10 Elements to Consider When Designing a Mobile App

10 Elements to Consider

When you’re designing a mobile app, you need to consider the following elements:

1. Identify your target audience. First, you must know your target audience to devise a proper UX design strategy. If you do not understand your target users, you cannot make good decisions regarding your UX design. To ensure that you can optimize the app’s user experience for your target users, do the following:
   
   • Conduct a competitive analysis. Researching your competitors’ products and services can help you to devise an impactful design strategy. What useful functionality do they provide? Which of the apps’ features do you and don’t you like? Consider all these factors, then design your app.
   • Identify your target users. Conduct user research to identify your target users and understand their needs. If you don’t understand your users, you won’t be able to design and develop an effective app for them. It’s all about understanding the user’s expectations for the app and deciding how you can fulfill them.
2. Recognize that consistency is key. To ensure that you create a high-quality user experience, it is essential that you adhere to certain design guidelines—especially when you’re creating a user interface for which consistency is key. If users find your app easy to use, they’re more likely to return to your app. Facebook and Instagram both provide an exceptional user experience so are famous around the world.
3. Simplify the navigation. Easy-to-learn navigation increases the chances that your users will stay in your app for some time and explore features they find interesting. One way to keep users active in your app for long periods of time is to avoid complex navigation systems. Try not to mix navigation patterns. Keep the most frequently used items at the bottom of the screen and those that are least used at the top. Place features on the screen to ensure the user’s convenience and comfort. Make sure there’s adequate room for a large fingertip to tap a touch target. Most importantly, make sure buttons are at least 30x30 pixels. Users should be able to easily go wherever they want to go in your app.
4. Prioritize the core features. Based on your user research and your understanding of what users want from the app, prioritize the core features and make them more intuitive and engaging. Once you have good design solutions for the app’s core features, you can add more features so users have more to explore. Fewer features can mean less user engagement. The scope of the feature set could also directly impact the number of users using the app.
5. Ensure tappable targets and legible text. It is very irritating to users when tap targets don’t work well. If a tap target is too small, there is a chance that it won’t respond much of the time. To deal with this issue, create buttons, controls, and links that are at least 87mm by 10mm. Also, consider what typefaces are user friendly and work well at any given size. Use big, clear fonts that are easy to read and understand.
6. Predict users’ needs. If you have a deep understanding of users’ requirements, you can give them an unforgettable experience. Keep your users’ needs in mind when designing the screens of your app. If you can identify your users’ behaviors when they’re using your app, you can provide a seamless experience for your target audience. Your app’s user experience determines whether your app is good or bad.
7. Integrate visual elements. Visuals play an important role in determining the look and feel of your app. A good-looking app satisfies users. Distinctive visual elements help ensure a great app user experience. Your users may feel more engaged when using your app. Choose attractive color schemes, typography, and interactive and visual elements. Their consistent use can help you to build the app on time, with less effort.
8. Minimize page-load times. We all hate waiting. No one wants to wait for an app to respond. Users will immediately uninstall your app if they face such delays. While the app is starting up, its logo appears. If the logo remains on the screen for more than a few seconds, this ruins the user experience. Ensure that you don't add any unnecessary features, graphics, or audiovisual effects that could affect loading time. Your app should be so responsive that it actually enhances the user experience.
9. Ensure it suits its environment. When people are working in the office, they use applications on their desktop computer. But, when they’re outside, people use mobile apps. Users can use the apps on their mobile phone anywhere, which is very convenient for them. When designing your app, make sure to create high contrast designs, with legible features that are clearly visible against their background. Make sure that no visibility issues arise and users can easily read the text.
10. Conduct usability testing. After considering all of these factors, test your app to determine whether it is fulfilling all these criteria. All designers have blind spots. Plus. users may have different mental models and misinterpret our designs. When coding our designs, the developers may introduce bugs into the app’s functionality. We need to take all of this into account and test our apps. Ask your users for feedback after launching your app. If people are finding any issues when using your app, make whatever changes are necessary.

Conclusion

People’s requirements change over time. They often want more once they’ve used an app for a while. In the future, all of our technology will become more advanced. How your app differs from others can make it stand out from the competition. But, first and foremost, you must focus on meeting users’ expectations for your app. A lot of hard work and diligence is necessary to prepare a blueprint of your app, considering all the factors that I’ve discussed in this article.

Improving your app’s user experience makes your customers feel more engaged when using your app. A great user interface can give your users a seamless experience and engenders a sense of loyalty toward your app.