UI/UX Design in Mobile Apps 👨‍🎨

‍While computers provide fast and easy access to the web, mobile phones are famous for their great User Experience or UX. Most people use both devices and even if laptops might seem like the best option to navigate the web, phones are setting high standards for ease of use, versatility and usefulness.

As mobile and related technologies further develop and gain traction around the globe, people are starting to expect more and spend less with their phones. Having a great UI/UX design will make your mobile applications that more important as users use mobile devices more and more everyday.

What is UI/UX design?

Mobile apps offer a convenient approach to the internet, their design is optimized for hand use, the information is concise and grouped up for easy reading, this is the main reason why people are opting for mobile over desktop. In 2018 205.4 billion apps were downloaded, a number which is only expected to rise in the coming years. These numbers point at the ongoing trend, people are rushing to mobile apps because of their functionalities and their ability to get things done fast, this means that desktops are swiftly becoming a secondary device for a large part of the population.

As more and more apps arise, competition grows fierce, to survive in the digital market, your mobile app has to have a mind catching design with great features and an appealing look.

UI/UX design are the terms that characterize the way the user experiences your app and hence plays a key role in its success and in its development. To understand both of these terms, lets first explain them.

UI

Ui stands for User Interface, it describes the way a user interacts with your app. It includes buttons, blocks and various controls.

The primary objective of the UI is to provide a great experience, to achieve this goal means carefully planning out the interaction between your user and the app, make it as easy, enjoyable and effective as possible. The development process includes selecting the right color, visual identity and design principles.

UX

UX stands for User Experience, it aims at providing the best experience and the best feel for the app. Defining the UX means designing the interactions in your app, how it's going to feel and what the overall structure is going to be like. Your UX must be comfortable, user-friendly and clear to make your users become loyal customers.

To understand the difference between the two, you can think of UX as the backbone of your application. UX is here to give an initial structure, if you were to build a house, UX would be the foundations and the walls. UI however would dictate where the doors are, how they open, how they look, what materials are used and how it all fits together to create a pleasant experience.

The same goes for your app, the colors, the drawers, that’s going to be the UI, but the different sections, the sliders, the interactions between the different information on screen, that’s going to be your UX.

Why its important

Knowing how these two design topics interact and what they are is important because they’ll help you in several ways when building a mobile application.

1. Captivate Users
2. Word of Mouth
3. Efficiency
4. Getting Featured
5. Greater User Satisfaction and the resulting ROI

The first idea is that a great app will keep users engaged, the design should help users get lost in what they’re doing, not having to think about where to press or what to do to get access to a certain information. The experience should be intuitive so as to captivate your users.

Having that great experience will make people talk about your app. Design choices make an app stand out when it's done right. Your users will then prioritize your app over another one that gives the same information or has the same features. In turn, these people can recommend and spread the word to their friends about their recent discovery. As you might already know, word of mouth is one of the greatest assets in sales. Design will help it happen and push your product forward.

Great designs aren’t just good looks, they serve the main function of the app, which is to get access to information or achieve a certain goal. With this in mind, it should be quick and easy to give to the user what it wants. That should keep him happy by not wasting his time.

Whether the app is on Android or IoS, both platforms feature well designed apps and put them forward in their stores. Having a great design can hence get you an extra edge by being in the front page of Ios, Android, or even both.

If your app is well put together and useful, it’s no secret that user satisfaction will rise, making your ROI greater and overall performance better.

How to create amazing UI/UX

Here are a few tips to achieve a great UI/UX and generally speaking, a well thought out app.

• Uniformity
• Conventional
• Simple

Ensuring uniformity between the different sections of the app will help users get familiar with your app. This means keeping the same look for buttons and icons, but also colors and patterns.

To strengthen that idea of familiarity, your application has to be conventional,         it will help users pick up your app and make it seem intuitive. Therefore saving them time, confusion and further guidelines.

Finishing up this idea, keeping the app simple will prevent the screen from being cluttered causing confusion and frustration for the users. Straight forward navigation should help customers to easily go along with the app.

The UI/UX of a mobile application is among its most important aspects, it helps users get their information easily and quickly, ensuring they don’t get frustrated. Great designs also benefit from various perks, like being featured on app stores and keeping users engaged with your product.