There is an ample amount of proliferation of digital products in the current world, especially for start-ups or new organizations. There is a huge focus on providing the end-users the best ‘Experience’ which is why there is a focus on web or mobile UI UX design principle and best practices now. Also lately there is focus and comparison between Android vs iOS app UI design.

Below are a few stats which show the importance of having an effective UI UX design. the stats also play as a reason why it is adopted by businesses especially startups:

1. According to a report by Forrester Research, a great and effective UI can increase the conversion rate by 200%. But on the same side, a great UX can increase it by 400%.
   
2. The research done by forrester in some reports claims that the factor of ‘Usability’ plays a very important role such that – it increases the customer’s willingness to pay by almost 14.4%, reduces the chances of customers switching to other brands by 15.8%, and also boosts the chances of them recommending the product to their friends and family by 16.6%.
   
3. Another report by Userzoom and their ‘State of UX in The Entreprise’ states that almost 70% of enterprise CEOs view the User Experience and Customer experience as a competitive differentiator. You can refer to the below image for more clarity.

What Are UX Rules?

When we think of user experience we generally think convenience and usability. Nowadays UX is a broad church with a greater number of perspectives to consider than clear convenience. Just like web design tools, UX rules and best practices continue developing for better developer and user experience both. On the off chance if you’ve been adhering to a same UX design process for the past years then, at that point they require an update.

According to Peter Eckert, implementing a focus on customers’ experience increases their willingness to pay by 14.4%, reduces their reluctance to switch brands by 15.8%, and boosts their likelihood to recommend your product by 16.6%.

What Is A UX Principle?

User experience aims on understanding users, their requirements, their value for product, and their limitations. Designing beautiful elements using UX takes into account the business goals and objectives. The best practices of UX principles and design systems promote user interaction quality and perceptions of your product and any related services.

In simple terms UX principles offer a sound basis for devising innovative solutions through new interaction models, design patterns, and the evolving standards.

Principles of UX Design

Meet the user needs 

When you have a startup or are thinking of having one, then the first thing that comes to mind is to make sure that the user needs are met. One of the essential principles of UX Design strategy is to focus on their users throughout the web or mobile app design process. The user experience makes it quite clear if your design needs improvement or not. Hence, one needs to learn what their users are looking for and create content accordingly. It might be possible that a design that looks appealing to the company doesn’t seem likable to the users.  

Know your status in the design process 

If you have a new UI UX designer then the design process seems overwhelming. You must know what role you play in the design process. During each phase make sure that the designers use different tools and know the UX design process. This helps to solve queries and also be more creative with the tasks. For instance, there is no use in testing the color of a button if the team is still unclear about its placement in the design. 

Consistency is the key

The users are likely to expect products that share some common interest and are often used. It makes it easy for users to get familiar with the new merchandise without spending the extra money to learn it. This might sound contradicting, but the more familiar the users are to your design, the more easily they can grasp it and enhance the user experience too. Thus, for startups and even big businesses, consistency is the key which makes the UX design process simple for designers as they don’t need to create any new wheel every time they are likely to start a new project.

Understand the accessibility 

One of the essential rules of UI UX designs is that you need to keep design and accessibility at the back of your mind. To quote, the designer’s responsibility is to ensure that the maximum number of people possible uses the design. Additionally, it means that the UI UX design should be used by people featuring some disabilities too. To make this work, as a designer, one needs to ensure that there are no obstacles.

Have a clear hierarchy 

The principles of UX design ensures implementation of smooth navigation through hierarchy in the design. The primary hierarchy is the one that organizes content or information throughout the design. On the flip side, the secondary hierarchy lets you hover into sub-category of content, taking you deep into the app or site.

An example of primary and secondary hierarchy is shown below.

The key to success is context 

When you have started your business, there must have been some context and aim. Same is the case in designing, the users need to consider the context. Generally, location is an understood contextual factor, but several other elements cannot be ignored, like the time available with the user, their emotional state, and the device they are likely to use. All these factors are likely to determine the user’s behaviour once the designer understands that they can make a design that can maximize the user experience.

Allow content to regain supreme 

The designer needs to develop the content before diving deep into designing to give their website a better meaning and right direction. The designers don’t need to underestimate the power of storytelling and its ability to connect with the target audience. They can implement this mobile ux design principle in no time if they design with real content germane to the company. 

Balance consistency and discoverability 

Your business is new thus, you don’t have room for experiments. Here comes, one of the important UX principles that is consistency. Users like the products that are somewhat similar to their other used products. This makes it easy for them to use the product with ease as it is already familiar to them. This also proves easy for designers to get creative with similar products. One example can be shopping sites. We can see the big images and a small description below the image. This type of content is mostly used by ecommerce websites, as it is easy to use and present to the users.

Be playful with animation 

Animations are the way to your eyes. It has been noticed that interactive web experiences and animations are likely to add movement to any site and make it come to life for the target audience. When done perfectly, it can help the target audience learn about how a website works. Also, the target audience is likely to remember even the smallest of details. Hence playful pleasures work unexpectedly, so the animation cannot be skipped.

Exercise progressive disclosure 

To quote, the most vital information should be found easily. Once any user has been oriented to the site, more technical data and the latest features are seen. There is a process where designing minimal apps is a trend. Thus, the designers should strive to be as minimal as possible and show only essential things on the web page. Ideally, the homepage is likely to comprise a white background with a brief value proposition telling the brand’s story in brief. The site visitors can find it in a simple top-line navigation tab.  

Establish trust and credibility 

The importance of trust and credibility is not likely to be overstated ever. No matter where you are working, you have to always follow the web or mobile ui ux design principles. A designer must reinforce the legitimacy of the brand besides its website. Once the user finds a brand to be trustworthy and credible, they are likely to bring brand loyalty.

Why is UX Important For Business?

Especially for modern-day businesses, having a robust UI UX design principle and best practices holds primary importance. Although whoever is into this business will understand the importance of UX design strategy for business, but to make it easier and more obvious, here are a few points that state its importance:

1. Increased conversions

There is cut-throat competition in the market. For the same product, there are plenty of websites out in the market. Hence, businesses will have to look for ways to differentiate themselves from the competitors, which is where UX plays an enhanced role. Customers always go for websites, which gives them a great experience. With the increased number of customers on the website, more chances of conversion rates going up. 

2. Lower support cost 

When businesses give their users an enhanced user experience, they get overly satisfied. A business spends a huge sum of money just trying to amend their mistakes by giving additional support to their customers, which increases their cost and leads to time wastage. However, in one go, if the customers end up getting a good experience, the other problems will not arise themselves. 

3. Insured brand loyalty 

In current times, brand loyalty has become the primary importance of UX design, which primarily means the customer repeatedly buying from your brand and not switching after a few purchases. When the customer gets a satisfied experience of the website, then there are less chances for the customers to shift to the other brands.

Conclusion

There are many mobile UX design principles that apply from a micro level to a large scale level design. We have attempted to focus on main principles of design and how I can help the entrepreneurs or startups in their business endeavours.

Focusing on genuine users, defining and accomplishing business objectives, planning data design, adapting up to the steadily evolving technology, approving designs by different strategies, looking after consistency, considering users requirement prior to designing will bring about making the end users perform their tasks. This will guarantee a consistent User Experience.

If you are looking to grow your business with all the latest technologies of the current time, make sure your design strategy is up to date and you are partnering with ui/ux design and development company that is well-adept with the changing market needs, or you can opt for ui ux designers in your area. But make sure you choose the best to get quality results. We at appinventiv are one of the top UI UX design company in USA with award winning results.

The post 11 Principles of UX Design From A Startup Perspective appeared first on Appinventiv.

We assume you want a word by word, validated guide on an app redesign process and we wish there were simple answers. But a mobile app redesign is like your first proposal, you expect everything to fall in place, but there is always that big IF. 

So as we share some of our partner experience (without violating the NDAs) you can expect it to be a little bit of both, fact-of-the-matter dope garnished with the necessary do-it-yourself stuff.    

Define Your Approach (Please!)

Sequence your design thinking to find the answer to the question “what is a good app design practice?”. A UI/UX redesign is preceded by brainstorming sessions held on rendering structural changes in an app. Whatever your reasons, the re-development process must stay malleable. For this reason alone, we’ll repeat ourselves for the umpteenth time, that Agile development is the way forward. It gives everybody a few extra inches to maneuver ideas and ad-hoc requirements that pleasantly come along. We’ll let the imagery do the talking. 

Bring Everyone On-board 

Collective decision making will make the process easier. Organizational heads should own up the responsibility to communicate clearly the what, why, and how of everything. You will have to sift through opinionated answers and earnest comments to find common ground between expectations and reality. The process will be tiresome, but will also let you discover the pain points of the app, its backlogs, and key development areas to concentrate on. Answers must address questions like: 

• What are the plus points of your app? 
• Why is it lagging, if at all? 
• Where are the functionalities that need the most damage-repair? 

Set Out Tasks

Setting S.M.A.R.T goals is an inexorable step for apps that need redesign. Be specific in what you want from the new look. Set a measurable aim, the accomplishment of which can be weighed by numbers. This would keep you motivated. Do not exceed the time you commit to each parallel task for developing new functionalities. It’s for such days (and nights) that the vending machine had stalked up extra cans of caffeine. 

Recycle Your App Design 

Mobile app design best practices run high on the recycling quotient. Just because you are revisioning the design doesn’t mean it has to begin afresh. The current app was developed with considerable thought and effort. The idea is to preserve the features that offer the most value and disregard the outdated ones.

Base Your Decisions on Analytics 

High-level stakeholders won’t approve of anything unless they sense a concrete reason. Your arguments for change should be objectively backed and statistically proven. Some of the metrics that should be on your tips are app downloads, screen tracking, page views, event tracking, user sessions, in-app referrals, the list goes on. Read about the tools you can use to track app analytics for mobile apps that need to be redesigned. Embedded analytics will always be crucial for apps whether you redesign them or not. 

Read Competitor Like a Book 

This is where most people begin, mistakenly skipping the aforementioned steps. Now that you’ve come here it should be clear why (if at all) your competition is proving your nemesis. This has to do with a feature vs feature account that tabulates similarities and differences between multiple apps. Create a checklist to track and accord points for each feature. The scoring system will give you a realistic impression of your market standing.

Think Outside the Box 

There is no affiliated gospel for mobile UI best practices. That said the mobile app industry is generally amuck with creativity. No harm in xeroxing a feature or two you like in an app from another domain. 

Diagnose Problematic Areas

Having infiltrated the ranks of your opponents, you can narrowly point to the areas that require more work than others. The nature of the problems could be anything, from a genuinely bad user experience, non up-to-date onboarding practices evident in customer reviews, to hidden bugs and unnecessary pop ups. As you quest forward to redesign your app, begin leveraging this intel and fast track development by prioritizing job lists. 

Act on Priority 

After identifying the most erring details it is time for remedying. One way to do so would be to pen down what’s going for you in a SWOT, Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat graph. This would enable sequential stacking for development cycles, focusing on the most pressing needs foremost. It is vital you ponder judiciously on this aspect while redesigning apps to avoid painstaking efforts later. 

Create Wireframes 

Be it your in-house developers or an app design company partnering with you, creating wireframes comes naturally to all developers. Ink the ideas built up in your mind with hand sketches and share with all project collaborators. 

Make no mistake, you are sharing the foundation of your renewed app architecture and encouraging improvements. Ideation must be clinical in nature and put the spotlight on newly adopted characteristics while preserving the best ones from the previous version. 

Be Open to (Further) Change

There has been a barrage of introductions to the wireframe already, but wait there can be more. Re-engineering a product will have its ups and downs and to be honest, it is your call to decide how much is enough. Mature leaders are thick-skinned which helps them accommodate productive advice from peers. 

