Top 10 UI/UX Mistakes to Avoid While Designing a Mobile App

 

“Creativity allows you to make mistakes, design is knowing which one to keep.” – Scott Adams

We normally define a successful product, as a combo of:
1.Awesome Design
2.Killer Content
3.Powerful Features

What is an “awesome design?”

Fashion events are always ogle-pleasing. Designer dresses with that classy make-up and hair styles catch hold the viewers attention throughout. But have you ever calculated the effort they need to get themselves on that jaw-dropping level?

Similarly, an “awesome design” comprises loads of factor behind the scenes. They are listed as below:

1.Research on various design trends
2.Various design tools that are trending in the market.
3.Avant-garde thoughts.
4.Loads of efforts by the Team.
5. Coopetition qualities in Team.

Few stats about designs that you shouldn’t ignore:

1.If your website design and content fails to woo your visitors, then 38% of your visitors would prefer to leave.

2.In this fast pacing digital world, people want results in milliseconds. Therefore 47% of visitors expect the loading time of a website as minimum as possible.

3.The most important aspect is the user-experience and thus 95% visitors agree on this.

4.Since, design is something that compliments your website, degrading the quality of design boosts fall in trust rates. 94% of people have proved this.

With UX, people into mobile application development misunderstands about its place into visual design and interface. It has its roots into testing and research.

The mistakes that are commonly made are:

1.Entire responsibility on one shoulder.
2.Considered only as a first initial step.
3.Not established a connection with your users.
4.Not wearing a user side cap.
5.Messed Up Layout.
6.Navigation difficult to grasp.
7.All-inclusive Imagery.
8.Unnecessary CTAs.
9.Slow page loading speed.
10.Loaded with text.

Let us dive in details about these mistakes.

[Image Source: https://www.nanseirakuen.com/en/blog/miyakojima/blog_best-okinawa-diving-spots_17re.html]

1. Entire responsibility on one shoulder:

Assumption:

Mobile App design is the whole and sole responsibility of the designer i.e. an individual person.

Desirable:

User experience should be the responsibility of the entire team.

Result:

Common product goal is collectively achieved.
Expertise and experience from everyone results a quality output.

2. Considered only as a first initial step:

Assumption:

Before the development team takes up the charge of developing the app, the designer designs the UX/UI as per the requirements of the clients/users they had analyzed.

Desirable:

The core users should be a part of this process. This iterative loop shouldn’t terminate unless the entire process of developing an app is completed.

Result:

Involving users till end will bring more flexibility to your app.
Your designs may vary in every step of development. Therefore the changes should be as per the users as they will be the ultimate source of our business profits.
Your app will be more client/user centric with this process.

3. Not establishing a connection with your users:

Assumption:

Few attractive designs and handful of good playful tactics will connect the users.

Desirable:

Companies can’t connect to users if they aren’t providing services as per their principles. Products which define a real life situation relates very well with the users. The important factor is how a meaning is added from user point of view to your product.

Result:

An app with meaning enable users to get back to your app.

4.  Not wearing a user side cap:

Current Scenario:

The design is considered as per the preferences by the designer. They prefer to separate their preferences from user’s preferences.

Desirable:

Design should be as per the user requirements and needs. Therefore it should be practiced throughout the entire development process so that it is not tailored fit as per the designers needs and requirements.

Result:

Better user engagement since it is as per the core set of users.

5. Messed up Layout:

Assumption:

A creative mess for designers can be their innovation in design but can’t be an art for the customer.

Desirable:

As per the suggestion of top Mobile App Development Company, if your app is flooded with loads of elements unnecessarily, user’s attention gets diverted from your app. This is not desirable though.

Over loading your app with so many matters, your visitor might get confused and miss out any important detail that might have produced a lead for you. They might miss your CTA thus resulting in slipping off the hands of the sales people.

Since, the most important goal is conversion, your app should be fulfilling this aim.

Result:

They will stay for longer.
They will spend time to search for the thing they are searching.

Few Tips that can help:

Elements that are expected- main headline, a feature image, one CTA, key benefits and social proof.
A step by step guide should be given one on each page so that they could easily figure out regarding the next step.
White-spaces should be planned, proper and synchronized with the content, images etc.
Be very particular about the color as the selection should not exceed more than three. Limit the choice of fonts within the range of 2.
Keep in mind, the prime reason is usability.

6. Navigation difficult to grasp:

Assumption:

Lot of navigation options to flatter the products and services of your company.

Desirable:

If hierarchy is lacking, users might get confused which is totally not favorable for your business.
Every discussion should have a particular defined order.
The significance of a good heading is that the mission and vision should be clear in that heading.
Your customers should get an idea about what you have in house to offer them with that heading.
The significance of having a sub-heading is that it should clearly state what benefit a customer can get through that service or product that you are offering them.
Navigation should be clear.
Meet visitors expectation.
Ideal to place the navigation buttons where they expect and keep within the limit of 4-5.

