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By 2025, the number of smartphone users will grow to about 7.4 billion, so having a good mobile app design is definitely not redundant to compete for user retention
But first thing’s first—it’s worth saying that the most frequent reasons why users delete an app are either an unimpressive first impression before navigating or an inconsistent app design. To prevent this from happening, it’s in your best interest to provide a better user experience for the target audience. Sounds simple, but what exactly should you implement?
As a company that not only delivers mobile app development, but also design services such as user interface (UI) and user experience (UX), we’re familiar with the best app design practices and tips and can assure you that app design plays an equal role in its functionality
In this article, we’re going to dive more deeply into what good design practices are.
App design is a pull of activities that involve both UI and UX, where mobile app designers are in charge of making the app look attractive while developers make it operate properly.
Note that unlike web design, which refers only to the limitations imposed by web browsers, mobile design also requires mandatory consideration of the features of mobile platforms, such as the screen size of the user’s device, data entry methods, battery level, internet connection speed, etc. This adds work to designers, but ultimately, it can be fully rewarded by achieving the business goals set by the owner of the mobile application.
People depend on mobile devices for a multitude of activities—daily life, business tasks, etc. Users are picky—a large number of users abandon an app after the first use. Since users quickly abandon mobile apps they don’t like, it’s important to spend the time and effort to create a perfect app design.
Before we start looking at the specific steps of the app design process and tips related to it, let’s check the differences between its two fundamental concepts: UX design and UI design.
Generally speaking, unlike UI, the term UX was introduced relatively recently in 1993 by the famous designer Donald Norman, who stood at the origins of Apple design and became one of the founders of the Nielsen Norman Group, a world-renowned user interface and user experience consulting firm. According to his definition, this is everything aimed at increasing user satisfaction when interacting with digital solutions. The basis of user experience is an end-to-end analysis of the intentions of end users when dealing with a product—that is, their feelings, goals, tasks, pain points, assumptions, etc. Since all this is more comprehensive work than when creating the visual part (UI design is responsible for this, and it often directly depends on the concepts chosen to implement the user experience), this stage of the app design process usually precedes UI design.
At the same time, it’s important to note that creating UX is not only about ensuring the functionality of a software solution. It’s also about achieving the business goals set by its owner. To solve these two problems simultaneously without compromising either of them, the UX design process is often divided into two stages.
The first stage here is the synthesis of data obtained from the analysis of the target audience. In particular, you may need to preliminarily define the behavioral patterns of the audience, identify problems that the audience has dealt with before, when interacting with similar products, search for pain points, and also filter out the unique selling proposition (USP) of the product.
The second stage is considered to be the practical implementation of previously obtained insights. In this case, it’s useful to create low-fidelity wireframes and refine them to prototypes with user flows and form user personas and, of course, apply an iterative approach with testing and subsequent optimization based on feedback from focus groups (that is, real representatives of the target audience) and stakeholders.
If we talk about UI design, the original concept of which was implemented in Xerox Alto back in 1973, work on it begins when the final structure of the application and the approved prototype have already been selected. This process involves the development of visuals that are in tune with the preferences of the target audience of the product. This includes the creation of project details—such as buttons, drop-down lists, fonts, menus, andicons,, choosing their optimal location and color palette, as well as ensuring their consistency, brand identity, adaptability to different formats of user devices.
Based on all of the above, the difference between UI and UX design in the app design process becomes obvious: While the task of UX is to align the needs of end users with the business goals of the product owner, the global task of UI is to implement functionality that meets these needs and goals in technical and visual solutions.
Keeping all we mentioned above in mind, the best mobile application design process includes the following steps (please note that to save your time and money, an experienced team can move from research straight to design creation without compromising the quality of the latter).
This stage is aimed at analyzing existing trends and competitors (including identifying their strengths and weaknesses) and, of course, a thorough understanding of the target audience. In particular, such methods as interviews, surveys, and observations are usually used to study the audience. The purpose of this research is to determine general demographic data, user behavior, goals, desires, and pain points from the very beginning of the app design process. After this information is received, it has to be compared with the requirements voiced by the product owner.
At this stage of the app design process, the team has to offer its concept that meets all the insights received at the previous stage. Brainstorming (with the participation of cross-functional teams) usually comes to the rescue here. Subsequently, the ideas selected through brainstorming are filtered using methods such as mind mapping and storyboarding—this way, they gain practical implementation and can be more accurately assessed by a number of criteria determining whether the created solution meets generally accepted design standards or not.