But be careful, don’t let inaccurate feedback get the better of you emotionally. Whenever in doubt, roll the dice back to the storyboard and self-introspect if the steps being proposed will lead to positive change. If not, put your foot down and move over.

Test Aggressively  

At Appinventiv, it is our staple schedule to act as an app design agency for one client or the other. Rushing into releasing a spanking new version of the app proves self-destructive. As soon as an MVP is ready we open it to a closed group for user feedback. We do not follow randomization and neither encourage it. Rather, the users are handpicked as per the target audience of the app. As soon as they provide a nod of approval we move forward.  

Remarket Your App

Taking a new version of your app to the market is like the launch of a new one. It is all about storytelling and giving users an excuse to look forward to rather than just updating their current versions without advance notice. What if some people liked the previous design? Apple could give any brand food for thought on reinventing the wheel. With minimal feature edits, each year, they throw a keynote event that is the most anticipated globally. No, we’re not asking you to break the bank for a national campaign, but have a look at this promo of iPhone SE. You’ll get the point.

Gather Feedback 

If you’ve outsourced the redesigning project for your app, demand that the mobile app design company submit user feedback reports on the new version regularly. Why should you care for user feedback? 

Because these very people fuse capital into your business and if they don’t take a liking to the so-called “improvements” you’ll face customer churn. But don’t jump to conclusions. Supervise your app downloads, page traffic, sentiment analysis, app store comments to tap the immediate customer pulse. Sooner or later, they’ll come to terms with the design, so our experience says as a mobile design agency.

There is no PERFECT Design 

We don’t intend to sound like a monk, but yes, everything is transient. As time fades, you’d have to repeat this cyclical process all over and do your thing. Never rest on your laurels, even if you receive critical acclaim for your work. We never let success get to our head despite having been acknowledged globally for innovation as a mobile app design agency. You can learn more about us as an app design firm reading over our collaboration with Domino’s. We revamped their UX strategy which led to a 23% increase in lead conversions. 

Let’s Catch Up 

Ever since our inception as a mobile application design company, we have delivered industry-standard value for our clientele. Our technology stack is the latest you’ll find and for any deals on redesigning your UI/UX, we’d be happy to demonstrate what we can do for you.

The post 15 Steps to Mobile App Redesign for Market Domination appeared first on Appinventiv.

– Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

There was a time when adding too many elements into the mobile app was a norm. But, with time, user behavior has changed. 

After knowing all the differences between Android and iOS App UI Designs, the users now have started inclining towards minimal interactions and elements; hoping to interact with limited things while enjoying the same level of services.

This changed need in turn has made it imperative for app designers and UI UX design agencies to incorporate the concept of minimal app design and build engaging designs with limited elements. 

In this article, we will talk about the much talked about designing concept starting with the simplified definition to what is minimalism.

What is Minimalism?

Minimalism in app design, as depicted from the name, is described as a process that operates on the ‘less is more’ principle. Here, the least possible elements are added to your app design, such that it forms the most atomic form of the application. Meaning, you cannot achieve the core functionality of the application on removing elements further.

The concept has gained a huge momentum in the UI/UX design world because of the number of benefits it offers.

What Should Minimal UI Design Look Like?

Minimalist web and mobile UI UX app design should be brief, clear, and consistent. The communication of the program’s segments should be pointed toward solving the customer’s problem, be it texting, online shopping or something else, which infers user convenience.

Generally, minimalism powers UI/UX professionals to track down a legitimate method to say more with fewer means. To accomplish such an outcome, you need to follow certain minimalist UI design principles. They’re direct, simple, and consistent.

Benefits of Minimal Design in App Design Process

Delivers a polished message

When multiple elements are added to a screen, it is likely to confuse users and make  it hard for them to understand the core value you wish to deliver. But, on the flip side, minimalism, when added to the mobile app interface makes it nearly impossible for users to not be able to understand what message you wish to deliver.

Fast load of app screens

Naturally, when unnecessary components are eliminated, an application turns out to be quicker. This brings the advantage of minimum to zero instances of application crashes. When the performance of an application is improved, the experience improves, eventually expanding the timeframe of usability of applications on consumer’s devices.

Eases navigation process

Another reason why minimalist web and mobile app design is going viral is that it enhances app navigation.

Users interact with less elements on a screen. So, there’s less chances of them finding an alternate navigation path and get distracted.

Requires less maintenance

Since the time, effort, and cost required for app maintenance varies with the no. of elements available on the screen, the value gets lowered in the case of minimalist UX design.

Enhances brand value

Last but not least, a minimalist app design helps brands increase their app stickiness. Through the design concept, users are able to stick to the interface for long, and all the while, their interest keeps spiking.

Concise call to action

On account of the moderate plan technique, any accentuation will be striking. The conciseness and simplicity of the interface permit you to take the user’s attention to what you truly need them to see.

Need your users to utilize your application for any reason? Or do you need them to subscribe to your top video? Whatever be your activity, its call would project itself delightfully onto the application.

Knowing the benefits of using minimal UI design, I am sure you would be keen to get started with the implementation of it in your app design. 

But, wait!

Before asking your hired mobile app design and development company to follow the Minimal Design approach, it will be useful to get a head start by looking into how different apps are leveraging advantages from it.

Popular Apps Using Minimal Design Concept

Google Calendar

Google calendar uses the grid layout to show all the information in a simplified and organized style. Also, an analogous color scheme is opted to give a fresh and positive look to the interface.

Instagram

Instagram embraces the concept of white space and added the simplest form of icons to give a pleasant feel to the target user base.

Airbnb

In Airbnb, a single typography is being used to make the app interface look clutter-less. Also, icons are used smartly to define a purpose.

Medium

The typography, photos, and every element are used in a grid format in the Medium application. 

Lyft

Lyft is an apt example of how to add an analogous color scheme into your app design plan to bring out the best outcomes without investing heavily in terms of app design cost.

With this covered, let’s dive deeper into the technicalities of Minimal designing – starting with the core features of Minimalism design concept to keep an eye on.

Characteristics of Minimal App Design

1. Simplicity

A minimal app design uses less and not complicated elements, which gives a simple and clean look to the application.

2. Clarity

It not only looks simple, but also simplifies the process of getting an understanding of the core app purpose.

3. Functionality of each element

Every element on the app screen performs some action, and not just makes the app look attractive.

4. Expressive visual hierarchy

The elements in the case of minimal app design are placed such that they showcase a visual hierarchical structure.

5. Higher attention ratio to proportions and composition

The UI/UX design is created by keeping The Golden Ratio into consideration.

While these are the traits that an application designing through Minimal design approach shows, let’s turn towards the elements it compose of.

Elements of Minimal Design to Watch Out for While App Development

Color scheme

One of the primitive elements of minimal design is the color scheme.

The type and quantity of colors you pick for your app’s interface leaves a major impact on the target user base, on the emotional front. If your application has too bold or too many colors at the same place, the app might seem cluttered and confusing. While, on the flip side, calm colors or a single color on the interface might make the app appear boring and affect user retention rate.

In such a scenario, the two ways you can build engaging app interface are:-

• Use Monochromatic Colors Scheme – Multiple colors are created from changing the hue brightness and saturation of the same color; making it easy on the eyes.
• Opt Analogous Colors Scheme – Three adjacent colors on the color wheel are used to create different aspects of the application. 

Typography

Another element that gives a different aspect to minimal designs is Typography. Defined as the technique of representing written words, it improves communication between users and the app interface.

If picked wisely, it can bring more eyeballs on your app screen. While, on the other side, it can give a disorganized and negative feel to the users, especially when going with multiple typography fonts. 

In such a scenario, having knowledge of the best typography tools as well as the idea of how many typography one should consider for building a sophisticated look is necessary.

White Space

When talking about implementing minimal design in apps world, another element that designers and developers need to focus upon is the white space. Considered as the space between text lines, it gives a clear and clutterless impression to the app interface; making users feel positive about interacting with the page.

 Icons

Iconography is a visual language used to address functionality and content. A good icon is simple with visual components that are easy to spot and comprehend. Since bar symbols fill in as navigation to different sections of the application, it’s essential to indicate which section is active by highlighting the icon.

Enhancement

Enhancement is yet another mobile app UI design tool element that builds up minimalistic design in the mobile app world. That means, the way you bring more focus on a particular image or text while multiple being present on the page.

Now as to what exactly Minimal design in app means and which and how apps are introducing it into their app design, let’s look into some tips and practices you can consider to create minimalistic interfaces of your application.

Best Practices to Build Minimal Design for Your App Effortlessly

Go for flat design

Following Flat Design in your app design is the foremost method to introduce minimal design in your application.

A Flat design, unlike other designing styles, focuses on using limited 2D elements and avoiding shadows, textures, or gradients. This makes it easier for the designed images and other visual elements to look neat, take less space, and enhance usability in the interface.

Make a grid layout

Another factor that every UI/UX app designer must consider while creating minimal app UI designs is Grid layout.

The layout not just adds convenience to the app interface, but also highlights the visual elements. It also serves designers with an ease of maintaining the same feel throughout the page in case of responsive design.

Remove extra elements

One of the best practices for minimalist design is to ensure that no unnecessary element is added to the screen. Meaning, only those elements are introduced to a screen that serves a purpose there.

Now, when it comes to deciding which elements to keep in the design and which one to remove, here are the two tips to keep an eye on:-

• Do not add images unless they aid in making your message clear to others.
• Use simple and limited words to communicate, such that meaningful information is being served to the audience.

Do not oversimplify design elements

Simplicity leads to minimalism. However, this does not mean that you have to oversimplify your app design.

This is because an over-simplified user interface can make it difficult for users to understand the purpose of your application. Also, it can break the navigation flow, which can further result in lower app engagement and retention rate.

So, it is a must for UI/UX designers to ensure that they keep a balance between simplicity and minimalism while designing their mobile application. 

Employ negative space

Negative space, i.e., the white space created due to removal of extra elements from the interface, is the backbone of the minimal design. 

This element, when employed smartly, plays a crucial role in preventing distraction, increasing engagement, and delivering the right message to customers. However, this is possible only when you focus on the following requisites:-

• Content to be on the left side.
• Focus on Hierarchy of elements.
• Interaction made simple, without compromising on information.
• Variations in negative space maintained for different resolutions.

Pick the right icons

Icons, when employed wisely, help designers cut down the need for content, enhance the visual appearance of the application, and add to the accessibility. 

So, designing the right app icons and implementing them at the right places in your app design is also an effective way to get higher profits.

Write crisp content

As already shared in the ‘Negative space’ pointer, writing simple and succinct text copy improves the app metrics. An extension of it would be to express your thoughts with limited yet meaningful and catchy words.

Go for bold typography

Typography in app UI design, just like icons and other visual elements, also helps in enjoying minimalism in app design. Especially in the form of bold typography.

The bold typography shifts users’ attention to the focused words and helps in crafting a high visual experience. So, do not forget to introduce them into your app design plan.

Embrace the idea of contrast

Using contrast elements helps designers create a visual hierarchy and bring attention on particular design elements. So, it is again a good practice to invest your time and effort into building a contrast interface.

When talking about embracing the power of contrast, it is good to introduce black, white, or dark backgrounds with bright and colored typography and pictures. It is important to note here that if you are thinking of incorporating dark mode design theme, the contrast rules would be entirely different.

Use limited colors

Using too many colors on the same app screen leaves a negative impact on users. So, to ensure that your design imparts a positive vibe and engages a wider audience, use limited colors. The best way of which is to use different shades of the same color. 

Likewise, using bright colors alongside soothing and complementary hues, simple typography, and less-complicated animations can also help you achieve minimalism in app design.

Focus on concise and intuitive navigation

When it comes to working upon the navigation element, many designers often turn towards techniques like hiding some part of the navigation. This might help to keep the design minimal but reduces the discoverability of menu elements. This makes users confused somewhere in their journey and fail to experience the kind of user experience you wish to offer after ux reviewing process.

