As mobile apps are taking the world by storm, more companies are building their own app to gain traction. Apart from generating actual sales, it forms a significant role in marketing. The app design UI, alongside the overall experience, can influence users if they will patronize a product or service. So if an app is not able to meet the user expectations and standards, they will simply uninstall it. And believe it or not, it will directly affect your branding.
This is precisely the reason why more businesses use Penji’s services for their app design. We have a pool of talented and experienced professionals that could create effective app design UI for any industry. You can check out our affordable packages and see why hundreds of clients enjoy using our services.
While you can always outsource the design services, it is still crucial that you know the principles of app design UI. This will help the designers understand the mobile app’s core objectives, and they will be able to brainstorm according to what your market desires. Here are some of the design principles you have to take note of.
1. Avoid Visual Distractions
Let’s begin with the basics. When you are designing an app, it’s already a given that the layout must be clean and straightforward. But another thing you have to consider are the visual distractions.
One of the worst types are the ads. We understand that in most cases, these advertisements keep your app running and alive. However, if it dominates half of the screen, it could be a huge turn off for the users. Place these ads strategically where it is still visible yet not distractive.
2. Informative Feedback
To make a good app design UI, the user must get ‘feedback’ whenever they take any action. For example, if they click a ‘submit’ button, your app should provide a clear reaction. That same button could change color or shape when the submission is successful.
The same goes when you are creating passwords. Let’s try using the app sample below from Penji. Your designer can add a green checkmark if the password passes the security standards. Otherwise, have a different prompt if the password needs to be improved.
3. Visual Cues
Ideally, you have to design your app wherein you provide visual cues to the users. These are subtle reminders as to which specific process or parts they are in the app. This design feature is commonly found in eCommerce for placing orders and checking out. Here’s a sample of a good checkout flow.
4. Avoid Jargons
Sometimes, we want our apps to be unique to show the brand’s creativity. But more often than not, this approach fails. Instead of taking the risk, use terms that most people are familiar with. With thousands of apps available today, you can already identify the common terms used for menus and features. It wouldn’t hurt if you use those as well.
We absolutely love this app design from our Penji designer for a women’s center. There is no need to use medical or technical terms to relay a message. Be straight to the point and make sure that your user will get the right information the fastest possible time.
5. Increase Accessibility
One of the most important things that you have to consider for an app design UI is its accessibility. You have to remember that we all have different abilities. Some have low vision, hearing conditions, even motor impairments. And so when you create a design, make sure it can cater most, if not all possible users.
For example, while color is a standard design element and commonly has a strong impact, you should avoid using it to convey information. If you must know, there are many people who suffer from color blindness. So when designing an app that requires user information, do not use colors to indicate if they have properly filled out the fields. What’s more effective is to use icons or texts like checkmarks.
6. Clear Error Message
As an app user, you would sometimes commit an action that will result in an error. That’s normal. But a great app design UI tells exactly what the error is all about.
Imagine using an eCommerce app where you are about to pay for the item. Unknowingly, you typed an incorrect credit card number. Just seeing a plain ‘error’ prompt or an ‘exclamation’ point obviously tells you that something is wrong. But since it doesn’t show you what exactly it is, you might think that the app is down. This will lead you to delay your purchase or to look for a different provider. Either way, that’s already a lost opportunity.
7. Reversible Actions
When working on an app design UI, you have to make sure that the user can easily backtrack their previous actions. It gives them the liberty to explore your features, without having to worry if they will click a button by mistake. If your design looks complicated and users couldn’t easily go back, the overall experience becomes stressful.
Think about the undo options in image and text editors. Users enjoy these apps and they do so without having to think about their next step. Since they know it’s easy to redo and undo actions, they are more eager to explore and use the app.
8. Cognitive Load
And lastly, you have to consider cognitive load when creating an app. In psychology, this refers to the amount of used memory resources. The harder it is to understand something, the more cognitive load required. This can oftentimes be stressful, and you wouldn’t want your users to experience that in your app.
Your app design must be intuitive and highly predictable. In just one glimpse, the user should know what to do next without having to click ‘help’. A good idea is from this meditation app where the features are strategically laid out for its users.
Final Thoughts
An app design UI is not just about adding design elements altogether. When done right, it could do your business good. Otherwise, it can affect the entire operations. Thus, one has to be careful when building an app for an existing brand. It might lead to bad publicity, and as a marketer, it’s a horror story.
Spare yourself from the hassle of finding the best app designers. Here at Penji, we only work with the best teams that could help you execute marketable app designs. Our goal is to help small and medium businesses reach their maximum potential by providing them with outstanding app design UI. Over the years, we’ve managed to exceed client expectations.
Check out our services and sign up right now. Aside from the app design, we can also help you with other marketing visuals – all for a fixed fee every month.