Now, the team has to formulate a specific pain point that the mobile application being created should capture. In fact, this implies the synthesis of all previously obtained insights and their alignment with the product concept.
At this stage of the app design process, the practical implementation of wireframes and prototypes is carried out in accordance with the USP, concept, and product requirements specified by its owner. Their creation has an iterative nature, and at each new iteration, the team adds new details. When fixing discrepancies, they’re first identified by team members, then by stakeholders and/or representatives of the focus group to which this product was presented for testing (in the next section, we’ll cover this aspect in more detail). Upon completion of this stage, the team obtains a full-fledged design with all its inherent interactivity for each user flow.
The testing stage is designed to evaluate both technical and visual components of the solution’s design, which affect the opinion of its users. This includes such critical parameters as performance, ease of use, visual appeal, etc. In practice, this is implemented through alpha testing, which is performed by the project team and is aimed at detecting errors and ensuring the correct operation of the application, as well as through subsequent beta testing, which implies taking into account the opinions of a group of ordinary users and providing more detailed disclosure of usability aspects, compatibility with various devices and operating systems, etc.
If the user feedback collected during beta testing revealed negative aspects of the created solution to the development team, they must evaluate it according to predefined success criteria. At the same time, any discrepancies must be subsequently eliminated—only in this case, the created solution will meet the business goals set by its owner.
Analyzing feedback is also important in the release of the finished solution—otherwise, it will not be able to remain competitive in the long run. The most obvious source of feedback is user reviews in app stores, but, in addition to this, you can also allow your users to leave feedback directly in the application itself. By responding to this feedback in a timely manner, you can maintain and gradually boost interest in your software solution.
As we can see from this sequence of steps, designers are present in all parts of the project—both UX and UI design—throughout the life of the app. The presence of the developers in the mobile app design process will help to match the desires with the functionality and the technical component—and it will help to create a quality product in the end.
When it comes to the “respect the platform” stage in the app design and development process, the good news is that regardless of platform—iOS or Android—you can usually use the same tools for both. Here’s the main list:
Let’s check these tools in more detail.
Figma is the winner for cross-platform development. It’s a cloud-based online collaborative graphic editor used by the vast majority of professionals in the app design process. With its help, you can create prototypes of a future mobile application, share them, and discuss edits with colleagues and stakeholders in real time.
Figma has a lot of advanced tools for creating vector graphics (you can import ready-made vector objects directly from Adobe Illustrator or Sketch) and ensuring the interactivity of interfaces. Moreover, with the help of this tool, designers can create buttons, icons, feedback forms, and custom effects, like adding clickability to buttons, making lists expandable, creating animations for blocks and pop-ups, etc. Here, you can also see how the finished solution will look on devices with different screen formats.
If you work as a designer and often interact with developers, you’ll benefit from Dev Mode, which combines a design library, program code, and project management tools. For collaborative work in general, you can also check the FigJam feature. This is an advanced collaborative whiteboard where you can build user flows, create journey maps, conduct online brainstorms, document user interview analysis, and much more.
Miro is another popular online collaboration tool (for both designers and development teams in general), whose functionality is very similar to Figma’s.
Miro presents an endless whiteboard where users can build mind maps by placing text, images, stickers, diagrams, and even videos. This approach, which implies visualization, simplifies working on projects in real time. In addition, this solution offers many ready-made templates for various tasks, from creating roadmaps and kanban boards to competitor and SWOT analysis.
For even more convenience (for data sharing in particular), you can integrate Miro with popular project management and communication tools such as Jira, Trello, Slack, and Google Drive.
Overall, Miro is loved for its simplicity and extensive collaboration capabilities, which makes it an ideal choice for cross-functional and distributed teams. No matter how complex your idea is, here, you’ll be able to visualize it and make it understandable for your colleagues and stakeholders.
Sketch is a lightweight application for MacOS, which is characterized by an extremely low entry threshold. Here, you won’t see any windows asking what size the sheet should be or what elements to openMoreover, you won’t have to check the definition of the DPI acronym and other attributes. At the same time, such limited functionality plays into the hands of not only beginners: Everything you’ll be able to find in this tool can be effectively used in the mobile app design process as well.
One of the main attributes of the Sketch mobile app development tool is artboards—that is, screenshots of your mobile application. These are designed to store the history of your actions, as well as provide the ability to work on several parts of the project in sync. Please note that these screenshots can be duplicated, swapped, or exported.