So, it is necessary to go with the philosophy, “measure thrice, cut once” while designing your app navigation.

Embrace functional animation

Another factor to watch out for while ensuring minimal design in the app is to embrace the idea of functional animation. 

This element of motion design is added to the user interface as a part of any functionality. And is focused on improving discoverability and delivering a meaningful purpose, without asking for more space. 

Follow operating system design guidelines

Both Apple and Google have set rules around the type of design that a standard application should have. Considering those design guidelines while introducing minimalism in your application can also be an effective way to ensure higher success rate.

Ditch some rules

Last but not the least, bending some rules of minimalism design is also a good practice. This is so because when you break some rules, you get the freedom to experiment with your design and add creativity to it, aiding in bringing more eyeballs on your app page.

10 Quick & Actionable UI UX Tips for Mobile App Design

Blur effects

The blur effect emerges as a logical answer for a minimal product design UI, permitting a specific measure of play with the layers and hierarchy of the interface. Blur makes it simpler to make layers of data in the UI. This likewise offers minimal designers an ideal chance to explore different overlay solutions.

One app, one typeface

More typefaces seldom bring about better client experience. Actually, blending several different fonts can make your application appear to be fragmented. Decreasing the quantity of font styles on a screen can uncover the power of typography. One of the mobile app design tips is that when designing an application consider how you might make the typography amazing by playing with weight, style and size.

Simple background

Web designers some of the time create complex background themes, like those including photograph pictures. However mobile app design service providers have long deserted such a training in favour of simple and monotonicity. Very bright background under restricted space confounds the way toward exploring the application and slows down the loading stage, which isn’t acceptable.

Simple navigation

There are no intricate patterns of features, pages, or functionalities however just conveniently arranges experiences. Thus, through this clients will get to explore from one module onto the next flawlessly and complete things quicker than they would otherwise.

Declutter UI

It is wise to keep best app UI design mess free. Clarity is a significant attribute of a mobile design. An excessive amount of design components like buttons, text, images, etc. can make any mobile application complicated and incapable to utilize. Keep it basic and minimal, or else you will not be able to convey the message to the user in a clear and concise way.

Accessibility

With organizations taking measures to make products accessible for everybody, minimal designers need to have sympathy and provide different experiences to various individuals through the similar mobile plan. A well planned item ought to be accessible to various users like users with low vision, any sort of visual deficiency, motor and hearing impairments. With comprehensive app design features, individuals with disabilities can explore and interact with your product.

Thumb zone

With each new mobile release, the screen size has expanded, holding the gadget with one hand and browsing the application is getting troublesome. Thus, the mobile application design ought not be aesthetically planned but additionally should focus on the movement of the fingers and thumb.

Remember all zones when mobile application design is being made. Wider the phone, more hard for the user to hold the phone with one hand and tapping on targets if they are out of reach zone.

Set expectations

Numerous associations with a webpage or application have outcomes: clicking a button can mean spending cash, erasing a website, or making a disapproving remark. What’s more, is that with clicking a button there are ramifications, there’s additionally anxiety.

Thus make sure to tell users what will happen after they click that button before they do it. You can do this through a nice design plan.

No extra details

All components of the minimal design play out specific functions: a circumstance where each UI detail fills a particular need. It implies you can securely dispose of application segments with no direct undertakings. They’re unnecessary.

This additionally applies to the content, i.e. decrease the quantity of words utilized and communicate as briefly as possible.

Intuitive app interface

The entire issue boils down to the last important point that is the making of an easy to use interface.

Eventually, no one needs to feel dull and moronic, and unplanned usability would provide the user with simply unwanted impressions. In this manner, your application interface ought to be intuitive, working on all devices in a comparable coherent manner. What’s more, is that accomplishing responsiveness in planning minimal applications isn’t so difficult.

Conclusion

Minimal app design has been a popular approach for some years now and is likely to be one of the UI/UX trends as well. So, it is advisable for everyone who wishes to enter into the UX/UI domain or are getting their application designed to focus on this concept and elevate the chances of success. Something for which you can refer to the rules and practices shared in this article. Or simply, connect with our UI/UX design company in USA.

The post A Beginner’s Guide to Designing Minimal Apps appeared first on Appinventiv.

But, is everyone able to relish its benefits? Do all the designers and entrepreneurs know about the best mobile app UI design tips that work in the customer-centric world?

Sadly, no.

So, with the intention to simplify their journey of figuring out what the UI of future apps look like, we have prepared a list of tips and trends that will be popular in the mobile world in 2021. 

But first, let’s take a recap of the benefits of UI design.

Now that we have taken a visual walkthrough of the importance of good user interface design during app development, let’s peep into a few mobile apps that are giving serious UI designing goals to others in the industry.

Best Apps That You Can Get Inspiration From

1. Netflix

Netflix app – the one that has changed the landscape of the movie streaming industry – tops the list with its breathtaking UI design. 

The application introduced incredible layout and color options to the mobile domain. It has not just worked on simplifying the navigation process but also ensured that all the reported bugs are solved in real-time. In this way, it has increased the chances of offering a positive experience to their audience.

2. Splitwise

The UI design of the application is simple, sophisticated, and pleasant. The color scheme is chosen in a way that it compliments app elements as well as employs the center of the device effectively.

3. Spring

Spring, the popular shopping app, is also a good option to consider while looking for design tips for mobile apps. 

The mobile application offers a simple and interactive experience – using icons to give a hint of the functionality of each element. The app uses different font styles and sizes along with a card layout to deliver an enhanced UI experience.

4. Trello

Trello is yet another application you can consider for deciding the type of UI design to create. 

This productivity app is easy to use and gives the facility of creating boards for managing their tasks. It comes with a clean and sophisticated look and feel along with its tactics of arranging all the pins in a ‘pipeline’ manner. Also, it offers tons of cool backgrounds and labels colors to amp users’ experience.

5. Shine

Another application that has enhanced its customer experience via the user interface is Shine. 

The mobile app uses custom and abstract aesthetics to match the mood of users. It also relies on soft shapes and calm colors to make them experience some peaceful moments.

6. Coursera

Coursera is yet another mobile application whose User interface offers some real goals in the design world.

The app design is simple and smooth, offering the ease to navigate from a well-organized syllabus. It uses different font styles and colors to give users an idea of what they have covered, what they are interacting with, and what’s next. 

[Since we are talking about Coursera here, let’s turn the discussion towards its development via this article:- What is the Cost of Coursera like app development?]

Now that we have taken inspiration from different mobile applications, let’s turn towards the main part of the article, i.e, best mobile app UI design tips to follow in 2021.

Mobile app UI Design Tips To Follow While Designing Your App

Keep It Simple

The foremost tip for designing a better mobile app is to keep the UI simple.

When you restrict the number of app UI elements, users do not get drifted by unnecessary details. They find it easier to focus on the prime elements of the application, which eventually improves the user retention rate.

Make it Responsive

Concentrating on responsiveness is also one of the proven tips to enhance mobile app design by improving its UI.

This is because when you design elements that fit the screens, regardless of the device users are using, they find ease in performing actions. This, in turn, encourages them to spend more time on your platform and add higher value.

Use Popular Icons

Users, when interacting with various mobile apps on a daily basis, become familiar with certain icons. They can easily relate those icons to particular functionalities without even reading the label.

In such a scenario, using those icons can cut down the hassle of making users understand what an app element is for. This eventually enhances customer engagement and delivers higher ROI. So, introduce popular and similar icons in your UI designing strategy. 

Maintain Consistency

Another best practice for app designing that  UI mobility experts follow is showing consistency. That implies using the same font style, color, design, and icons throughout the app screens – and that too in the same order.

This simplifies the user journey and helps them make an action without getting a feel of being on some other platform. So, keep it into consideration while planning the app UI design.

Follow Platform-Based Rules

Both Apple and Google have set guidelines for mobile app design for iOS and Android platforms

. Following those guidelines improves the look and feel of your application on the respective platform.

So, do not overlook these Google and Apple UI design guidelines while crafting your app design.

Do not Forget about Loading Speed

Focusing on speed is also one of the best design tips for enhancing user interaction. This is because when UI elements take too much time to load, users get frustrated. They decide to exit the platform soon, because of which all of your efforts could go in vain.

So, think about optimizing your app speed frequently.

Invest in Testing

Many times, the elements you introduce in your app UI design do not work effectively. In such cases, they ruin the user experience instead of adding value to it.

So, it is good to invest your efforts into mobile app UI testing. For when you test your app icons and other elements for different conditions, it ultimately helps bring a positive impact on the users.

When talking about app testing, one thing that UI/UX designers must consider is the depth to which they should test their UI screens.

While educational and commercial apps require thorough UI testing across all the devices and OS versions, business apps can skip investing in extensive testing. This is because their audience, in most cases, is trained to employ the application.

In a nutshell, the depth of UI testing depends on the app’s purpose and the market it will target. However, it is a must to test your app UI on at least three different OS versions.

Iterate Regularly

Since user behavior and market trends keep on changing with time, it is again effective to upgrade your app UI design timely. And eventually, gain higher conversions.

As previously mentioned when talking about the latest mobile ui design trends 2021, changing market trends also influence the success of the user interface you design. So, let’s uncover what are the future mobile design trends 2021 to pay attention to.

The State of UI in 2021: Technologies and Trends That Will Dominate the Industry

1. Conversational Interface

Conversational Interface is one of the leading UI design trends for the future. 

Just like Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft, various startups, and established brands will invest in Chatbot development to deliver the next level of conversational experience to their user base.

2. The Overlapping Effect

In 2021, UI/UX designers for a mobile app will embrace the idea of overlapping different elements, like text, image, and colors in a single screen. 

The concept will help in creating a well-organized interface and create an illusion of  space. This will eventually enhance the user experience to a great extent.

3. Typography 

Just like last year, considering typography in app UI design will be one of the best mobile app design trends in 2021.

While brands have been applying bold San-Serif fonts and strong typography for some time now, they will now focus more on typography that reflects motion-based and three-dimensional effects.

4. Voice-Powered Interfaces

By 2021, 50% of the search engine queries will be performed via voice. Because of this, voice-governed interfaces will also become one of the popular mobile application design techniques which are poised to deliver higher output.

(Read: How-to Guide for a Flawless Voice User Interface Design)

5. Simple Curves and Geometry

Another UI design trend that will transform our future is the use of simple curves and geometry. 

These curves and geometry will lower down confusion that might arise when multiple illustrations, pictures, catches, and animations are present in the design

6. Custom Illustration Interfaces

Illustrations will also be one of the popular mobile application design techniques to follow in the future. 

Both brands and designers will turn towards introducing custom illustrations into their application – just like how Uber did.

7. White space

White space will also continue to be one of the core elements of mobile app design strategies. 

With white space, designers will be able to deliver an uncomplicated experience to their target user base. They will find ease in making them focus upon the main part of the application over others. And ultimately, add value to their business. 

8. Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Another technology that will bring a major impact in the field of UI design is Artificial Intelligence.

AI will not just help designers with creating multiple versions of any particular landing page or screen, but would also introduce personalized elements backed by thousands of studies and visual analysis. This, as a whole, will encourage them to look into how to use AI for better user interface design.

9. Contrasting Font Color/Shapes

Using contrasting font colors/shapes for mobile UI design will increase the popularity in 2021.

Source – Dribbble

Mobility experts will infuse contrasting colors and shapes into their design to break the regular flow and add a tint of surprise into user interactions. 

10. Animation

Animation, which was one of the key app UI design trends for 2018 and 2021, will also continue to enjoy the same momentum in the future.

Brands will embrace the technique to introduce micro-interactions in their design process. And, in this way, prompt users to spend more time on their platforms.

11. Opacity

Setting the opacity of different UI elements will be considered among the top key app design trends 2021. The technique will be used to bring more emphasis on certain elements while maintaining smoothness and seamlessness.

