workflows to make it easy to navigate through the app.
Have a Constant Design Across all Digital Assets?
The app design must be in sync with your brand image. The logo colours at suitable places can help the users resonate with your brand. It can also enhance the trust factor that the users will associate with your app. The design elements must also be accessible and visible when using the app.
What differentiates an expert UX designer from the rest is designing the screens for minimal viewing sessions. The design must attract the user to stay longer and use all the available features. Your brand may have a desktop website, and the app must ensure a consistent experience across all your digital assets. Users can become more familiar with your app and expect it to continue with other digital assets.
Optimising Text for All Users
When designing the app, designers must remember that the smartphone screen size is many times smaller than a desktop. One of the crucial mobile UX design best practices is ensuring the text’s ease of readability if they must zoom too much, as it can lead to necessary friction in the user’s mind.
Users may not like whitespace too much. Therefore, you must not include more than 9–10 words per line. Also, the lines must not be too long, creating problems for the reader. Keeping the text size at least 11 will ensure that the user can read it from a typical distance. Finally, the font must be selected to make it legible for the user.
Checking the Scrolling Effect
UX designers must understand the reason for inserting the amount of text on the screen. You will come across several apps even if there isn’t too much text. You must continue scrolling before you can go through all the information. Not all users prefer to go through the long scrolling effect, which may be frustrating.
The user must receive indications beforehand if you insert too much information that requires scrolling. One of the necessary mobile UX design best practices is to provide a visual representation like a “Read more” or “Tap to Expand” button that can make the user understand that scrolling is needed to read the complete information. Also, try to use only the required content and don’t make the content fluffy.
Minimal Typing on the App Helps
You must not make the user fill out elaborate forms on the app. Given the smaller screen sizes compared to the desktop or laptop, the speed of typing on a smartphone is many times slower. Therefore, typing must be used sparingly and is among the critical mobile app design principles that UX designers must remember. The forms must be short and only require the minimal information necessary.
One of the best ways to ensure this is by providing personalised forms. The app must be able to auto-fill forms that make the user enter only minimal information. Have the option of showing the password and prevents users from having to re-type their password. Also, remember to have the input fields in a single column and think twice about what to include in the drop-down menus.
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Break Down the User Actions
It is difficult for smartphone users to comprehend too many actions simultaneously. Therefore, it is better to divide the activities across multiple screens. For example, have only one main step on a screen. A different colour can distinguish it. There could be other actions, but they must not undermine the main activity on the screen.
Optimised Buttons can help the App Design
Experienced UX designers say that it is irritating for users to move back to the earlier screen if they have mistakenly pressed a button. The buttons must be the proper size across all devices. You must check the size across several devices before finalising it. It is also essential to mention the requirements of each button.
You must carefully design the position and label of the buttons. The colour must adhere to the overall branding of the mobile app. Users must find it convenient as they are on a specific workflow when navigating through the app. The colour must be such that it is easily spotted. However, you must also consider using lighter colours for subscription cancellations and the labels on the buttons.
Building a Prototype Allows for Proper Testing
One of the mobile app developers’ critical mistakes is not developing a prototype. The prototype will help the UX designers ascertain how the app will work in the real world. They can request some of their peers or even the first users to provide proper feedback on their experience in using it.
It can also help test the app on many more devices and assess the experience users have with it. Finally, the project team must compile positive and negative feedback and work on it. There are several techniques for prototyping, and you must choose one that also considers the project milestones.
Conclusion
The use of mobile apps helps businesses find an optimal route to have personalised communication with customers. However, UX designers must optimise the app to ensure users can use it without hassles. Getting the app’s design and navigational flow right the first time is better. It can save resources, and the timeline for the project gets shortened too.
To design the mobile apps, keeping in mind the e It can ensure the app is optimised and allows ease of use. An elegant app can provide the ideal user experience and help to create loyal customers. Are you planning to design a new mobile app for your business? Our experienced UX designers are just a phone call away.