Another useful feature is Smart Guides, which will make your work on layers smoother and will not allow errors caused by manual calibration of the position of the user interface elements.
A feature called subpixel antialiasing, which allows you to ensure that fonts match their original design, is also worthy of your attention.
Other equally useful features include the typography section, with a wide variety of modern fonts, a library of vector icons, and the ability to see a detailed preview on an iPhone via a Wi-Fi connection to the testing device.
Balsamiq is another popular solution among designers used for creating wireframes and sketches of user interfaces. Due to the advanced capabilities for collaboration within the app design process, it simplifies the procedure of testing concepts before work on the final version of the design begins.
Currently, there are three versions of Balsamiq: cloud-based, desktop, and Google Drive. Thus, you can easily choose one that best suits your individual needs.
The entry threshold for this tool is low, which is facilitated by a simple, clear, and convenient user interface. It’s also worth noting that the key task of Balsamiq is to visualize the functionality and structure of the future solution, and not its individual graphic details, which means that the optimal option for its use will be the early stages of the mobile app design process. At the same time, you’ll find many tools here for creating and customizing basic UI elements, including buttons, text, forms, and much more.
Another notable feature of Balsamiq is the ability to create interactive prototypes with connections between app screens.
Overall, if you are looking for a user-friendly solution for creating lo-fi prototypes, you should pay attention to this option.
Professional designers use tools such as Sketch and Axure. Balsamiq, in turn, is a simple mobile app development tool for beginners. The following list is extra tools beyond those mentioned above:
The “respect the platform” stage is more important than it might seem. When a user installs an app, they expect it to be intuitive based on prior experience. So, if an app goes against most of the OS-specific development process rules, users are likely to delete it.
The good news is that you don’t have to guess how to please the user or what is acceptable, and what is not. Each platform has its own way of navigating, content layout, buttons, etc.
Android and iOS provide comprehensive guidelines for app interfaces: iOS Human Interface Guideline and Android (Material) Design Guidelines. Try to stay as native as possible. Understand the instructions for each OS, and only then begin building your mobile app design.
In terms of the critical insights these guidelines provide, the most striking differences in the app design process for iOS and Android are found in the following areas:
Today the platforms have become closer and almost indistinguishable. Below, you can see an example of a NIX case—a meeting room booking app, where both platforms allow you to make an equal interface.
On the other hand, analyzing this case, you might think that implementing the same visuals and operating principles for all elements of the user interface is not that difficult. In fact, this is not entirely true. Native user interface development tools, such as Android Studio (for Android) and Xcode (for iOS), have different functionality and imply the use of different scenarios for creating the same interface components. In this regard, teams that work simultaneously on two versions of a mobile application need to have extensive experience working in both development environments.
If we talk about cross-platform implementation of such projects, the vast majority of solutions (such as Flutter, React Native, etc.) provide universal tools that automatically convert the created components into program code that is native to a specific mobile platform. Due to this, the implementation of design with cross-platform frameworks is both faster and cheaper.
Our team has been developing designs for software solutions of various formats (including mobile) for over twenty years, and each project gives us not only new, satisfied product owners and their audiences, but also allows us to move forward in our expertise. In particular, as a result of this, we’ve developed a number of universal practices that, time after time, help us achieve a better balance between visual quality and functionality. So, let’s dive into the experts’ insights that will help you understand the mobile app design process best practices better.
The very first thing a user will encounter is onboarding. If they find a problem doing something in the first place, they won’t open your app the next time.
The main purpose of onboarding is to show users the real value of your app by demonstrating to them how they can perform various actions more smoothly and efficiently.
Ensuring a smooth user experience is the easiest principle to attract and retain users. Statistics say user retention rate drops to 28% after the first 30 days of app download. Great user onboarding not only reduces abandonment rates but can also help increase long-term success metrics such as user retention and lifetime value.
It’s always worth remembering that you should reduce the user’s efforts so that the end result is what the user wants. This means organizing the information in such a way that requires minimal actions, hiding secondary actions, and not overloading the user with too much information.
Also, it’s important that users expect to continue their journey from where they stopped.
Questy App — simple step-by-step quick registration
You can include top-notch functions and content that users love, but it will all be for nothing if they can’t find it. To solve this problem, it’s worth asking whether your app users will be able to access the app features without any request or explanation.