12. Augmented Reality (AR)

In 2021, UI/UX design experts will turn towards Augmented Reality (AR) for creating real-world interactions. They will embrace the technology to add immersion effects to their apps and products and help users comprehend the information more efficiently.

Besides, the technology will also be considered for building 3D brand impressions in the coming years.

13. Storytelling

Storytelling, i.e. the art of engaging users by narrating a story, will also be seen as one of the best UI/UX mobile design trends 2021. 

Mobile app designers will put more effort into crafting a story that highlights the purpose of the app and make users feel like a part of it. They will turn towards the best visual storytelling guides, tools, and techniques to make a story that keeps their audience hooked to their platform.

14. 3D Graphics

3D graphics will also land on the list of top UI/UX trends to consider in 2021. 

Mobile app designers will incorporate sophisticated textures and 3D images to their designs to add a realistic feel. Also, users will demand more 3D designs and marketing content to enjoy a vivid, fresh, and engaging experience.

15. Placement of Navigational Elements

Another trend that will change the future of the mobile app design world is the placement of navigational elements.

As we have already seen in our blog upon the impact of Phone X new design on mobile apps, the absence of a home screen button will influence the navigation process. This will urge mobility UI experts to discover new ways to deliver a seamless navigational experience to their users.

16. Virtual Reality (VR)

Last but not least, the incorporation of Virtual Reality (VR) in UI design will also be in trend in the coming years. 

The technology, after redefining the healthcare, marketing, and gaming industry, is expected to boost interaction levels in-app UI design. It is expected to emerge out as the ‘Internet of experiences’ by spilling out the app elements in the real world and prompting users to feel them.

While these were some of the mobile app design tips and trends that are predicted to revolutionize user interface in 2021, many more are hoping to add to the list. So, let’s wait and see what will hit the UI market in the future

The post Mobile App UI Design Tips & Trends to Follow in 2021 appeared first on Appinventiv.

Because the feature set that Uber entails is one that almost every other Uber clone app contains – Reason they are called Uber Clone.

No, what separates Uber from other similarly operative businesses is Experience.

An experience that the rider and driver share from the moment they take out their phone to book an Uber.

The result of this Uber app design trick that has come to be associated with the essence of how the brand operates is Brand Resonance. Something that you can experience today itself.

What you will have to do is get consciously active when it’s time to head home from work. That’s it.

See how people around you take their phone out to book a ride and no matter which platform they are on, the majority of them will say they are booking an Uber.

Isn’t this level of brand resonance something that every business aims for? Especially when they operate in a highly crowded mobile app domain?

What if I told you that the secret of how to redesign an app to get its brand resonance lies in the Uber app itself.

Well, it does.

And we will spend the next 8 Minutes in exploring exactly what Uber does in name of user experience that you too can follow to achieve every greatness that the ride-sharing mogul has. A complete disclaimer: Uber is not the only brand which gives serious design goals, Hulu app redesign also has been giving designing goals to businesses.

However, for the sake of this article, we will be concentrating on Uber app design principles.

The elements that we are going to delve into now are ones that can be integrated into your app, no matter what background your application belongs to.

Understanding the UX Principles That Work For Uber (and Can Work For Your Business too)

1. Focus on Localization

One of the main answers of how to redesign an app like Uber’s lies in Localization.

The UX designer team at Uber gives a special focus to ensure that no matter what geographical background location their drivers come from, the experience that they get is all same.

This way, the whole onboarding becomes a breeze and the app learnability curve gets down to an absolute low.

By learning how to do app localization, you too will be able to offer a uniform experience to your users, no matter where they are located. An additional thing to understand here that there is a difference in localization and globalization.

The simple formula is that you should provide for localization if your business caters to multiple ethnicities in the same country and globalization if your business extends to multiple nations.

Here are some things you should take care of:

• See that the app content can be changed to a different language
• Give the users the ability to message in their regional language
• Hire a team of customer support who are bi-lingual.

2. Shed the Belief that Customers are King

You will find millions of articles aimed at methods to drive mobile app engagement among your paying customers. All of them focusing on how important it is for businesses to keep their ultimate customers pleased.

But it is rare to find pieces on how to keep the other stakeholders – the service providers – happy.

Uber is one of those few companies that pay equal attention to the customers who make the final payment AND the drivers who give them a comfortable ride. Uber drivers, in general, are pretty happy with the way they are treated by the agency.

Everything from remuneration to leave policy is devised keeping drivers in mind.

For you to be a brand as appreciated as Uber it is important to give equal attention and benefits to all the stakeholders and not just the customers.

It is the only thing that would help you get a clear answer to how to increase mobile app engagement.

There are multiple ways to go about it

• Give your service provider the freedom to reject the service
• Make it easy for your backend stakeholders to connect with your team
• Make a separate profile for them and show them the ratings that they have received

3. Give Attention to the Journey

If you spent any elongated time in the Uber app, you would know that there is a lot to explore even during the ride.

You can watch the driver’s story video or order something from Uber Eats which is rightly advertised inside the application.

With elements like these, Uber proves that it is not just the interaction points that are important but during part as well.

No matter what your app idea is, until and unless it is something that requires users to be inside the application the whole time like in case of Netflix App, you will have to find ways to improve your app’s user experience after ux review to build that connection.

Some ways to work on your app engagement with the help of your mobile app UX design company can be –

• Add gamification in the application
• Give your users media to interact with – music, videos, etc.

4. Loved Businesses Make Empowered Customers

Gone is the time of Baby Boomers.

The present-day belongs to Millennials. And millennials don’t appreciate hand-holding.

Millennials want to feel empowered. And Uber understands this.

In fact, this understanding is what answers ‘How Uber Uses Psychological Tricks to engage more users’.

Uber gives multiple queries to the end users to choose from when they face an issue. And these queries do not involve them contacting the support till a much later time – something that holds the secret of how to make your app go viral.

You can follow the route by:

• Having a detailed FAQ screen
• Giving answers to all things that are in customers’ hands to solve
• Placing your support email in a place that is easy to approach but not the first option

5. Promote Related Services Non-Intrusively

How to design app like Uber? Be non-intrusive

Uber does an amazing job with showing dishes that you can offer through UberEats on the main screens of the application.

While you cannot order from UberEats from inside the ride-sharing application, it does a great job of sending you to the play store to install their other app.

The placement which they have set for their other service is so articulate that you will only click on it when you need to but its presence won’t bother you still.

Now, it is not necessary that you should also have another service to follow this Uber app design pattern. You can even follow this principle even when you follow the Advertisement based monetization model.

And also if you offer a subscription to the users to get access to other features of your application.

A few ways to achieve an Uber level of non-intrusiveness *pun intended* are:

• Set an icon to show elements that are accessible through the premium account, without sending a pop-up to users mid-app interaction
• Have a reward section inside your hamburger menu list and mention that the way to get the reward is through viewing videos
• If yours is a gaming application, add the option of ‘view ads to’ or ‘install the app to’ feature after at least one successful round.

6. Uber UX design guidelines for on-demand apps: Treat Paying and Non-Paying Users Alike

A bit in continuation with our Customer is not King point, is the factoring of how you should treat your free and paid customers alike. A key to how to redesign an app like Uber’s

While there is no concept of free customers in case of Uber, the ride-sharing mogul does not discriminate between riders booking a Sedan or those taking the Pool ride.

The only difference that is between the rides is in terms of car type and money. And that’s just about it.

It is a given that the premium customers would get extra features, it might be something as simple as no-ads while viewing videos or something major as unlimited content access.

But what is uncool is keeping a big difference in terms of feature set and giving your free/less-paying customers MVP like features.

In the end, the feeling of true accomplishment should be the same between both classes of your users.

Here are a few ways you can achieve this –

• Make the premium set of features an upgrade of your present features and not a completely new set
• Be honest about what users would get if they choose to go Premium and let them decide
• Don’t ask them to join the premium class until they have used up all the free benefits

7. Constant Feedback – an Integral Part of the Uber UX Strategy

The whole of the Uber driver app redesign was based on feedback.

The brand’s team of UX designers didn’t take a single step without getting a consensus of all the drivers in their community. An act that defines the meaning of community.

When you constantly ask for feedback and not for ratings, the attitude of your users change. Which then has a direct impact on your user retention rate.

Because, at the end of the day, users want to feel that they are a part of your business. A valued part.

Uber makes them feel this way by asking for constant feedback. You can make them feel this way by designing apps that drive user engagement and retention –

• Asking your app’s improvement area on the email they have shared
• Adding ‘Send Feedback’ option in the menu list
• Give them the option to leave feedback when they rate your app low

8. Be Only a Few Clicks Away

Being approachable is Uber’s forte.

The company has made it easy for the stakeholders to approach the customer care both on email and telephone.

Users only follow a few steps to reach out to the customer support team – it’s that easy.

As an app entrepreneur, you too should make it extremely easy for your users to get in touch with you.

All the customer touch points should be visibly present everywhere inside the application – inside the menu list, in the support section, in the settings page and so on. Basically, everywhere your customers might get stuck.

9. Impose Accountability on All Your Stakeholders

What makes Uber special is the fact that the brand breaks the social stigma.

There is a social stigma that drivers are seen as inferior beings and they should be treated as such. But Uber changes the mindset.

Uber enables the drivers to reject a ride if the user rating is low. Thus giving a reason for the riders to behave well with the drivers.

This level of accountability is what you should aim to introduce in your app. Give ways to your customers to connect with the service personnel with respect and integrity.

A few ways with which you can achieve this are –

• By sharing stories about the service people – telling customers their aspirations
• Prompting customers to tip them or say good things about them
• By making it known in the Disclaimer section that the attitude your customers will keep will have an impact on their ratings.

10. Give Security its Fair Share of Focus

Although it was a journey full of scandals for Uber to understand the importance of security, but the brand has come to know of its importance.

And it is not just in the backend. Security has found its place in a number of places inside the application. Uber even gives the option to the users to share their rides with people whom they know – thus seeping security deeper in their life.

A few ways you can give the same secure feeling to the users include –

• A badge of security on the app home screen
• Multiple authentication options
  
  

So here were the ten Uber UX design principles that you should copy in your app, today.

Need help from Product design and development company? Fill the form below and our team of UI/UX experts will get in touch with you.

The post 10 Ways to Design an App like Uber in 2019-2020 appeared first on Appinventiv.

Being the leading mobile app design agency that has helped brands like Dominos redesign their offering, we often get asked questions in the line of –

• What are the deliverables that you provide at the end of the project?
• Will the development team be able to convert the design in code and then a functioning app, with the help of the deliverable?

To address all these questions, we have prepared a brief description of the different UX deliverables to help you understand what to expect as an outcome when you partner with a mobile app design agency.

The end result of our UX Design process which is what is shown in the illustration below, are all the deliverables that we are going to read in the section that follows

An Entire List of UX Deliverables

The deliverables that present themselves as an outcome of the Mobile app UX effort is a family that can be divided into four subsets –

User Research

Market Research

Design-Centric

Testing Deliverables

User Research Deliverables

This part of the UX deliverables is concerned with looking into the users’ side of the story – who they are, what they prefer in an application, etc.

User Persona

The first deliverable that app UX designers work towards is the creation of a user persona. It is about drawing out an image of your probable user – who are they, where do they live, what do they like, what irritates them, what is their pain point, how do you prefer solving it, etc.

The study gives designers and the business as a whole the idea of whom their software design process is intended for – above all, whom they are not developing the app for.

The next part of user research specific UX deliverable is knowing how the user would move inside the application, something that helps draw out a customer journey map.

It is a visual representation to show the actions that a user would take to reach the end goal in an app.

Being in a visual form, the deliverable makes it easy to identify the steps needed to redesign or improve the app, thus setting the ground for understanding what counts as the UX for perfect user flow.

