Tips on Creating Good Mobile App Design (and Pitfalls to Avoid)

With over 3.5 billion smartphone users worldwide, it’s no wonder the mobile app industry is thriving. We tend to use mobile apps on the go and enjoy their convenience until some inferior app design gets on our nerves. And what happens to poorly designed apps? They get abandoned - you probably know that from your experience. In fact, 75% of applications only used once after download and never again.

What makes a good app design? And what are the common mistakes that kill all the accessibility? Let’s find out together.

How to Design a Likable Mobile App

Top-quality mobile app design is all about personalized communication, convenience, and intuitive interaction. In other words, a design that doesn’t require users to think much and focuses on their emotions, goals, and needs. To achieve that, follow our tips:

Analyze

Conduct user and market researches before crafting mockups and planning your app’s features. User research helps understand your audience, their pains, and expectations for a digital product. The market research also means analyzing the competitors in your field and finding their weaknesses you can improve in your app. Commonly underestimated, the discovery phase is crucial for developing solutions that bring real business value.

Navigate

Create intuitive app navigation that resembles your users’ digital experience. If you need to explain it, your navigation is too complex. Also, mind the consistency in information architecture so that navigation won’t draw users’ attention from the most important part - content.

Simplify

Keep your interface as simple as possible: one action per screen is the gold standard of app usability. Each element should serve a particular task and support the main design concept. Narrow down your app’s features to essential ones focused on the user’s goals.

Give feedback

Provide feedback on every human-app interaction. Highlight interactive elements after tapping or show loading indicators to make users understand what’s going on and feel in control of a situation.

e accessible

Design accessible touch targets so your users won’t get frustrated when failing to tap small controls. We recommend creating targets that resemble an average fingertip size of 7-10mm. And mind the spacing between targets.

Use permissions wisely

Avoid asking permission at the beginning of the user’s journey. Most users tend to decline permission requests not supported by any context. Ask permission only when necessary and always explain why it’s needed in this case.

Stick to the app

Don’t redirect users to a browser - they might never come back. Use an in-app browser instead.

Leave it to professionals

Creating products for mobile devices can be challenging, as you need to include the necessary functionality in a small screen while keeping it simple. Hopefully, our tips covered the basics of creating a consistent mobile app design your users will love. If not, consider hiring an outsourced team of experienced designers and mobile app developers.

Why is outsourcing mobile app development better than having an in-house team? With outsourcing, you have guaranteed results at a lower price. At Perfsol, we provide full-cycle software development according to best practices and high-quality standards. We take proven approaches and alter them to suit your needs. Our mobile app design process includes:

• UX research
• Competitive analysis
• Prototyping
• Perfecting in-app experience
• User testing

Do you have an idea for a mobile app? Contact us to discuss the opportunities for your project.