Read Time : 7 mins

A good design is universally acknowledged as essential as it sets you apart from the competition. Although, the design considerations vary depending on the platform it caters to like an application intended for desktop use differs from the user experience (UX) design principles for mobile apps.

Mobile App users seek more than a replica of the website tailored for devices. They want a distinctive and engaging experience that validates their decision to download the app and allocate storage space on their device. Users quickly remove the apps that fail to meet their expectations—statistics have proved that 75% of app downloads are opened once.

But which key UX design principles are crucial for your mobile app’s success?

What is UX Design?

User Experience (UX) Design involves crafting products that offer significant user interactions. This process covers everything from acquiring and incorporating the project to usability, branding, and functionality.

Although UX design is often linked to software, mobile apps, and web design, these principles apply to any product, system, or service. Whether developing a product, website, or employee training program, ensuring simplicity and improved user experience are crucial in all scenarios.

7 Basic User Experience (UX) Design Principles For Mobile App

Building a mobile application requires having a brilliant idea and executing it with error-free coding. You must aim to engage people and reduce their churn rate by prioritizing the UX design first. These 7 useful user experience (UX) design principles for mobile apps ensure a smooth and high-quality user experience: 

1. Prioritize the User 
2. Establish a Visual Hierarchy 
3. Make Navigation Intuitive 
4. Accessibility Testing 
5. Usability Testing 
6. Typography
7. One Screen = One Action 

1. Prioritize the User 

First, you need to know your audience to set up an app that suits them. The best way to proceed is to put your users first and build an app that truly solves their needs and adds value to their lives.

• Understand what they are trying to achieve, their goals, and their pains. 
• Perform specific target audience research, create user personas, and get user feedback for the needed information. 
• The design must effectively deal with the problems users face and help them connect with their goals, making the process more efficient.

2. Establish a Visual Hierarchy 

A properly designed general visual hierarchy will streamline your app by seamlessly guiding you through its interface. you can slant the users’ focus on essential features and decisions by balancing size, color, and positioning. Here. are a few tips to establish a clear visual hierarchy:

• Enhance the highlighted important buttons and calls to action by using contrasting colors.
• Size the fonts differently for a heading, subheading, and body text.
• Group together ideas related to each other to give the text a logical flow.
• Apply the whitespaces to draw a line of breath diversification and be reader-friendly.

3. Make Navigation Intuitive 

Ease of usage is the main force behind the popularity of the mobile app. The search option acts as a guiding force since it enables exploration of the app, allowing users to find what they need easily and quickly. Consider the following principles when designing navigation:

• Add the usual navigation patterns, like tabs bars, hamburger menus, or the bottom navigation bar.
• Don’t add an overload of navigation items. Just keep them concise and relevant to the present context.
• Offer simple and easy labels for users to get around.
• Consistency of navigation position and behavior is a rule everywhere in the application.

4. Accessibility Testing 

App accessibility is important during the UX design process for users with impairments or those struggling to view the screen’s content. However, validating these design choices through real-world testing is essential to guarantee they effectively cater to users’ needs.

• Adjusting settings can enhance usability for some users.
• Using screen readers, labels, and other aids is crucial to ensure that design decisions do not create barriers for anyone.
• Creating a contrast between backgrounds and on-screen elements can also contribute to improving accessibility in your designs. 

5. Usability Testing 

Usability testing refers to the process of testing an app with real users to detect the ease when people use it. It assists in finding usability problems, finding improvement areas, and confirming the design decisions. Thus, through establishing usability research, the team aims to identify issues to improve the design and confirm all design decisions made during the process. Here are some key aspects of usability testing:

• Invite participants who represent your key audience.
• Craft employable scenarios and quests for customers to achieve.
• Analyze the user’s behavior tendencies, facial expressions, and body language.
• Urge subjects to do a think-aloud and bring out their comments during the specific testing session.
• Review the results carefully and classify the difficulties according to their severity and consequences to prioritize.

6. Typography

Typography is as good as a mirror that reflects your mobile app’s readability and aesthetical appearance. When selecting typography, consider the following:

• Settle for legible and matching fonts that match your app’s brand and tone.
• Limit the font families so that you get consistency and the viewer doesn’t get confused.
• Ensure a safe level of contrast exists between text foreground and background colors.
• Change typography sizes and line heights for easy viewing across different screen sizes.
• Hierarchically use typography to steer your users through your content and make the crucial information prominent.

7. One Screen = One Action 

The smartphone screen is relatively small, so it’s best not to overcrowd it with various elements. This could overwhelm users by bombarding them with information, leading to confusion. It’s advisable to avoid presenting functions or actions on a screen. Instead, consider breaking them down into distinct steps if you outline a process. This principle of one screen, one action, guides users through the expected actions, enabling them to decide whether to move forward or return.

Conclusion

A good mobile app developer should possess comprehensive knowledge of UX design rules. Applying these 7 user experience (UX) design principles for mobile apps will deliver an outstanding user experience. It is essential to dedicate time, resources, and energy to create a user-effective application. Hence it is crucial to prioritize the user experience and these UX design principles enable businesses to achieve excellence with their mobile apps. Partner with Xorlabs to get your hands on the best mobile app that your business truly deserves.

Explore the true potential of your business with a custom mobile app!

Integrating these key UX design principles into your mobile app is now easier with the expert team at Xorlabs. Whether you need an iOS, Android, or Cross-Platform application, our experienced developers and designers build a tailored app that aligns with your business goals and vision. 

Get ready to take your business to unprecedented heights with an app that enhances user engagement and maximizes efficiency.