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5 best practices for mobile app UI design

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  • February 7, 2017
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5 best practices for mobile app UI design

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Category : Digital Commerce & Experience Blog

While designing mobile app UI, app designers are aware of the limitations of native app frameworks and they have to use the small screens effectively to make ecommerce applications efficient and performance oriented.

The other thing the app designers have to consider is the experience of end users who will  operate the mobile apps – some users may not be very experienced, and may require simple navigation.

But while the mobile app UI needs to be streamlined and easy to use for novice users, it should also not be boring for experienced and educated ones.

To achieve this, app developers can follow these 5 best UI practices for engaging ecommerce mobile app development projects.

Business Strategy Focus

No business or company can prosper without understanding of their target audience and analyzing the concurrent market situation. Likewise, no mobile app will get good results unless the developers understand users’ preferences and expectations from the product. It is, therefore, necessary to do research on the market, target users and how competitors are responding to their needs. This way, developers can have better knowledge of how to proceed.

Interactive Design

Designers should consider the four fundamental rules or pillars that make an interactive design:

  • Goal-driven design: The rule of thumb is to design UI for the right users. Do some user research (interviews or surveys) and create personas of the app users. This way, the app’s workflow can be tailored to users’ needs.
  • Usability: If the app is not user friendly users will not opt for it. If the framework and UX is not easy to use, customer retention will become very difficult
  • Ease of learning: Since every developer wants users to easily learn about the interface, it is necessary to keep the design simple yet attractive and interesting.
  • Response & Feedback Option: Feedback option is very important to get user feedbacksDevelopers must provide this option to users and must respond to users feedbacks

Map Out Content And Build User-Flow

Research and design work go hand in hand. For instance, developers can easily sketch user flows according to their research and understanding. And remember, it is important to start with creating a prototype so that the user flow between content and action can be better understood.

Using Known Mobile Patterns

Mobile application development involves different device-specific patterns or features like orientation, posture, thumb placement, etc. So developers should start with learning various interfaces and list down common mobile patterns. This way, they will be able to make a user interface that is easy to use.

For good UI development, two things must be considered irrespective of the type of mobile app:

  • Gesture: The fundamental thing for touch devices is gesture i.e. swipe, touch, pinch, zoom and double-tap that allow users to effortlessly go anywhere they want.
  • Animation: This feature holds users on a UI and influences them to remain associated for a longer time period. Developers should cleverly combine gesture and animation in order to add more depth to the users’ experience.

Create Backward-Compatible UI(s)

Apps should work on the older version of the platforms as well. The UI components and the APIs which are used in the newer versions of the platform should be backward-compatible. To do so, you should:

  • Abstract the New APIs
  • Proxy to the New APIs
  • Create an Implementation with Older APIs
  • Use the Version-Aware Component

If you’re a novice in app development, a much detailed tutorial of this is available here.

Hope you have found these best practices in mobile app UI design useful. Do you have a great app idea in your mind? Book a free session with our mobile app development consultants to evaluate your project idea and get free guidance on project implementation.

  • January 17, 2017
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10 Ultimate Checkpoints Before You Outsource A Mobile App Development Project

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Category : Digital Commerce & Experience Blog

Long before we realized, mobile apps had become an integral part of day-to-day interactions in this digital and connected world.

The mobile app has served as a pivotal tool/platform to create disruption in the B2C space in areas such as online shopping or m-commerce, payment wallets, messaging, social networking, IoT for Home Automation and Connected Car mobility applications.

The B2B space has also witnessed a similar disruption in areas of Industrial IoT and enterprise-wide digital transformation of processes to enhance productivity.

With a host of design and development software technologies, cloud server backend and system integrations working behind the scenes, Mobile App Development is a technology, skill and infrastructure intensive project.

A business that has identified mobile app(s) as an integral part of its business growth and/or digital transformation journey can approach this development project in following two ways:

  • Develop and nurture in-house talent of mobile app software developers, UI designers and software testers and build a powerful internal engineering team
  • Partner with a technology partner who has expertise and experience in delivering top-notch mobile apps

If your organization has chosen to continue to focus on the core business and work with a technology partner, here are some of the most important things that you, or every company, should work on before hiring a third party for ecommerce mobile app development, IoT  mobile app development or any other mobile app development projects:

  1. Explain Business Objectives: Since every business has a mission, the technology partner must understand their core values, business type and the reasons to launch a mobile application. They must analyze the industry along with the need and engagement of customers with similar products.

  2. Platform Selection: Usually, one of three platforms is used by mobile phone users: iOS, Windows or Android. The business has to decide on the availability of their mobile application on the basis of information reach, security constraints, utility patterns and cost.

  3. Native or HTML5 Approach: They are basically two techie jargons that offer different mobile app capabilities to the business. If the business wants to offer a high-quality product with excellent performance and efficiency, then Native approach would be the best choice. But, like every high-quality product, the company needs to dedicate a large budget for app development. On the contrary, HTML5 is a relatively cost effective option for businesses that want mobile web development as well.

