As of April 2024, there are 8.93 million mobile apps worldwide, with 3.553 million on the Google Play Store and 1.642 million on the Apple App Store.
To make your app stand out in this sea of apps is not an easy job for sure.
However, with a clear strategy, best design practices, and using a tech stack that is agile and scalable, you can very well beat the competition.
Whether your plan is to build a native application, a hybrid-app, a cross-platform app, a PWA, or something else in this space, you can better strategize the entire conceptualization and development phases of your app by following a few design principles and practices.
Engaging a reliable mobile app development partner, such as Kellton, can further accelerate the process and allow you to off shoulder a lot of responsibilities such as selecting the tech stack, building the app, testing it for production, deploying the app in the most secure environment, or managing it post deployment.
We believe embedding these few best mobile app design practices can help anyone in the app design space. So we thought to share them here in this post. Feeling excited? Let’s start then.
1. Adequate research is of pivotal importance
- Research the competition. Make new discoveries, gain new insights just by looking around.
- Tap into your inner reservoir of genius. Write or design a paper. Writing things down makes things clearer and better. And this is true for app design as well.
- Develop a wireframe.
- Discuss with the team and other key stakeholders to reduce the frictions later on.
2. Build for the customer
- The app is for the customers. To improve the odds of app success, run the design idea or wireframes through the real users or customer groups.
- Gather their feedback. See how the app succeeds or fails in resolving their pain points.
- Analyze the data and build on it.
3. Minimize cognitive load
- In ‘Don’t Make Me Think,’ Steve Krug advocates for an idea that a good website or software program should allow users to easily and directly accomplish their intended tasks.
- To achieve this goal, there must not be anything on the app or website that makes the user think.
- Make the app design to be truly intuitive.
- Streamline the user journey to help the user reach their destinations with minimal effort and clicks
4. Avoid notification overkill
- Notifications can either add value or badly annoy the customer. So think through your notifications.
- Every message or notification that pops inside the app or in the email box of the customer must reflect the brand look and feel
- Embed personalization (use data) into notifications to lead to a delightful experience
- Do not send notifications at odd hours.
- Better still, ask for permissions before deciding to interrupt them
5. Clean up the mess
- Cut out all the clutter (Unnecessary icons, CTAs, copy, etc.)
- Prioritize simplicity in design and functionality
- Help the user reach the destination with as less steps as possible
6. Make the UI invisible
- The goal is to facilitate as natural and friction-less interaction between the customer and the app
- Create invisible UI (User Interface) by cutting out the clutter on the app surface
- Remove extraneous components
- Add breathing space (Use lots of white space and negative space to draw attention to the key parts of the app)
- Prioritize content hierarchy (Use appropriate colors, size or position to highlight the most important parts of the app)
7. Utilize the thumb zone
- Thumb zone is the area on a phone screen that users can access with their thumbs
- Most users use one hand to operate their phones
- A vast majority of them use only thumbs to interact with the screen
- While designing the app, it is a good idea to think about this thumb zone, how users are likely to use just one hand to interact with the app and how these insights can be used while deciding the location of the icons on the app
8. Personalize the experience
- Personalization is an effective way to make the customer instantly feel at home
- In fact, Personalization is appreciated by 69 percent of customers as long as it is based on data they have explicitly shared with a business (Segment)
- A few simple practices, such as including the user name in the app or messaging, can help personalize the interaction and make the customer come back to the app more often
- Gather data as first-time customers turn into repeat customers and use that data to further personalize the app environment for the user
9. Make it responsive
- HubSpot defines responsive design as, “"A website designed with mobile-friendly features, content, and media. Responsive websites change and adapt to whatever device a visitor may be using, including smartphones, tablets, and desktops."
- The way water takes the form of a container (whether it’s a cup, a jug, or a water bottle), the app design should adapt and fit every mobile screen it gets on we call it ‘responsive design’
10. Testing and iteration
- This is a crucial practice to not abandon the app once it is launched out in the market
- Keep testing it with customer groups
- Gather their feedback
- Based on the insights, keep refining or building on the app design
11. Incorporate security and trustworthiness from early on
- Let the user interact with your app a couple of times. Only then ask for rating or some other type of feedback. Do not haste and interrupt the user at the very first interaction.
- Allow your customers to control how their data or personal information is shared within and outside of the app.
- Display trusted badges of security, especially when your customers are sharing their personal or financial data with you.
Here are a few more ideas to develop app designs that delight customers:
- Streamline the onboarding process: Keep it short and simple, allowing the customer to get acquainted with the app features and its value proposition.
- Load skeletons: A lot of companies, such as Facebook and LinkedIn, use this effect in their apps and websites to keep their customers calm and relaxed while the app or website is being loaded on their devices. Use skeleton screens or content placeholders to improve customer experience and user retention, and accelerate customer lifetime value.
- Loading time optimization: Optimize images, videos, and other media assets to reduce loading times. Lazy loading techniques can be employed to load content progressively as needed.
- Consistent design language: Establish a cohesive design language with consistent typography, color schemes, and visual elements throughout the app. This creates a sense of familiarity and helps users navigate the interface more efficiently.
- Stay updated: Keep abreast of the latest design trends, technological advancements, and user preferences to ensure your app remains relevant and competitive in the ever-evolving mobile landscape. Continuously evolve your design to meet the changing needs and expectations of your users.
Parting thoughts
Mobile app design impacts the user and all those critical metrics (such as customer engagement and customer lifetime value) the most. It is the foundation on which you build the first impression in the mind of your customer and thus pave the way for more future visits and a long-lasting relationship.
It is, therefore, imperative for the design creatives to step back, relook at their processes, their tool kits, and what tiny steps they can take to improve the outcomes.
A checklist of mobile app best practices can help them stay on course and deliver their best work.
- Look around and look within
- Connect with customers
- Minimize cognitive load
- Avoid notification overkill
- Clean up the mess
- Make the UI invisible
- Build for one-hand operations
These are the best practices that are sure to help you excel in mobile app design. For more design insights, keep coming back.
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