When you’re about to create an app, you can’t forget about its design. If you able to make a great app design, users will more likely want to download your app that is aesthetically pleasing and doesn’t require a lot of effort to interact with. Here are top ten mistakes in app design that you should avoid!
1. Bad first impression
To make a good app, you need a good first impression of its design. If users are turned off by initial impression when they open the app, they will more likely interact with it again. Therefore, make sure that the home screen loads quickly and provide an easy-to-understand action for users. Let them know what they are here to do and don’t forget to remind them the reason why they downloaded the app in the first place.
2. Improper onboarding
Onboarding is the step-by-step process of introducing users to your app. If your onboarding is improper, users won’t be interested in using your app. You can ensure the onboarding process is effective by considering which values you want to offer. Bear in mind that the onboarding process should demonstrate the app’s values in order to hook users, not just an explanation.
3. Lack of actionable cues
When you first start to use a new app, imagine that you know completely nothing about it. And there are those symbols of action without any visual cues. You need to be able to communicate with users. Complete your app design with plenty of visual cues that can help users understand perfectly what actions to take. Those actions include where to touch the screen and what will happen following the action.
4. Cluttered design
The worst mistake in app design is clutter. Remember that the app is designed to work on small screens. Users will be overwhelmed by using the app if you try to do many things at once. Therefore, take of each “screen” as a single container for a single element.
5. Too small or too close size of touch elements
To make a good app, you need to be aware of different kind of users. One of the things is users might have fat fingers. So, touch elements that are too small or too close to tapping are a problem to avoid. To help eliminate inadvertent clicks, ensure there is plenty of space around every single of elements.
6. Nonstandard icons or actions
To save time and help users to prevent frustration, you need to use standard icons or actions. You don’t need to recreate iconography for your project. It is because some icons are widely known by users and there is no point to make it complicated.
7. Disordered content layout
App content is what makes users fall into it. The structure of the content makes it a success or a failure. Make sure that you highlight the important content for users. They don’t have time to read through the whole page of your app, so better don’t put unnecessary content which clutters the page. And try to create enough white space between your text and images by using margins.
8. Forget the actual design elements
It is a big mistake if you forget the actual design elements of your app. Users will not be happy to use the app that doesn’t have consistency about design elements. You can consider the design elements of the platform and create the app accordingly.
9. Designing the app without any purpose
Apps are often designed and developed to follow trends, rather than to solve a problem. There is no problem with designing the app to follow trends, but remember to have a succinct intention. If you own a clear purpose of designing the app, decisions from branding to marketing will communicate and function as a coherent whole.
10. Underestimating crossing platform
As a response to changing markets or advancing competitors, apps are often developed quickly. This leads to web content being dragged into the mobile platform and make a poor transition between a desktop or mobile platform. The gymnastics of balancing multiple platforms may become too much for the app launch, but sometimes it is alright to take it slowly with one OS at a time and solve major issues before worrying about compatibility between platforms.
Now, it’s time for you to create a great app idea in action. Good luck!