Experience Map

This deliverable here is basically a diagram that looks into the many steps that are taken by the users when they engage with the application. It enables the designers to frame users’ needs and motivation in every step of the journey and create a design solution which is appropriate for every step in the customer journey map.

Use Cases

It is the written description of how the software design process would be and how your users would perform tasks inside the application. It showcases the users’ point of view and how the app would behave when their request is responded. Every use case inside the app is shown as the sequence of easy steps, starting with users’ goal and finishing when their goal is achieved.

Storyboard

Inspired from movie industry, this part of the list of UX deliverables deal with creating an outline of users’ action and the motive behind them. The idea behind this stage is to not just show what is the environment that makes users behave the way they do inside the application.

Market Research

This part of the UX deliverable deals with the market part of the elements that are known to help businesses get an idea of how their app market is moving.

Competitive UX Analysis

Designers while researching for the app design will be able to analyze your competitors’ apps – helping you understand the industry standard and find out an opportunity for innovating in a specific segment.

The next part in the list of UX deliverables is specific to the core designing part of the application.

Design Centered UX Deliverable

Moodboards

It is that UX design method where a collection of references and images are found which evolve as the product’s visual guide. It allows the designers to showcase the proposed look for the app to the stakeholders before they put any time, efforts, and money behind it.

Sketches

One of the quickest ways to visualize an idea – Sketching is what is next in the list of design deliverable. Made using nothing but a pen and paper, it is used to validate the concept of products and the approach related to design taken by both users and the team members.

Wireframe

It is the UX design method cum visual guide which showcases the structure of the page along with its key elements and hierarchy. They have proven to be very useful when the designers have to discuss ideas with stakeholders and team members.

Prototype

This part of the UX design process is the simulated version of a semi-final app which is also used for testing purposes before the software is launched. The aim of the prototyping process and answer to What is the role of prototyping in user experience design? is to test the products before developers are involved to move on to the MVP stage.

When it comes to creating them, there are multiple prototyping tools that you can make use of to share a clickable version of your design with the stakeholders, all of which can turn out to be pretty useful when it comes to conducting an A/B test for UX designing.  

Once all the market, user, and design related UX deliverables are worked upon, the time comes to look at the deliverables which would help test the design in the market.

Testing Deliverables

Quantitative Survey

The need to prepare questionnaires and surveys that help measure user satisfaction and collect app feedback is what comes under the KRA of app UX designers

Usability Report

These reports rightly summarize the findings related to usability in a descriptive and precise way helping teams identify issues and then work for its solution.

Analysis Report

There is a huge number of insights that analytics tools like Google Analytics fetch and show how users are interacting with the application.

Sitemap

The last UX deliverable, which is also an important part of the UI design methodology that acts as the outcome of the designing efforts is Sitemap. It mainly shows the navigation and hierarchy structure of the application – which helps in giving out the information on how content will get organized in sections or screens.

Which UX Deliverable is For Which Audience?

The stakeholders of your design are not just your users but also your teammates and the company’s board and the clients. So assuming that all the UX deliverables you just read would be intended to explain the concept to any one stakeholder category would be a grave misassumption. Your chosen deliverable will have to vary from your audience to audience.

Let us look at all the different combinations that you should work around.

A. In-house management

When it comes to communicating with the managers or internal stakeholders, the UX deliverables which are mostly deemed ideal is the prototype model and the analytics report.

The prototypes give the stakeholders an experience which is a very close reflection of the final app and thus prove to be a solid tool for showcasing what the users would experience.  

On the other hand, usability and analytics reports are also found to be very useful when sharing information with the management, for they present clear evidence of the UX recommendation made.

B. Clients and External Stakeholders

When you have to share the UX designs with the external stakeholders like your client, interactive prototypes and mockups are usually the most opted for deliverables.

The idea behind this is when you work with people who have limited knowledge of UX design and ux review, it is always better to give them deliverables that would place the entire focus on visual design. Doing this will help them see the app’s functionality, its information architecture, and the interaction design which is integrated inside the realistic mockups.

C. Engineers and Mobile App Developers

When we talk about communication the UX idea with the developers, interactive prototypes are once again chosen as the right option. But there are other deliverables as well which come across as ideal – site map, style guide, and flowchart.

Because of their detailed focus on interaction specifics and structural details, these deliverables prove to be very useful when it comes to the actual implementation process.

With this, we have seen everything there is to know about not just the types of UX deliverables to expect as an outcome from the UX/UI designing agency but also which deliverable is best for which stakeholder.

Now that you have the necessary deliverable related information, it is time to get started with working on your own app’s deliverables.

The post The Timeless List of UX Deliverables appeared first on Appinventiv.

The term coined a few decades back has now found itself as a prominent part of the design thinking process that leading app development companies follow – at least, a major part of the design process that Appinventiv follows.

The term then eventually branched out to two more concepts that now are being applied by a number of businesses across the globe, with the hopes to become successful.

In this article, we are going to compare just those two elements – User Experience (UX) vs. Customer Experience (CX) and help you gather an understanding of how to find the commonalities and improve your business’s experience.

But in order to get an understanding of the difference and commonalities of the concepts, we will first have to see how designing as an industry has evolved.

Evolution of Design

In 1998, Jim Gilmore and Joe Pine through one of their HBR article introduced the world with a new design thinking process which was based on Experience. While the economy at that time was still pretty much focused on industrialization, it was only in the third decade of the 21st century when a shift was first seen towards experience based design.

The coming of the internet changed how the design world now operated, even though the industry was now 250 years old. It started with UX era where the focus of industrial design had now shifted to digital product design.

And then eventually, users started asking for more. They started seeking not just great product but also great service experience – something that laid the basis of customer experience design.

After every twist and turn that design world took, the present state of it has placed the domain at the forefront of experience centric designs.

A study by ThinkJar research has identified that over 55% of customers are readily willing to pay more in return for a good experience. Now when we talk about experiences in design, there are two concepts that come out as the ones which can be trusted to best define the domain of the combined elements – Mobile User Experience and Customer Experience design.

Let us first get to the very basic definition of both the concepts – get you the answer to What is UX vs CX – before we move on to the scope of customer experience becoming the base design trend of companies across industries.

What is User Experience?

UX is what the customers experience within any specific product – app, website, or any other software. Elements of interface design around information architecture, usability, comprehension, navigation, visual hierarchy, etc are some of the UX design principles that come together to make the experience either bad or good, as any mobile UX designer would tell you.

What is Customer Experience?

Mobile Apps CX is a lot more than Mobile apps UX design. It is the experience that users get across all of the brand’s channels of which your app or website only a part. Elements that users interact at this stage falls under the radar of advertising, sales process, pricing fairness, product delivery, etc. It involves all the interaction that occurs as a user identifies, evaluates, purchases, uses, re-engages and leave the software.

Let us deep-dive into the definitions further to explain what stands as a differentiating factor between the two often considered synonym terms.

Let us help you get the answer to What is the difference between user experience and customer experience?

User Experience (UX) vs. Customer Experience Design: What Separates Them?

The definition of customer experience and user experience design themselves hint at what separates them – the former being a wholesome approach of experience that a user/customer draws both on a specific medium and off, the latter is more concentrated on platform-specific experience – ensuring that your software or mobile app is leaving a lasting impression.

But if you see it more from a word on word level, the difference ends up becoming all the clearer. While on one end we are talking about the experience of a user, on the other hand, there is this study of customer’s experience – The focus being on the words Customers and Users.

Customers are generally those people who have been users of your mobile app and only after experiencing your offering, they decided to become your customers – a key difference that draws the Venn diagram that we saw above.

This switch from CX to UX and vice versa is where the difference in User Experience (UX) vs. Customer Experience (CX) lie. Let me give you an example to clarify it further.

Scenario 1: Bad UX, Good CX

Imagine you have an on-demand ridesharing app.

The functionalities inside it are so confusing that the user ended up booking and getting charged for a vehicle type which was not even their first choice. They take this complaint to your customer care and get a discount.

The experience that they got inside the app is bad UX and the experience they drew from your customer care is what good CX entails.

Scenario 2: Good UX, Bad CX

Taking the same ride-sharing app example for the second scenario as well, imagine your users having a very good time inside the app – everything works perfectly, as intended but one fine day, the drivers keep canceling the ride and on the third cancellation, your users were charged X amount. Now when they contacted your staff for a refund, they were not entertained – an event which turned them off.

The experience that your app gave them was the example of good UX but the experience that your staff gave them by not solving the issue is bad CX.

Hope this helped clarify the difference between UX and CX for you. But in order to make it a matter of quick look, let us help you with the differences in the form of a table:

If there is anything that the definition and differences that you just read shows, it is the fact that Customer Experience – unlike what is supposed to be the job of your contact center team – should be made a lot more mainstream.

What I mean by mainstream is that Customer Experience program should be incorporated deep into your design module – one that is not just limited to your mobile app design.

This is something that would require you to club your UX process with CX, for only then you will truly be able to take advantage of the concept of wholesome experience design and give your users a pleasant brand experience both on and off digital medium.

Before we move on to giving you the ways to incorporate your User Experience design process with Customer Experience modules, let us give a tad focus to the latter and see the importance of preparing for its rightful implementation.

Why Do You Need to Focus on Customer Experience?

Acing your customer experience is the secret sauce that would help you succeed in the market. Your way out to ensure that your users are not just engaged with your application but the complete mobile business as a whole.

It is what you can use to ensure that your users not just enjoy your software offering but also your whole business.

The frustrations list that you see in the graph above is one whose answer directly lies in having a strategically devised customer experience plan in your mobile app business.

It all walks as a cycle – The stronger your preparations to help solve all the customers’ pain points the lesser would be the complaints and greater would be the scope you attaining brand resonance eventually.

This focus on customer experience has led to the creation of a market in which businesses are very optimistic about. Here’s an infographic – made by combining the finding of Hotjar’s survey results on customer experience trends – that highlights what the unanimous feeling about the concept is.

Now that we have looked at what the concept of User Experience and Customer Experience entails, it is time to get down to some action items – How to Improve Customer Experience using your User Experience modules?

A. Do a Thorough Pre-Launch Testing

The first step to ensuring that your business is well accepted by your users and prospective customers is to perform thorough pre-launch testing – a step that follows every successful pre-planned app development process. You will have to make sure that your offering is ready to first attract and then keep your users engaged.

B. Make Feedback Collection Process Easy

Make it easy for your users to leave feedback on your application by keeping all the communication lines open and visible to them. Put your contact information on the screen and section which is most easily visible.

C. Create an Omni-Channel Experience

Understand that your users and customers are available on multiple platforms and sources. And then take that understanding and transform it into an omnichannel experience for your users, ensuring that the result that they get are similar across all platforms in order to improve customer experience that you are presently offering.

D. Involve Multiple Teams

While it is a given that your customer support team will not have an understanding of design, it is nevertheless very important that you involve them to get a complete understanding of where your users stand and what they expect out of the service you are offering them.

So, here was everything that you need to understand about what differentiates customer experience with user experience and how you can take that understanding further into advancing your customer experience efforts and find your own answer to how UX improve CX.

And now that you have the info., it is time to apply the information in your application. Let our Customer Experience Consultants help you.

The post User Experience vs. Customer Experience: Here’s the difference appeared first on Appinventiv.

A crucial part of any user interface design, mobile app prototype, is a representation of how an application would flow from one screen to other is something that cannot just come in handy for a team of mobile app prototype builders and designers looking to understand the mobile app idea but also prototypes come in handy when looking to raise funds for your app project.

What Is Mobile App Prototyping?

Prototyping is an essential part of the design process, as it lets you and your group review ideas and share feedback in the beginning of a project. Prototyping is a significant exercise which brings about perception of how the application will work by showing user flows and portraying a functioning layout and design.