Strongly needed to maintain consistency, this is one of the basic principles in design, and ignoring it is ultimately not profitable.
But what does “consistency” mean in the context of mobile app design? It’s important to stay within the same terminology here, so let’s look at it in detail:
Prototype your mobile app! If the prototyping is done perfectly, it guarantees 50% success for your product. Bonus tip
Prototype your mobile app! If the prototyping is done perfectly, it guarantees 50% success for your product.
The worst thing about designing a mobile app is the clutter. Removing all things that are not necessary for the app design eventually allows your users to understand everything effectively. Note that this aspect concerns not only iOS solutions, which must adhere to conciseness and minimalism according to the principles of their official guidelines. In the same way, excessive details will not be beneficial for Android solutions—users may be misled by the large number of possible interaction scenarios with them.
Therefore, to solve this problem, you need to apply functional minimalism, which is composed of the following points:
Source: Ants Globe
Most users would like to learn the app and get used to it, so don’t display the signup page before the user has had time to do so.
Even though customer information is essential to your business, it’s always worth keeping in mind that a signup page that pops up too soon is the most common reason users leave the app.
As a rule, it’s worth asking the user to register only if it’s necessary – for example, the main functionality of your app is available only after registration is complete. But even here, it’s best to delay registration as long as possible – gently remind the user to register only after they’ve had a chance to work with the app for a while.
Entering information on a small screen is many times more weighty, as there is more chance of making a mistake. The main thing the user does is fill out the form, so integrate smart features to autofill the form. For example, entering an address is a tedious task on any registration form. Here, you can integrate tools such as the Place Autocomplete Address Form, which allows users to fill in the address with a minimum amount of input.
Clear and readable text is one of the most important best practices in mobile app interface design. What is the main purpose of mobile app design if users can’t read what you provide in your app?
The best way to avoid unreadability is to include text that is at least 12 points in size because text smaller than that is usually difficult to interpret. Think twice before integrating any fonts into your mobile app. The most feasible and safest choice is to include the classic fonts available for platforms. These include San Francisco for iOS and Roboto for Android.
All elements of your app’s design should have a clear purpose and be consistent, including the color aspects. Colors should not be chaotic, too bright, or difficult to read.
The user will be confused by anything you decide not to build on associations—and your conversion rates will suffer because of it. The best advice would be to use common color associations for your buttons. For example, the “exit” button can be gray, and the “account deleting” option can be red.
Be aware that 4.5% of the global population—that’s 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women—experience color blindness.
Just look at how often end users have to deal with app speed—is that a clear indication that you need to make your mobile solution fast and responsive? Actually, that’s why speed can be perceived as the most important aspect in both the design and development phases. Therefore, make sure that your mobile app is fast.
If the design of your app idea is too complex, it will affect how long it takes for the app to load. Simplifying the design will help eliminate this problem. But that’s not always possible.
It would be nice if you could make sure that the loading process is less irritating by showing some text content to the users as soon as it opens. This is referred to as placeholder text.
Also, the file size of the images should be small because it takes up less space in the application. The best option is to reuse most of the resources so that the code doesn’t get more complicated.
Here, you ensure that there is a lot of content on the screen so that users stay active and other things related to loading content in the background.
According to research by Google/SOASTA, as the page load time goes from:
It’s also worth remembering to implement well-established gestures that people are used to on their smartphones and other devices. For example, pinching to zoom, swiping, or sharing buttons, which are very popular among users, should be implemented in the app as much as possible.
When a designer decides to implement a new gesture, he needs to explain everything to the user. How should this be done? The new gesture can be proposed while loading the app or when the user reaches the screen for the first time.
When designing a mobile user interface, touch targets are something essential to keep in mind. Tap targets should be large enough for the user to easily touch them. Keep the following in mind:
These and other practices can help you develop a better mobile experience, but they are no substitute for the need for user research and testing. You’ll still need to test your solution with real users to see what parts need improvement.
Design is a never-ending process of continuous improvement — we should have said that right away, but we saved the best part for the end.
Do you want your app to be boring or outdated? The answer is probably no. Developers and design teams should continuously figure out how to make updates hand in hand.
Always keep users in mind that they may not be receptive to strong changes. For example, a big company like Snapchat wasn’t accepted by users after their huge redesign.
Don’t panic! We’re sure that all in all people will come around to the change. But if your app isn’t as popular, people may find a replacement if suddenly your suddenly makes their experience less enjoyable. To resolve problems with updates it’s worth conducting special testing before updating and getting user feedback after.
