Mobile User Experience Design

Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines include iOS design guidelines, and Android apps utilize the Material Design System.

Here are some essential guidelines:

• Make an app’s design consistent with the way the mobile device operates.
• Improve the app’s user experience by making it more accessible and usable.
• Use any of a platform’s GUI components that the app requires rather than designing custom components.
• Make sure your users are comfortable using the app on their device.

3. Present Your Ideas Visually

Start by making sketches of the app’s user interface and information architecture, including the app’s navigation system. Sketching helps you envision the logic and structure. Simplified designs focus on usability and flow. Next, create wireframes.

Many describe wireframes as an app’s blueprint. They portray important functions, features, and content graphically, typically including the following:

• content prioritization
• distribution of screen space
• available functions
• intended actions
• relationships between screens

Wireframes transmit your ideas visually, which later facilitates the development of detailed designs. At this point, visual design is not the priority. You could create your wireframes using wireframing tools such as Adobe XD or Sketch.

Why is wireframing a critical step? Wireframes

• are straightforward visual representations of an app so provide a clear idea of both what the app would look like and its function
• enable designers to see whether the user experience flows smoothly across pages
• promote team communication
• let you make changes when they’re easier and more affordable to implement
• highlight any design issues or inconsistencies
• are easy to revise should any technical difficulties occur

4. Design the visual elements.

An effective UX design should have an instant impact on users. Studies have shown that 94 percent of first impressions relate to an app’s visual design. At the top of the list of features that influence first impressions are Web navigation and visual appeal. Making a good first impression could take an app to greater heights, so consider investing in a design that would lure users in.

But keep in mind that, although appearance is cardinal, a great user interface (UI) must also boost an app’s perceived overall quality. While the user interface defines how an app looks visually and behaves, UX design actually improves customer satisfaction by providing a smooth experience and optimizing an app’s usability.

Visual interface design includes colors, fonts, and iconography—among other visual elements—all of which should align with the app’s brand identity. Most importantly, the app’s visual design should be aesthetically pleasing. To build a picture-perfect mockup:

• Go for a minimalistic design.
• Make navigation easy.
• Carefully choose fonts and colors.
• Make buttons and links finger friendly.
• Consider what elements need visual hierarchy.
• Achieve consistency throughout the app.

5. Build and test a prototype.

Create a minimum viable product (MVP). A scaled-down version of an app lets you inexpensively test all of the app’s key features and functionality. The goal is to optimize the foundation and structure of the app before uploading it to the app store.

Create and test a click-through prototype to get users’ feedback and determine whether changes are necessary. You could initially test the prototype internally, with people who work in other departments of your organization. But it’s important to test with at least a small number of participants who are representative of users or, if possible, actual users.

Creating a prototype and testing it with users could help you

• better understand your users
• evaluate the app’s functionality
• ascertain whether the app brings the intended value to users

Testing lets you identify problems during the early, experimental stages of an app’s design and development and formulate solutions for them. You can then iteratively revise your designs, reimplement them, and test them again to determine whether you’ve solved the problems you identified. Don’t proceed to beta testing until the results of your usability tests with users are satisfactory.

Rather than fixing all of the issues you identify at once—no matter how minor—consider working on the major issues first. Otherwise, you might need countless iterations. You can continue improving and upgrading the app with every generation.

Conclusion

The goal of UX design is to improve the ways users interact with and experience products. If you define clear goals, choose a platform, present your ideas visually, design the visual elements, and build and test a prototype, you’ll be able to create great mobile app user experiences.