A mobile app prototype shows how a product will work. There are numerous techniques for prototyping, yet in mobile application development, a prototype commonly begins with sketches or a paper interface that develops into an intuitive model, resembling the end result. The main motive behind a prototype is to convey a product’s design and route stream to increase the proficiency of development.

What Is a Rapid Prototyping Tool?

Rapid Prototyping Tools (RPT) is an authoring apparatus to help business analysts, designers and developers assemble and build web and mobile prototypes. This model permits customers to simulate the real world business experience. It assists with approving business necessities and essentially improves the visualization of the finished product.

Rapid prototyping’s popularity implies that there are all types of brilliant assets accessible for designers to explore. We’ve arranged some of our number one quick prototyping tools for developers and UI/UX designers to assist you with integrating the procedure into your work process or find some new tools to enable your programming and design practices.

Now that we have very slightly peeked into the benefits that mobile app prototyping offers – something that we would look into much details later, it is time to objectify the piece.

Well, the objective of this article today is to look at the different prototyping tools for UX/UI designers that will rule this year and for some time to come. 

But before we start with the list of top mobile prototyping tools, let us first look into the features of prototyping tools that make for a good app UI prototyping tools.

What Are The Characteristics Of A Good Prototyping Tool?

1. Offer custom component library made especially for mobile

The mobile app prototype design tools that you use for your mobile app should make it easy to customize the component library according to the different mobile screens and app mood that your brand is planning to portray.

2. Output demo to mobile for making the preview of effect easy

The prototyping model you choose should make it possible for you to see the effect of every change that you are making on the prototype design straight in your mobile device.

3. Support mobile gesture functionality

The prototype model should give you the functionality to select your device so that you can design the prototype around the in-built gesture elements of the device.

4. Support transition animation in a switch of the mobile view

Animations have grown to be an important part of mobile app design company. So it is only appropriate that all the good software prototyping tools for UX design should have the functionality of adding the transition animation so that the designers, developers, and investors alike know the movement of the application from one screen to the next.

5. Generate flow chart

An important element of your mobile app prototyping tool should be to give you the ability to generate a flow chart, which would then come in handy for all the first level prototype stakeholders to know how the events will flow from one screen to another.

Knowing the features that would act as a checklist for finalizing the best prototyping tool is not enough. It is also necessary to look at it in the context of which tool would give you the benefits that will bring you closer to attaining the advantages that mobile app prototyping offers on a bird-eye level.

What Are The Main Benefits Of Mobile App Prototyping Before You Start Building The Product?

Prototyping a mobile app offers you a number of benefits like –

• Sharing of concept and Gathering of feedback
  Mobile app prototyping, being the process that gives the first level ready flow of how your mobile application would look and function, is an amazing tool for sharing the concept with associates, the probable user base, and the investors.
  In addition to the ease of sharing the concept with the stakeholders, the prototype gives you the ability to gather feedback on how the app is looking.

• Saving money on the mobile application design company and development team. In a time when the mobile app development cost is established on the number of hours that goes behind every resource when you approach a team of designers and developers with an operative prototype that is a rough version of your original mobile app, you get to save on the cost that would go behind them putting in time to develop design your prototype.
  

• Clarity on what is to be built
  If there is one hands-down best thing about software prototyping, it is the fact that it gives the designers and developers the clarity on what exactly has to be built. This clarity helps them with getting a headstart on what is required to start with the whole app development process.

Types of Mobile App Prototyping Tools

Paper Prototyping

This prototyping model enables you to start with designing your mobile app prototype without the need of you having to learn any special skills or even get an understanding of the different online tools used to learn to prototype.

There are quite a few tools that will come in handy when you start paper prototyping:

• Sketch templates for the tablet, mobile, and web platforms from sketchappsources.com
• Offline prototype with the help of stencil from uistencils.com
• Use popapp.in to connect the sketch of your photos from one another, thus creating an app flow

Software Prototyping

While paper prototyping comes in handy for entrepreneurs to share their idea with the world, software used to create and develop mobile app prototypes are a lot handier and time and cost saving, along with being the essence of our article.

Without further delay, let us get to the 28 prototyping tools for mobile and web apps that are known to make the whole process easy for the entrepreneurs, designers, and mobile app developers.

Now although we have listed all the prototyping tool to design mobile apps that we are a fan of, first let us look at the prototyping tools for mobile app designers:

Our List of 28 Mobile App Prototyping Tools

1. Sketch: The Vector Based Designing Tool Having an Intuitive Interface

The vector specific design tool makes it easy for designers to not think about resolutions or the screen densities when they create mock-ups, logos, and layouts. The tool comes with very powerful image edit abilities that make it somewhat as capable as Photoshop.

One of the best parts of Sketch is the set of symbols that the tool comes with. Using the symbols you can pre-design elements like buttons, widgets and other navigation items. The next best part is the ‘export to code’ functionality. Using that, you can format the design in codes rapidly and with high convenience, thus facilitating the fast development process.

2. Adobe Experience Design: The Go-To Tool for PC Users

The Adobe XD tool is the one that has managed to become one of the most used tools in a very less time. The website when the designer first logs in, ask their experience level. The tool is 100% integrated with all the other Adobe products which makes it easy for designers to copy and then paste the different assets from Photoshop or Illustrator.

The tool comes with all the functionalities that are present in Sketch and have a very intuitive, clean interface. Adobe XD comes with a drag and drop functionality which creates an image mask for objects that are dropped from finder to a specific space in the tool.

3. InVision: Sharing and Review of Mockups

The famous prototyping tool allows the designers to develop very interactive mockups for mobile and web projects. One of the main striking features of the tool is the fact that it offers designers the ease to review, design, test and then share results with the internal team members.

Also, InVision comes with the ability to sync with Photoshop or Sketch documents which allow designers to update the prototype in real-time inside the design suite of their choice. The second amazing feature of InVision is its project collaboration that enables clients to give quality feedback on the digital product.

Lastly, the tool allows designers to add animations and interactions in the static images while giving them the functionality to upload file types like JPEG, GIF, PSD, PNG, AI etc.  

4. Framer: To Concentrate on Creativeness

The tool is designed especially for the elite Apple users and allows them to develop elaborate UX Flow and add text and shape to it. It even simplifies the development of layout which is responsive to every screen size while keeping UI elements intact.

One of the best parts of Framer is the advanced path editing which allows you to draw everything which is optimized for the web. In addition to this, the tool offers designers the best icon and style needed for building exceptional prototypes.

5. Balsamiq: For sketching the concepts when on fly mode

One of the biggest selling points of Balsamiq is the prototyping speed which enables UX designers to quickly sketch concepts. It is a graphics tool which comes in handy in almost every different circumstance – Mobile Apps, Websites, Desktop Apps, and User Interface.

Balsamiq is convenient to drag and then position the different elements, all the while giving designers the same experience as they would get when working on whiteboards. Ultimately, with its slick UI and minimalist charm, the tool makes it possible for designers to develop prototype and wireframe for the clients, very quickly.

Now that we have looked at the top 5 mobile app prototyping tools that we will be focusing on this year, let us look at the other 23 tools that we have come to work and love overtime at the back of our 900+ apps.

6. Origami

The standalone interface design tool which is created by Facebook engineers has been used by the brand to design apps like Instagram and Facebook Messenger. It is hands-down a complex tool which Facebook makes up for by giving amazingly great functionality.

It allows you to preview the app prototype through Origami, copy and then paste layers with Sketch and get them to work on Origami. The tool even enables you to record a prototype and then send it to people from the app itself.

The last amazing functionality that Origami offers is that it can be connected to your Android or iOS device and you can preview it live.

7. Behance Landing Page UI Kit

Landing pages are arguably the most essential pages on an application or a website. Therefore, it is important to create a great first impression.

The landing page UI kit of Behance is a free design resource with over 80 layouts in popular categories. The tool is a best fit for businesses looking to modernize the look of their pages. Using the tool, you can create sleek and minimalistic landing pages that convert.

Also Read: List of 10 Free UI Kits to improve your product experience

8. Axure

It is a complete design tool for designers. It gives you the functionalities needed to design apps from beginning to end. In addition to prototyping, Axure also enables you to design mockups, idea board, persona, wireframe, diagramming, etc.

The interesting thing about Axure is that it is not just for the designers but also for coders. It enables you to code and add the ready components plus libraries, helping you create better designs, absolutely seamlessly.

9. Atomic

One of the top web based prototyping tools, Atomic requires Google Chrome to work to give the designers the control and flexibility that they need to fine-tune their interactions. The tool offers easy access to the developers as well by offering a shared prototyping system which is effortless.

Atomic also offers you a history option that enables rewinding of previously done iterations and creation of new versions.

10. Principle

The platform-independent prototyping tool makes designing elements illustrating pop, ease, and bounce extremely fast. The tool gives users the freedom to transition between one screen to another, while providing the capacity of animation to the designers, enabling them to animate more than one element on the same page.

11. Just in Mind

The all in one tool used for development of interactive prototypes comes with over 500 widgets for web and mobile app prototype designers to choose and work on. The prototyping tool also gives them the facility to test mock-ups from the device of their choice.

12. Wireframe.cc

The minimalistic web app makes it easy to create low-level prototypes that come in handy for quick visualization of the app idea. The best thing about wireframe.cc prototyping tool is that it supports and promotes teamwork, making it easy for the team to comment on hotkeys, prototype, and sharing.

13. Pidoco

The tool brought into existence mainly for convenient team collaboration at the stage of prototype development makes not just teamwork but also template customization convenient and easy for the team. With the tool, you can create very interactive prototypes in very minimal time. Also, the usability that Pidoco comes with, lowers the development and design phase while sparing the extra cost incurred.

14. Mockplus

The tool, which is also one of the top prototyping tools makes it easy to develop and analyze the work of a lo-fi prototype. Even though the functionality of Mockplus is minimalistic, you can create interactive prototypes, no matter what difficulty level they belong to, with the help of the wide UI component library.

15. Proto.io

The tool enables you to develop a very detailed prototype, thus giving you the ability to work on the micro-interactions with mobile app users, with the help of its interface animation feature. It also makes it possible to test developed prototypes with the help of a convenient system used for teamwork and sharing.

16. Flinto

The tool is basically a fully functional app operating in Mac that enables the creation of a hi-fi prototype. The app can easily be integrated with Sketch via a plugin – which in turn gives you a convenient way to develop an animated prototype. The tool also gives you the freedom to create the prototype and then share it with the team.

17. UXPin

This multi-purpose web tool allows the creation of both high and low-fi prototypes. It comes with an easy commenting system that offers easy collaboration within the team. It also gives you the provision of opening up projects from both Sketch and a library of dozens of the UI kits.

18. Marvel

Marvel is hands-down one of the easiest web and mobile app prototyping tools for designers to start with minimal to zero experience in the field of prototype development.

The simple interface that the tool comes with, promises a very low learning curve for the designers. The biggest appeal of the tool is its features that satisfy advanced designers, specifically the powerful integration with Sketch and Photoshop, making it not just one of the best prototyping tools for beginners but also for their experienced counterparts.

19. OmniGraffle

The diagram design prototyping tool gives you the freedom to create a prototype of screen flow, wireframe, strategy maps, and a number of other diagrams. With the help of OmniGraffle, you can easily visualize flow of the app for it helps in planning the whole app development process without much hassle.

20. HotGloo

The sound interface design tool, with its amazing interactive features, enables designers to prototype a number of mobile applications which need a specific user interface. It makes it possible for the designers to operate on specific wireframe from no matter where they are.

Since HotGloo is a web-based tool, you can work on it from anywhere and will not be asked to download any specific software.

21. Zeplin

The collaboration tool for developers and designers is much more than workflow and design – it enables app designers to develop a complete masterpiece. It makes it possible for you to upload the visual designs and wireframe from Sketch and Photoshop and then add it to your Zeplin’s project folder.

With Zeplin, the iterations happen in real time, meaning developers never have to wait for designs to finish for they are introduced to the whole process from a very early stage in the design process.