Questy App — light and dark theme
Now, let’s turn to the key trends that promise to revolutionize the app design process as such.
For example, one of the most promising is considered to be the creation of designs using AI. Indeed, AI is already actively applied to many other aspects of software development—in testing automation and identifying potential vulnerabilities, in coding (today, you can generate code even in the free version of ChatGPT), and at the initial stages of project implementation, such as marketing research, to analyze large data samples. As for design, although AI can hardly be considered a universal solution here, it still allows you to speed up the process of implementing designs, applying highly intelligent capabilities to convert screenshots into images, build user flows, and so on. Thus, AI in design can reduce the amount of routine work for designers, leaving them time to solve less trivial tasks.
Another outstanding trend is the ethics of application design. This means that the focus of designers will increasingly shift to ensuring compliance with GDPR/HIPAA policies (they are responsible for protecting confidential user data) and WCAG 2.0 software accessibility guidelines (which define what a solution should be like so that people with disabilities can seamlessly use it). Adhering to these standards and principles in the long term can radically change traditional design approaches and develop a number of new best practices for the app design process.
And, of course, we should not discount the growing trend towards sustainability, which lies not only in the designing capabilities allowing people to use less energy and other resources (for example, by implementing a dark mode—today, this is one of the simplest approaches to making an application less resource-intensive) but also in consuming fewer resources within the mobile app design process itself.
In this paragraph, we’re talking about the most global trends, which is why we prudently did not mention such things as the more active use of virtual and augmented reality, the introduction of voice navigation solutions, an emphasis on minimalism, and so on.
Conducting the app design process for a great on-demand application is not easy. But that doesn’t mean that making it good is impossible. If you’re designing an application of any complexity, it’s important to keep the best mobile app design process practices in mind, as well as to be able to ask the experts all the worrying questions. For example, you can turn to NIX experts to delegate this important stage of your mobile application implementation to them. We’ll provide a seamless user experience, even for solutions with sophisticated business logic and non-trivial user scenarios, without sacrificing the quality of the visuals. As a result, you’ll get a solution that will be used with pleasure by thousands, if not millions of users of its target audience around the world, and which even the strongest competitors will want to imitate.
In addition, we’d like to add that there is no one universal solution or answer to the question, “What is one good app design practice?”, but there is a set of factors and practices. So, stick to the basics and add creativity into the app design process, but don’t let it compromise the mobile app and break the generally accepted rules.
Contact NIX to discuss your mobile app design needs and more. Find more NIX design projects on Behance.
01/
The key difference between the concepts of UX and UI design is that the first is aimed at providing comfortable interaction of end users with the application through its functionality while the second is focused on creating specific visuals. Due to the fact that the first implies more extensive work with the product concept itself, designers usually start developing UX first and then proceed with UI.
02/
Formally, the ideal process of creating a mobile app design can be divided into seven fundamental stages: user and market research, ideation, formation of USP, design, testing, problem assessment, and feedback collection. However, to achieve efficiency (both in financial and time resources), some of these steps can be eliminated. In particular, it’s often enough to move straight from research to design.
03/
The top three tools for designers include Figma, Miro, and, sometimes, Sketch (we use it according to the client’s request). At the same time, there are other less common but no less useful software solutions such as Axure, Miro, Zeplin, and Draw.io.
04/
If we were able to identify only three of the most important trends, they would include the use of AI in conjunction with traditional design tools, a shift to providing accessibility and protection of user data, as well as sustainability—both within the framework of the mobile app design process and during the end users interact with the app.
05/
The cost of mobile app design can vary significantly depending on several factors. The complexity of the app, the number of features, the platform (iOS, Android, or both), and the experience level of the design team all play a role in determining the final price. Additionally, the geographic location of the design firm can also impact costs due to differences in labor rates. It’s important to note that while the initial design cost may seem high, investing in a well-designed app can yield significant long-term benefits, such as increased user engagement, improved brand reputation, and higher revenue.
06/
The unofficial term for the next update of the design of a mobile application is considered to be three years, but it’s also important to take into account such parameters as competition, the emergence of new design trends, changes in the company’s branding, and significant changes in the functionality of the mobile application. In this regard, the conditional term of three years can vary greatly. As for the necessity of this update, it’s fundamental since it will determine how long your mobile application will be competitive and relevant among its target audience.
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