Do’s and Don’ts of Mobile UX Design

Do Create a Well-Organized Information Architecture

Your mobile app’s content, structure, and overall information architecture should be clear, concise, and well organized. Your mobile app’s UX design should be simple, straightforward, and easy to navigate so users can get what they need from your app in just a few steps.

Do Create a Clutter-Free User Interface

Adding too much information to each section of your mobile app would not only overwhelm or perplex users, it would also add unnecessary clutter. Web pages that are too cluttered are quite annoying when users view them on a desktop computer. This problem becomes even more pronounced when they’re trying to view pages on mobile devices with limited screen space. Clutter can be a real headache for your users and degrades your mobile app’s user experience

To ensure a smooth, easy-to-use, pleasing mobile-app design, eliminate any unnecessary clutter. Get rid of all unnecessary images, user-interface elements, extra lines of text, and buttons. Focus users’ attention on the content and elements that are most valuable to themand ensure that they are clear and concise. Also, whenever possible, provide only one primary call to action per page or screen. If you do all this, you can make your app’s user interface light, airy, seamless, and easy to navigate.

Don’ts of Mobile UX Design

Now, let’s consider some don’ts for mobile UX design.

Don’t Overpopulate Your Mobile App with Features

Integrating as many features as possible into your mobile app could make it stand out among all the rest and give it an edge over its competitors. But overpopulating your mobile app with too many features is more likely to negatively impact the overall user experience. Adding too many features would unnecessarily complicate your app and prevent your users from having a hassle-free experience.

Instead, create a more simplified user interface and add only essential features. Define the key features that would be beneficial to your users and are necessary for the proper functioning of the app, then implement just those key features. In this way, you can create a fully functional mobile app that is also easy to use.

Don’t Be Afraid to Stick with Standard User-Interface Elements

Adding unique features and user-interface elements could make your mobile app stand out. However, when it comes to designing a mobile app, the best approach to delivering the greatest value to your users is to use standard features and user-interface elements.

Design a mobile app that prioritizes the user experience, leverages standards, and fits users’ expectations. Instead of using eye-catching and attractive, but unfamiliar user-interface elements such as buttons, symbols, shortcuts, and controls, choose standard elements with which users are already familiar. This makes it easier for them to identify elements and quickly and confidently take actions.

Don’t Forgo Usability Testing

Mobile apps that have been built and tested on a desktop screen might not be adequately functional and responsive when people use them on mobile devices. You need to test your mobile apps on the devices on which people will actually use them. Plus, even the most sophisticated, seemingly perfect mobile app might have some hidden flaws.

Launching your mobile app without first conducting usability testing would deprive you of the opportunity to correct its flaws at an early stage. The outcome could be your getting negative feedback from users after launch or, worse, having users uninstall your app from their mobile device.

To avoid such dreadful scenarios, never forgo conducting usability testing before launch. Test your app on various devices, screen sizes and resolutions,  and Internet connections. Find out whether your app is equally responsive and functional across different mobile devices.

Don’t Expect to Get Everything Perfect on Your First Attempt

You can’t expect to perfect your mobile UX design on the first attempt. Creating a seamless design requires iterative design and testing. Mobile app design is a tricky, multifaceted process that you cannot complete in one go.

Although you should always aim for the best design from the beginning, there will always be room for improvement. So don’t set your initial goals too high, and don’t be discouraged if you fail to attain them immediately.

Conclusion

Creating an attractive, functional, usable UX design can help your mobile app to stand out among the plethora of similar mobile apps that are available in the marketplace. However, a poorly crafted mobile UX design results in a poor user experience that, in turn, could drive users to uninstall your mobile app.

Observing the do’s and don’ts of mobile UX design that I’ve outlined in this article could help you to create a well-crafted mobile app that provides a positive user experience. To learn about users’ behaviors when they are using your app, use heatmap software such as UXcam or analytics software such as Mixpanel. Having in-depth knowledge about how users are actually interacting with your app can also help you to decide how you would want them to interact with your mobile app, giving you a clearer view of the UX design changes you need to make to attract more user engagement, improve the overall user experience, and minimize the app’s bounce and drop-off rates.