9 Tips to Be an Effective UX Mobile App Designer

Designing a mobile app isn’t that easy; it requires a lot of creativity, planning, and intensive effort. The game gets even harder when you’re designing for an international audience.

If you are planning on designing your dream app and making it stand out from the crowd, then here are some tips on what to do and what not to do when designing your next killer app.

1. Design with the User in Mind

Your app needs to meet the needs of your target market. The user should always be at first as with any type of design, right from the pre-planning stage. That’s why, before planning the design, it is important to know who your target audience will be, what they want or need, and what their aims and purposes are. Never forget to put yourself in the middle of the user at all stages of the design process.

2. Mix UI and UX

The user interface is about the look and feel of a mobile app, while the UX, or User experience, is about the way a user interacts with the app. While UI is focused on recent design trends, UX is about market research and emotions.

The biggest mistake that a brand can make in Mobile App Development in 2018 is to combine both and base the app on the UI while ignoring the UX.

3. Don’t just Port from the Desktop

"Quick, we need a mobile for our website, and we need it now. Just take our existing design and make it work on a mobile."

You can’t just shoehorn an existing desktop design onto a mobile device and expect it to work. What looks nice on the desktop won’t look good on smartphones. The differences between the two are too great. Different input methods (mouse vs. touch) Different screen sizes (big vs. small) Different durations of use (prolonged vs. bursts) There are too many to mention.

Rather than simply porting your desktop design over to mobile, it’s much better to take a step back and consider how you would design for mobile from the start. You don’t need to start again from scratch, but you certainly need to consider the key differences between desktop and mobile.

What key user goals will you need to focus on? What features can you take out? How will a mobile user's journey be different from a desktop user's journey? How does the UI need to change to support touch and a much smaller screen?

Think about how you’re going to design for these.

4. Don’t Build an App on a Trend

You’re nothing but a second-rate, try-hard copycat!

It’s quite easy to be tempted into creating an app that follows the latest "tending concept" and earns money from it. But that’s a failed tactic, and your investment would definitely be wasted if you did so.

A good example of an app that has gained attention from copycats is Flappy Bird. Flappy Bird was a big hit back in 2014 and has gained a billion dollars. It was a great concept, and it got all the users engaged.

Remember, never build an app on a trend if you want long-term results from your venture or app development. A copy will always be a copy.

5. Make Use of Skeleton Loaders

In the internet world, speed is everything, be it on a website or mobile app.

A blank screen, shown when content is loading, can make it seem like your app is frozen, resulting in confusion and frustration. You should at least try to make the wait more pleasant. Consider displaying a loading indicator. Facebook uses a skeleton screen (a.k.a. temporary information containers) to create a feeling of fast loading. A skeleton screen is a blank version of a page into which information is gradually loaded. You should always strive to give the impression that your app is fast and responsive.

6. Avoid Requesting Permissions Right from the Start

It is a common mistake with many applications that were just downloaded to seek user permissions at the beginning itself (e.g., "Allow app X to use your location?"). Such questions can discourage and confuse users, which often leads to the denial of such permission requests. Why? At this point, the user has no idea why they need those permissions.

It’s better to request permissions in context and communicate the value the access will provide. Users are more likely to grant permission if asked during a relevant task.

Request permissions at launch only when they're absolutely needed for the core app experience.

7. One Action, One Screen

The smartphone screen is small by most standards, and even a few additional items can overwhelm the user with too much information. Therefore, you should avoid placing all possible actions and functions on one screen and split them into several steps instead.

Twitter followed the One Action, One Screen policy in their account settings.

The principle is simple: one action, one screen.

8. Don't Take Users to a Browser

Another common mistake in mobile app development is when you take your users to a browser just to complete a task. This can easily frustrate users. This also increases abandonment and reduces conversion because users might not use your app again.

If it’s really inevitable because your app lacks a specific feature, then try using an in-app browser instead of invoking the built-in browser. Giant social media mobile apps like Facebook and Twitter use an in-app browser.

9. Test Your Design

Test early. Test often.

It is difficult to come up with a perfect experience on your first attempt. All too often, a mobile design looks great when viewed on a large desktop monitor but doesn’t work nearly as well when taken for a test drive on an actual mobile.

The key to any successful product is to continuously test and optimize. The earlier you discover your problems, the easier and cheaper it is to fix them.

Test different features, layouts, and variations of your designs to see what works best.

Build your products with a user-centered approach by testing with real users. With each round of testing, you uncover new ways to improve your design to meet your users’ needs.

Conclusion

It’s our job as UX designers to think about what an app will do and how it will do it, and to make sure it meets the needs of those who’ll be using it. If done right, it can make your app a big hit, and when done wrong, it can lead to its uninstallation.