The bottom line first – if your app is not easy to use, it will fail regardless of how good it is. Out of the few million apps out there, the ones that matter are few and far apart, and the rest are mere numbers for the app store.
The average smartphone is host to dozens of apps. That’s a lot of software. It is exhausting to understand the way each successful app works.
This is where User Experience (UX) comes in. If your app is easy to use, you have a winner.
Too many app designers try to pack in too much utility. Extra features can make your app’s navigation a nightmare for users.
Users do not wish to spend an hour fiddling with a sandwich menu icon. User Interface (UI) is the crucial component of a satisfactory UX. What matters is efficiency and simplicity.
What Is User Interface (UI)?
What was the first thing you noted when you began using Windows 10 after working with XP and 7?
The screen looked so different. The Start Menu no longer had icons but large tiles. While you may have been quick to navigate the learning curve, many weren’t. The changes upset quite a few users who had gotten used to the way XP and 7 worked for about two decades.
User Interface is the presentation of the software through a Graphical User Interface (GUI).
If I use layman’s language, UI is the “skin” that sits on top of the million lines of code.
It has two aspects – the aesthetic and the functional. How it looks is as important as how it operates.
The different visual elements – buttons, page, and screen have to mesh perfectly with each other to produce the desired effect.
What Is User Experience (UX)?
UX is the sum total of the experiential quality of an app.
Of course, app performance matters. However, the experience depends heavily on the ease of use, which is a direct function of your app’s user experience design.
WhatsApp and Instagram are excellent examples of great UX delivered through simple and well thought out UI.
Each of the principal controls is on the opening screen. More complex features are just one layer down.
Even the Settings are reasonably easy to understand (no mean feat considering that both these apps are a compelling medium of communication).
How To Develop Rich UI/UX?
User Experience is one of the most challenging aspects of app development. It is the coming together of computer science, visual design, usability, psychology, and information.
The end goal is to make the user feel in control and at ease.
Of course, there is no way to measure UX objectively. It cannot be understood through CPU usage or similar technical data.
The only way to succeed is by trying to define what would be a great user experience. Of course, that involves substantial research, prototype design, and feedback.
How hard is it? It took Facebook over two years to create a fresh new UI for its desktop app (finally released in Sep 2020). This included six months of beta testing and millions of pointers in feedback through pop-up questionnaires.
What Makes UI And UX Click For An App?
What are the essential factors to keep in mind when designing UI/UX?
Information Architecture
After all, every app, at its core, takes inputs and develops outcomes.
Calories were consumed during lunch. Air-ticket prices for a journey from Chicago to Delaware. Computer tables under $100.
These are all inputs.
Regardless of what the app does, it has to process the input and generate the output quickly and simply.
While this is easily said, the reality is different. The app design demands careful manipulation and stacking of information. Too much can cause fatigue, and too little is depriving.
User Interactions
The app has to be intuitive. Techies have the time to read copious literature about how to make something work. Ordinary mortals don’t.
This is the reason you cannot introduce radically different ways for your app to work unless you are a renowned developer with a proven track record and extraordinary UX design tools.
It is also why most apps of the same genre look strikingly similar – Telegram is akin to WhatsApp, Lyft with Uber, and so on.
In each category of apps – travel, health, eCommerce, online dating, navigation – successful apps set down a style and manner of interaction, and the rest have to follow it with only the customizations that matter.
Visual Design
How have popular apps and software (such as CCleaner) changed in the past decade? The blue relucent buttons and rounded edges have been replaced by square tiles and earthy pastel colors.
Even the font is important with clean new ones – like Roboto replacing the age-old Segoe.
Visual design is not only about color and font but branding as well. The app must have a unique style that sets it apart and looks chic and minimalist.
Do not underestimate the impact of design on users. As the developer, you know the hoops the app can jump through, but someone who installed it a minute ago has no clue.
Unless the UX experience begins with a pleasing welcome page, your app won’t last long enough to display its potential.
Why Obsess Over Your App’s UI/UX Design?
Let’s face it. For most app creators, a great UX/UI is not the first thing in their mind. They mostly focus on what is under the hood and create an interface that looks like other apps and launch it in the Play Store.
But have you thought that making it look like another app might be a disadvantage because you risk losing a unique identity for your product and service?
To some extent, a logo and app icon can make a difference in this aspect, but it makes sense to invest in your own design approach in the long run.
Better ROI
Unless you are providing a free app that is not a revenue stream (examples include VLC media player), you would like your app to be used longer and more extensively.
With greater adoption, the user would feel the need to unlock premium features behind a paywall or make in-app purchases.
The easiest way to have a customer use the app more and more is to design it well. Some apps such as Spotify have done a spectacular task of packing in many free features that ultimately lead to a funnel of premium features.
Audience Segmentation
Apps aimed at business clients such as Zoom have a strict, no-nonsense, and functional look. On the whole, it feels the same as a browser-based website user experience.
A social media and entertainment app such as Snapchat has a wholly different approach with comments section and channels.
How an app looks and feels helps it to create an audience that suits it. If you are designing for younger folks, there is a need for more vibrant colors and movement. An app for a more serious purpose has to not only be stable but look stable.
Simply put, baby boomers and older users need a straightforward UI while those who are young do not object to an unconventional look.
Branding
If your app is an extension of an existing business you could utilize it for branding.
After all, brands are all about making customers happy and content. An attractive UI/UX gets you the extra mileage you need to pull ahead of the competition.
To sum it all up…
A groovy app design that places equal importance on form and function can boost its popularity to stratospheric levels.
With that, you reach a wider audience, find more leads, and earn significantly higher revenue.
Investing in a user-friendly UI is crucial to developing a successful app.
Anand Mahajan
Shivraj Dhaygude