  4. Target Devices: When a company selects a development approach, it is necessary to specify the target devices that should be compatible with the mobile application. Since the mobile app developers need to consider device specifications and other aspects, businesses need to identify their target users so that the application can be developed suitably.

  5. Integrated Service: The business should have a clear picture about the features and services of the mobile app. If they want the application to work as a promotion utility, integrating social media would be a good decision, or if the application is an e-commerce platform then payment gateway integration becomes necessary.

  6. Content In The App:App developers are responsible for coding the mobile app in such a way that more and more users can use it. Its design and content should be appealing. The business owners should spell out their expectations—the layout, typography, screens, icons, content and color they would like to add in their product.

  7. Data Security: Since every mobile application requires users to enter their personal information, the business has to pay special attention to data security so that the developer can integrate data protection features like third party cloud packages.

  8. Microsite or Landing Pages: When it comes to promotion of and branding the mobile application, nothing could be better than having a landing page or microsite that highlights all features, specifications and functionalities. It may add extra bucks to the development cost but the benefits will outweigh this.

  9. App Deployment Procedure: If the app is intended for external users, the company will need to spend money on its registration and submission in app stores. However, if they go for internal application deployment, Mobile Device Management (MDM) should be the part of their business activities.

  10. Support and Maintenance: Developing a mobile app is just one phase of having mobile presence. The company has to make decisions about its maintenance and ongoing technical support.

Hope you’ve found this checklist useful! Do you have a great app idea in your mind? Book a free session with our ecommerce app development consultants to evaluate your project idea and provide free guidance on project implementation.

  • September 26, 2016
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5 Cool Augmented Reality Apps that Helped Businesses Boost Sales

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Category : Digital Commerce & Experience Blog

Augmented reality is isn’t just about Pokemon Go and gaming. Yes, the composite view created offers and immersive experience that transports the user into a near-alternate reality, but that feature doesn’t have to be restricted to fictional games.

What you do with augmented reality within your mobile app is up to you. It has popularly been used by home furniture stores such as IKEA to virtually place furniture in your premises and show you how it will look there.

Fashion and beauty brands have used it to demonstrate looks to the customers, without having to actually try on the make-up and apparel.

Hence, augmented reality has shown potential to directly boost sales, as in the above examples, or it can be used creatively to offer that something extra that sets you apart from competition.

Here are 5 examples of how augmented reality has been used to deliver delight to users in a way that will keep them coming back for more.

1) Wikitude World Browser

Wikitude World BrowserThis app is often referred to as a ‘third eye’. That’s simply because you point your camera in the vicinity and this app shows you the world around you in new light.

Looking for coffee shops, ATMs, cinemas or anything else?  Wikitude is like the Wikipedia of location targeting.

Wikitude sources its content from thousands of content providers and is a great example of how one app can use augmented reality to offer a rich location-based experience.

It’s a great way for local businesses to get on the grid.

2) Star Chart

Star ChartIf Wikitude lets you explore the world about you here on Earth, Star Chart takes it to the skies.

Working on a similar ‘point and shoot’ action, Star Chart is an educational app that shares information about stars, constellations and planets in any direction—even on the opposite end of the world.

The idea is evident, augmented reality apps can be used to disseminate information that in a wholesome way.

Imagine doing this within a massive mall, or a large department store, to make navigation easier for shoppers.

3) Augmented Car Finder

Augmented Car FinderHow many times have you gone to the mall or parked at a distance from your office only to be unsure of where you parked later?

Augmented Car Finder simplifies the experience for you—step out of your car, save the location on the app, simply follow the arrow back on your screen when it’s time to get back.

This app uses the GPS capability of your phone to guide you back, using augmented reality to show you the direction your car is in.

Similarly, what if you could look for the cheese rack in your supermarket? Or make your way to back to the crèche where you left your kids?

Augmented reality can exploit the many capabilities of smartphones to understand and fulfil user needs.

4) Layar

LayarImagine you’re leafing through a magazine and you see an article you’re interested in. If the article has been ‘Layarized,’ you can scan the article through the Layar app, and related digital content (voice files, videos, slideshows) become visible to you immediately on the page, through your phone.

Then you see a print ad that you’re interested in. Once again, you scan it and purchase links to the products become visible on the page, through the app.

You get the idea—Layar enhances the user experience by letting you add digital detail to anything—movie posters, flyers, newspapers, even coffee cup sleeves!

This is how augmented reality lets you introduce digital transformation to your existing marketing—for instance, mail order catalogs can be digitized to make the shopping experience more modern and user-friendly.

5) Crayola Color Alive

Crayola Color AliveCrayola, the coloring supplies brand, deploys augmented reality to take the user experience to a whole new level.

Color the figures in your coloring book, scan them through the Color Alive app and watch the colored characters come alive with animation and special effects.

Needless to say, a great exercise in adding excitement and building brand loyalty, Crayola shows how to creatively use augmented reality to complement one’s products.

These diverse ways of using augmented reality should help to get you thinking to see how you can use it for your brand and products. Augmented reality goes one step beyond the imagination to show you what can be, use its versatility to create a memorable experience for your users.

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