Result:

Avoids confusion.
Longer spending time on your app.
Increase user engagement.

7. All-inclusive Imagery:

Assumption:

Opting for stock photography helps in branding.

Desirable:

Avoid stock photography as they are fake.
Visuals are key factors in branding.
Visuals create a connect with the visitors and grab their attention. This creates a rapport with the customers.
The images should be created and should be authentic and inspiring that motivates your visitors.
The only mood that stock photos create is that of disbelief.

Result:

Customers trust you and come for a solution to your site by seeing the authencity through the images you have provided.
Win’s buyer’s confidence.

Key tip to remember:

Your feature image should be so appealing that people are force to stay back on your site.
The image should be directing towards your CTA button.
You can put related images to your products that would directly reflect to the ideal buyer’s persona thus making the visitor realize that their presence has hit in the correct place.

8. Unnecessary CTAs:

Assumption:

Include CTAs wherever necessary. This will help in conversion.

Desirable:

One Single Button will decide the fate of your business specially conversions.
The following factors are considered while designing a particular CTA button:
Color: It should be highlighted in contrast with the background thus grabbing user’s attention.
Design: Simplicity rules in all aspects. Therefore its better to have a catchy one yet simple design.
Size: Loud CTA is a way to pitch the needs highly but yet keeping it small enough to make the invite affecting.
Shape: Rectangle shapes are ideal in case of CTAs but whitespaces should be properly managed.
Location: Where there is proposal there is a presence of CTA next to it.
Language: Main thing to catch hold the attention is interaction. Therefore, better use active verbs, proper words and first person.
Length: 60 characters is well managed content. Try to maintain this limit.

Result:

Provides a greater vision for audience preference. You can explore a lot.
Dive into the purchasing behavior and psychology for getting a blend of colors, text and fonts.
CTA will speak louder and will be appealing to get visitors attention.

9. Slow Page Loading Speed:

[Image Source: : https://smallbiztrends.com/2013/10/website-page-load-speed.html]

Fact:

As per the stats that are mentioned above, 47% of the people expect a shorter waiting time.
Moreover, it results in fewer page views and fall in customer satisfaction. This further results in decrease in conversions. Search engine rankings are also affected very badly.

Desirable:

1.Keep the loading speed less than 2 seconds.
2.Optimize the images.
3.Reduce redirects.
4.Avoid using plugins.
5.HTTP request should be minimized.

10. Loaded with Text:

Fact:

What you do when you visit a website? Do you read the entire content? You scroll down and overlook the content. The heaps of text becomes completely useless. So what reasons would you give?
– Have no time
– Have other loads
– To long to read
– Getting bored!

Users have the same mentality.

Desirable:

1. Don’t load your website with lot of text.
2.Our main is to grab their attention not to distract them.
3.Bad idea to over boast your products and services. Therefore it is better to limit the keywords and limit the summary about your product benefits and services.
4.Speak less but upto point is the correct way that should be followed.
5.Your content should create an emotional impact on the readers.

But how do they help your brand?

They provide aid in achieving your goals.
Provides aid to identify your target audience.
Digital Marketing strategies are implemented intelligently.
With best UX designs, comes higher engagement rates.
Since there is need of ‘killer content’, UX designs help you to build the same.
Money and resources are used properly.
Helps you elevate profit margin.
Brand building is also aided.

Remember:

UI and UX are different.

With the elevating development in mobile app design, the technology is seeing a continuous new trends hitting the mobile market.

Therefore, every now and then, the user demand is changing and we need to cope up with these changes.

Every individual has a different way to adopt it and explain the same. Due to varying tools available in the market, confusion is stemming the skill-sets and thus the necessity of upgrade their technical skills come into picture for both the disciplines.

Detaching UI from UX is not possible. Working on one concept is not possible. If you speak about good UX design, they are ultra-fine and so natural that they become much obvious and effortless.

Have you heard the term effortless? Analysis looks effortless to the end user. But the actual effort that is completely invisible cant be told. It is similar to a duck. We can see them floating smoothly on the surface. But their peddling under water is completely invisible.

UX is considered as the foundation or the structure of the app.

UI normally comprises of eye catching interfaces. They are normally the base of user interaction. It can called as an external factor that is visible.

Working with these two technologies, it will help you to manage both parallely.

Cessation:

Staying creative and innovative in designs as a designer is not at all bad. But don’t expect it to be a hit for the consumers. Therefore it is necessary to take care of every design aspect that has to be implemented.

If you find any such aspect that should be avoided, you can freely post in the comment box below.