Here at USER SG, we believe in improving the user journey through ethical user experience research, excellent UX design, and empathic digital services. But what should we be aware of when designing user-friendly apps? These are some things to consider in the process of developing apps for web or mobile.
Clarity
Whether we are aware of it or not, the overall design of your app creates an impact on your client. Good UX UI design keeps the look of the app clean and functional. Clarity involves a keen awareness of what design elements need to be kept and what can be discarded. We must constantly ask, “Does the design suit the customer’s needs?”
An app without good clarity may be difficult to navigate and may even frustrate customers rather than help them. If you’ve had to deal with a cluttered interface, you’d be familiar with how annoying and overwhelming it can look! Having too much going on in an app may discourage users from using it. Designers go by the KISS principle: Keep It Simple, Stupid. The lesser the distractions, the better the product. It’s important to make sure that your app has all the necessary features presented clearly and cleanly.
Stability
Have you ever been frustrated by apps constantly shutting down or taking forever to respond? You’d probably delete it right away, or regret ever downloading it! According to Rahul Varshneya of Inc.com, the top reason for why users delete an app is faulty technical issues. If your mobile application has not been thoroughly tested before it’s made available on the market, customers may find themselves unsatisfied with your product.
Understanding the user journey is vital to your app’s success. Careful observation of how the user interacts with the product in the moment can predict how they may continue using it in the future. Doing this helps us answer the question, “Can the app sustain the customer’s attention?” And our company gives great importance to the user journey for this reason. Through usability testing, we can ensure that our clients’ apps maintain good consistency and stability across various platforms.
Usability
No one also likes an app that is way too complicated to navigate. For an app to benefit user experience, it’s important to test its usability. Jakob Nielson, an author of the book User Experience Re-mastered, says that a computer interface that is high in usability is easy to learn, efficient, memorable, has few errors, and is subjectively pleasing.
According to Mike Kuniavsky, in usability testing, we must be able to define our target audience, their goals. Our company performs usability testing in order to answer the question, “Does the app help the customer achieve their goals?” It’s important to have people try out the apps in their developing stages to troubleshoot problems and meet our clients’ needs.
Empathy
It is often said that empathy is defined as “putting yourself in someone else’s shoes.” And with that, you may ask, “What does empathy have to do with design?” You will be surprised that especially with apps, empathy and effective design go hand-in-hand. Empathy in the context of design answers the question: “Does the app satisfy my client’s needs and personal interests?” or “Can the target customer see themselves using this app?” All products that elicit attachment or emotion for the customer use empathy to sustain interest.
Human beings naturally will gravitate towards things that reflect their interests, and will ultimately use it as a way of self-expression. Take for example, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and TikTok. These apps have become increasingly popular because of their many functions for the user to express him or herself. Everything involved with creating the app from its design, its functionality, and its content needs to be considered with great detail to attract the target audience. This is why User Experience Research is important to every app design.
User Experience Research, as defined by Mike Kuniavsky, is “the process of understanding the impact of design on an audience.” Our company generates studies through User Experience Research to understand the target audience and their needs. Empathy is further reflected in UX Design for eliciting emotions with the right colors, symbols, and language.