22. IconJar

Organizing the icons and bringing them in one place cannot get any easier. Iconjar makes it possible for you to upload and then store all the icons in a single place from where you can search, drag and drop them in the project on Photoshop or Sketch.

When you design prototypes, searching for and uploading the icons can be very stressful and extremely time-consuming – something that Iconjar helps getting a solution in by helping you organize millions of icons in a single place and then adds them in the Photoshop, Sketch, or Illustrator with a simple drag and drop.

23. Fluid UI

It is a one-stop shop solution for design, communication, and collaboration requirements. The platform is a must-have tool for the designers looking for powerful collaboration features that can be used to design and then edit in real time and with the team. It lets you create prototypes, present designs and then collect feedback all inside a single platform.

24. MindNode

The simple interface and zero complex features tool comes in very handy in designing the relationship maps. The tool enables you to prioritize the most important work when you are working on some design. It even lets you set deadlines and reminders on the platform itself to ensure that you are working within a timeline.

Using MindNode, you can fold and then unfold nodes when you need access for the project. Also, with the help of their Cloud software, you can easily share the project with other people and handle it through a collaborative effort.

25. Vectr

The tool lets you design the prototype on Vectr’s desktop and web app designed for Windows and Mac. One of the top mobile app prototype software helps you design the prototype on both desktop and the web browser – making it easy for you to work when you are ready while giving you access to all the changes. The prototypes that you make using Vector can be shared to others through URL and get integrated into applications like Slack for a more powerful collaboration.

26. Prott

The nifty prototyping tool gives you the ability to photograph the rough sketches and then import them straight into Prott’s Android and iOS apps. The sketches then can be used to build prototypes. It also makes the presentation extremely easy with the help of its interactive, effective presentation resource. Prott is also known to offer a wide range of collaboration tools for the designers to make sharing the design an easy process.

27. Webflow

Webflow is outfitted towards making good quality web animations, interactions, and responsive website design.

At surface level, Webflow may have all the attention of being simply one more website builder. But webflow additionally offers a code free interface. This is incredible information in case you’re just needing to make sharp, striking websites without having any computer science degree. One of the other striking features that makes it stick out and sparkle is its eCommerce feature. This includes making Webflow captivating for developers to construct smooth, modern shopping sites or web applications.

28. CanvasFlip

The last in our list of best prototyping tools of is CanvasFlip. The tool is known to ensure 4 times faster prototyping when compared to the many other prototyping tools in the market.

It comes with several notable features like timers showing splash screens, setting of footers and headers, layers for displaying messages, etc. Features that both developers and designers benefit from.

Wrapping Up

Now that we have looked at all the different 28 mobile app prototyping tools that our team of designers has been vouching for their collective years of experience, it is time to bring an end to the whole discussion with a parting note.

While we rely on the five prototyping tools mentioned at the beginning of the listicle and our team of designers have enjoyed working with all the 28 prototyping tools, the use cases that every project come with might ask for varied prototyping tool, something that can only be estimated after looking at the project idea.

So, if you wish to know which out of all the 28 prototyping tools would be the best fit for your app idea, get in touch with our mobile app designers and UI design company in USA today.

The post List Of 28 Mobile App Design Prototyping Tools appeared first on Appinventiv.

According to WHO, Globally, at least 2.2 billion people have a near or distance vision impairment. In at least 1 billion – or almost half – of these cases, vision impairment could have been prevented or has yet to be addressed.

On one hand, while the number of visual impairment is on a rise in this colorful world, on the other, technology has made a series of advancements to impart all the possible visual abilities to the impaired. This is so because there should be no difference in the digital experience that someone with a perfect vision and those who are challenged on the front encounters.      

However, if you look at the time that has gone by, while it is impossible to argue that revolutionary work has been done to make the visually impaired independent (such as voice-based user interfaces), the grim side of it all remains – out of all the mobile app user demographics, visually impaired are the ones that are rarely planned for (if at all brought out of the backseat).

But when you too, like those technologists who work at making the digital experience similar for both the user set, look for the design accessibility apps for visually impaired holistically, what you are likely to find a promising scenario. A situation suggesting that designing accessible app design for visually impaired is not just a humanitarian move but also your ticket to reaching that number – 285 million user base.

For those of you who are still sitting on the edge on whether or not to invest in accessibility apps development or if you are still unsure on the clarity if at all your user base is made up of any share of the visually impaired population, let us concur here that there are in fact ways to make your app accessible without having to ignore the 70% of world’s population.

In this article, we are going to look at the different ways you can inculcate accessibility in your app design to impart a memorable user experience to the millions of people suffering from visual impairments in the world.

But before we head there, let us step into the shoes of the visually impaired and see what they see.

Colour Blindness

The concept of color blindness does not automatically mean a situation where visual impairment sufferers see things in black and white. In most cases, users simply confuse one color with another for they cannot see any difference.

Apart from color blindness, a disease that every 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women have in the world, there are a number of visual impairment challenges that you will have to attend to when you work on accessibility app development.

Let us now show you what different visually impaired people see by making you visually impaired for the next 2 minutes through the help of NoCoffee Vision Simulator Chrome Extension.

Here is what the Appinventiv site looks like to a normal vision user

To someone with loss of acuity, the site looks like this

To someone having a peripheral vision, the site looks like this

To someone who has ghosting vision, the site looks like this

To someone who sees large spots, the site looks like this

Now that you have stepped into the shoes of the visually impaired and have seen what they see when they visit a website on desktop, imagine how annoying would be their experience when the screen size reduces several inches and the device changes from a widescreen laptop to a palm-fitting smartphone.

And while you are imagining the irritability also note how low your app’s usability is proving to be the one providing irritation with every passing visually impaired interaction.

With you now having stepped in and out of the same shoes as the million of your visually challenged users and witnessing their frustrations and your lackings first hand, it is time to look at the solution – How to Make Your Mobile App Accessible for Visually Impaired?

How to Design Mobile App Experiences for the Visually Impaired?

1. Use ENLARGED TEXT in Abundance

Sometimes, what your users need is a large size text. Now instead of relying on the zoom function which is notoriously famous for increasing the unnecessary time in the app session and spoiling the user experience, what our team of UI UX design agency & app designers, who excel in providing accessible app design for visually impaired suggests is giving a manual option to the users to adjust the font size of the text on the mobile application.

2. Use Alt Text for Images in Surplus

A number of structural elements like images can be a difficult area for people with very low vision. Now what happens is that the visually impaired people generally use in-built screen readers present in mobile devices.

In the case of images, these screen readers read out the entered Alt text, hearing which users imagine what the image is portraying.

In that context, it becomes of prime importance that you use a very descriptive text explaining what is happening in the image instead of 4/5 words when you design for visually impaired.

3. Be Wary of Contrasts

Deciding on a color combination can be one of the most difficult choices that you would have to make when designing mobile app accessible design app, especially for the color blind user segments. Now, instead of limiting yourself to a Black and White combination, there are a number of other pairings you can use to show the difference in background and the front element or any two elements.

When deciding on the contrast, you should ensure that the contrast ratio is at least 4:5:1 between the text and background.

Also, there are some clear combinations that you should avoid at all costs to ensure that your apps for visual impairment users or color blind users is not a nightmare session.

• Green & Red
• Light Green & Yellow
• Blue & Purple
• Green & Brown
• Green & Blue
• Green & Black
• Green & Grey
• Blue & Grey

4. Make Textures Your Friend

While the majority of your visually impaired users would have a problem with identifying the different color shades in the mobile application, using textures in place of colors to differentiate one element from another will help solve your purpose while helping your users have a memorable experience within your application.

In fact, it is not just about user interface for visually impaired app users who would appreciate the usage of textures but also about all the other users whose usage of different textures can be very appealing, design wise.

5. Refrain From Using Just Colours to Give Out Information

Red means danger or bad or something related to incorrectness, green is good, positive, and right—we assume this is a universal truth. But for the ones who are visually impaired or colorblind, it can be difficult to detect color changes on the screen. Thus it is advised no to depend on color alone to convey messaging.

Haven’t we all experienced the time when we fill in a form and accidentally put in the wrong information which makes the box turn red? While the whole situation has been in-built in our digital journey, imagine someone who has difficulty understanding colors and they have to face the situation. Imagine how they would struggle not knowing what they are doing wrong simply because they can’t see a red margin box on the screen.

The solution to this dilemma is pretty simple and even aesthetically alluring – using icons, vibrations, and text to show every right and wrong action taken by the user within the application.

6. Make Minimalism Your Mobile Accessibility Apps Design Principle

Whether you are making Android accessibility app or one for iPhone, if there is one element that can make your mobile app a visually impaired user’s magnet it is Minimalism. The secret that revolves around giving the most minimum to the users design-wise, has a two-fold benefit –

A. The visually impaired app users have a memorable experience and

B. Your visually strong users will also love working around the white space in the application.

7. Make Dark Mode Your Companion

This one element would come in most handy when you have a lot of texts in your mobile app. The low vision users will find it much easier to read the content in the Dark Mode as opposed to the Light mode on your app.

A thing to note here is that if you are making Android accessibility apps for visual impairment, you will have to implement the dark mode design. But if you are developing an accessibility app for iOS, you will ensure that your team of developers is working on an app that is compatible with the Smart Invert Colours feature.

Now that we have looked at the different ways you can design mobile accessibility apps for visual impairment or low vision users or those with any other form of visual impairment, it is time to summarize it all in a form of mobile app accessibility guidelines checklist.

Well, here it goes –

Accessibility Guidelines for Mobile Apps – Checklist

With this, you are now prepared to make your mobile app an accessibility app and there is just one thing left to do before you launch the app in the market and get the attention of those millions of users who were not able to enjoy your app yet – Accessibility Testing.

What is Accessibility Testing?

The process of testing whether or not your efforts to make your mobile app accessible design right for low-vision users was successful is what defines accessibility testing for UI design for visually impaired app users.

As you are making mobile app accessibility guidelines refinements, you can make use of the accessibility scanner app available on the Play Store. But what our experience tells us is that mobile app accessibility testing on UI design for visually impaired users is more often than not incomplete until you take your application to real users. While the accessibility testing tools for mobile development can come in handy, you can never be too sure.

Also, instead of waiting for your whole accessibility app development process to end, conduct mobile app accessibility testing at every stage to prevent yourself from going too down in the wrong way.

Navigation, Multiple browser design, and perceivable content are just a few things that you will have to prepare your application for to ensure that ALL the users who visit your app, irrespective of whether they have a 20/20 vision or are colorblind, have a great experience.

Parting Thoughts

Now that you have seen it all, there is just one thing left to do – shed the misassumption that these accessibility refinements in your mobile app will only attend to the low-vision users and understand that they will benefit all – as ALL your users will be able to have an easy on the eye experience in the application.

Well, there you go. You are now ready to launch your accessibility app in the market and reach all the users who are unconsciously left behind.

If you need help with the app design company or want advice from a UI UX design company in USA, then feel free to contact us here, and we are happy to help you with your doubts and questions.

The post How to Design Accessibility App for Visually Impaired? appeared first on Appinventiv.

Everytime we face an issue related to the app design, especially in terms of it being starkly opposite to what we expected, the outcome is almost always app uninstallation. 

The design industry has crossed many rivers to become innovative and immersive. While there are some brands like Uber with its design guideline or MailChimp who have understood and went with the flow, there are brands that are still not giving app design its fair share of attention. 

Many entrepreneurs and startups are making sure to get the right design by implementing design principles and rules for web or app development.

The intent of this article is to look back at the basics – at the importance of UI/UX design. 

Read this blog as a beginner’s guide. One that will help you, an entrepreneur with the understanding of what makes the role of user experience and UX review process as important as the development and testing process itself – After all, the present time is operative in such a way that the importance of UX and UI design in an app development is not just crucial but unquestionable.

Table of Contents:

1. What is UI Design in a Mobile Application?
2. What is UX Design in a Mobile Application?
3. What are the Deliverables of UI/UX App Design Development?
4. The Key Components to Know When Designing Mobile Applications
5. Importance of Mobile App UI/UX Design
6. Mobile App Best UI/UX Practices
7. The Top UI/UX Trends 2021 and Beyond
8. FAQs About the Importance of UI/UX Design

To understand the importance of mobile app UI/UX design, let us understand both the terms first.

What is UI Design in a Mobile Application?

The abbreviation UI stands for User Interface. It is the way through which users can interact with any mobile apps. Mobile app user interface design is aimed towards easy, enjoyable and effective interactions between users and the app. UI in IT is any device that allows users to interact with monitors, screens or mobile devices. The primary goal of mobile app UI principles is to provide the best interaction possible.

What is UX Design in a Mobile Application?

UX stands for User Experience. The whole idea of UX is to create a system that provides the best experience to the users. The aim of mobile app UX principles is to turn customers into loyal customers by providing a positive experience to them. UX is responsible for a user’s journey through the mobile app or website which ultimately decides the success of the business.

Mobile app UI UX design is always put together as they are complementary to each other. For an app to be successful it must be the best.

What are the Deliverables of UI/UX App Design Development?

The work of any UI/UX designer has many phases. During the UI and UX designing process, various deliverables are created for the clients. These deliverables are created for reasons like better communication with clients, documentation or presenting the ideas in a proper way. Both UI and UX have their separate deliverables, let’s take a look to get a clearer understanding of the role of mobile app UI/UX design in the mobile app design and development process.

A. UI deliverables

Mood boards

Mood boards are used for presenting innovative ideas in a way that everyone understands. It helps the clients understand the app idea that the designer will be working on.

Visual designs

Visual designs will help understand the effects of elements in a design. The effects of elements like photography, typography, space, colours, layouts, images, etc. are better understood with visual designs.

Dynamic prototyping

Another one of the UI deliverables is the dynamic prototypes. Prototypes help in improving the overall functioning of the app as well as making improvement as and when needed. With dynamic prototypes, UI can be built as per the clients’ desire.

B. UX deliverables

Competitive analysis report

The competitive analysis report is created to measure the level of competition your app has. All the efforts go into vain if the app is in a highly competitive market or if it is not prepared to beat the competitors. With a competitive analysis report, the strength and weakness of the competitor’s app can be found out.

User personas

Designers have to make sure the client understands what their customers need and expect from the products. Creating a buyer persona not only helps in understanding customer behaviour but also in communicating the same to clients. The UX process involves user research to learn the behavioural pattern.

User journeys, experience maps and user flows

Experience maps showcase users overall behaviour towards a product. The expectations, time spent, reactions, thoughts, needs, etc. are all displayed in the experience maps.

User journeys or user flows are specific steps taken by the user to interact at different stages of the product. These can be the current interactions or potential interaction with a product.

Interactive prototypes

Interactive prototyping is another one of the deliverables of UX. Rudimentary prototyping saves a lot of time and effort and works well enough to get the job done. The prototypes help in demonstrating how the actual product will work once it’s fully developed. It also helps the designer communicate the ideas better.

Now that we have looked into what UI and UX stands for and what is the role of mobile app ui/ux design in the development process, let us move on to the importance of UI/UX design in delivering a bespoke product.

The Key Components to Know When Designing Mobile Applications 

There are some main components which have to be considered when you design mobile apps UI/UX. 

A. Information architecture:

The idea behind IA is to offer users an easy navigation, irrespective of which browser they are using. It mainly surrounds offering them a top-level navigation experience. 

B. Interaction design:

It is the creation of a conceptual design through which users interact with the app. It includes elements such as colors, aesthetics, icons, fonts, images, etc.

C. Usability:

This part of the mobile app design principles deal with figuring out if users are getting the information they need through the use of the application and if the app gives them a self-serving way to handle issues.

D. Wireframe:

This part of the user interface design for mobile applications is all about the creation of an app’s sample for the purpose of testing features, usability and look of the app before it gets live in the market.

E. Visual design 

It is all about defining the app’s brand in the users eyes. It is not only about choosing the best colours, icons, images, fonts, etc but also its appearance that can have an impact on the users at different times of their interaction. 

Importance of Mobile App UI/UX Design

To know the significance of ui ux design in an app development is a must. Most developers create an app with great performance but fail to focus on the designing which leads to the downfall of the app. The balance between the functionality and importance of UI UX design of an app is hard to keep but that’s what needs to be done.

To answer the question, ‘What are the Benefits of User Interface and User Experience design?’, let us look at the pointers below:

Attracts users

A saying goes, ‘A good teacher is the one that grabs and holds the attention of the students and then teaches the lessons.’ This saying is very apt in the case of UI/UX design for mobile apps. The designs grab the attention of the users and ensure they spend as much time on the app as possible. However, the users should be able to understand the designs and navigation well enough to stick around for the long term.

Creates a good impression

For a startup or any small business, the importance of a UI/UX design lies in the creation of the first impression. When users visit your app, they should be hooked to it immediately so that they come back for it again and again. A good app has higher usage time and this can be done with the app’s UI UX design.

Get featured in app stores

Whether a mobile app is good or not is determined by how many users like it. The ratings and reviews by satisfied users will bring your mobile app to the top lists. To get your app featured in Play Store or App Store, make sure the users get a good UI UX. getting featured in the top lists of any category will automatically bring more traction to your app.

Get loyal customers

Attractive apps have more users and it’s a fact. Apps like Instagram, Facebook, Candy Crush, etc. have great UI/UX which has drawn millions of users to them. The satisfaction that comes from great user experience is what makes users loyal. Word of mouth is another reason why UX design is important.

Saves time and cost in the long run

When you work with the understanding of the mobile app best UI/UX practices from day one, you have the guarantee that there will be less need for app maintenance and updates. And since those two things will be at bay, the challenges that you might face after app launch will also be very low.

Builds brand

Putting resources into a productive Ul/UX design helps in rising consumer satisfaction subsequently ending up with cheerful customers. Individuals like working with brands that make them happy. They will be willing to take up features that can be upgraded, and thus, put resources into improving your application. This builds the credibility of your business as a customer makes great relationships with your organization and brand. The aftereffect of this is the development in the worth of your business and your brand name.

Increased traffic

A good UI/UX consistently makes their users stay. If your website or mobile application is designed splendidly and client experience is staggering, nothing can prevent them from exploring the pre-decided target and transforming the users into valuable customers. Hence, it’s the duty of you and the UI/UX Developers’ responsibility to guarantee the greatest UI/UX of your site/application.

Now that you have seen the importance of mobile app UI/UX design, let’s move further into the concept. It’s a common assumption that if you have mastered the UI/UX development process then you don’t need tips for improvement. However, there’s no harm in going through some great tips, considering how the effect of UI/UX design can be long lasting.

Mobile App Best UI/UX Practices

Use conventional elements

Using familiar elements in the app will save time for users. They can quickly learn the app without getting confused. Elements like buttons, icons, colors and symbols should be designed in the way it’s designed in most apps. The quicker users learn to operate the app, the higher will be the chances of liking the app.

Maintain uniformity

It is very important for the design to be uniform across all the windows. The uniformity shows the quality of work put in the UI UX designing of the app. Not only with icons or buttons but the colors and patterns should also be the same across all media.

Employ the right UI and UX designer

If you are focusing on the mobile app user interface design and experience then working with the experts is highly recommended. You can also outsource app development for your app from an expert app development agency to make sure the UI UX designs are on point. The UI UX designers should understand all the end-to-end user interaction and incorporate them within the app.

Make it as interactive as possible

An interactive app is better than a non-interactive one and that’s a fact. When you allow users to interact with the app, it creates a connection between them. Interactive apps give freedom to users to navigate themselves through different windows.

Consider platform specific designs

There is a stark difference in the iOS app UI design and Android app UI design. Likewise, considering the way both the platforms are designed at the device level, the iOS app UX design also varies from the Android app UX design. 

What is important is for you to understand both Material Design and Human Interface Design in addition to the elements that separate them from each other. 

Don’t hamper the speed of the app

The speed of the app is just as important as the design. Startups do make this mistake by thinking the app only needs its appearance to attract users. But the truth is, the functioning of the app is just as important. The mobile app needs to be speed while having a good mobile application interface design.

Keep it simple and don’t complicate things

If a feature can be put in a simple way there is no need to overdo it. The users will appreciate the simplicity just as much as the overall app. Complicating designs leave app users either confused or furious and we don’t want either of those. It is also seen that apps with simple design have more users than complicated ones.

Keep the focus on limited things

Often the UI/UX development process focuses on so many elements at the same time that the entire user experience turns bad. If too much is going on the screen then that won’t let the user focus on the content of the app. Overcrowding content on the screen is another way to quickly lose users.

Have detailed understanding of your audience

After everything’s said and done, the only thing that can save the effect of ui/ux design from being negative is having an understanding of your users. Only by knowing who you are making the product for, you will be able to deliver a memorable experience to your user set and the world. One way to achieve that is through a well strategized product discovery workshop. 

The only thing left for you to do is find a trustworthy and reliable app design company to partner with. A proper app design and development company will help you expand your mobile ui ux design services.

The Top UI/UX Trends 2021 and Beyond

To get started with the best mobile app UI UX designing, let’s look at what the future of UI/UX holds in 2021. 

Voice-based UI

Google Home and Alexa have taken over the voice assistant world. These two technologies are being used by people to get anything and everything done. Voice searches are becoming more and more popular and by in the end of 2021, 50% of the searches will be voice-based. Users are preferring buttonless options to do their everyday tasks, and increasing with this demand is the need to understand how to design voice user interface.

Foldable/Split screen

With foldable phones app development being on the rise, the split screen trend is one of the hottest 2021 app design trends. The idea of actively using two screens together, whether on websites or mobile phones, is amazing! The trend has come back after a short break and is looking more alive than ever. Split screen in mobile allows more user interaction all the while giving aesthetically appealing visuals.

Variety & combinations in fonts

Fonts that will fit any writing space will have another place in the latest UI/UX design trends. Earlier, inserting text in writing spaces had limitations in terms of adjustment. It also made designers send multiple files for the font designs used. Variable fonts are a great solution for this, since it only needs one file for any design.

Dark mode

With both Apple and Android focusing their efforts on bringing health focus in the picture through dark mode app design functionality, the 2021 trend is also inclining towards it. In fact, our app designers feel that it is only about time when health betterment will become the outcome of the importance of a good user interface design. 

Animation

The use of animation in apps makes them more visually appealing. It connects with customers more than any other design. Designers are using this tool to create a positive impact on the users with the help of meaningful animations. Earlier, things were simple with flat logos, icons, buttons, etc. but now animated buttons, icons, and even logos are happening. In the coming years, animation will be one of the trends for UI UX designing.  

This was our take on the importance of User interface/User experience design system services for mobile apps and the foreseeable future of UI/UX as we reckon. The next step for you herein is to get in touch with a bespoke mobile app design agency that can help you deliver lasting memories.

[Also Read: UI/UX Mistakes to Avoid for Successful App Development]

FAQs About the Importance of UI/UX Design 

Q. Why do apps need efficient UI/UX Design?

The importance of UI/UX design in mobile apps goes beyond simply making them appear well to the end users and the other stakeholders. These are some of the other reasons that mark their importance:

• Attract users
• Increase probability of getting featured in the stores
• Increase brand’s ROI 
• Lower the app maintenance time and cost in the long run

Q. Why is UX important for business?

Here are some business benefits of investing in an efficient user experience –

• It has a direct effect on your conversion numbers
• It helps saves long term app updation costs
• Increase the probability of getting word of mouth referrals and ultimately brand evangelists.

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