8 Principles of Mobile UX Design : The adoption of smartphones and their influence on people’s lives is growing exponentially to a point where it is practically essential to have one of these devices. They have become a reference to having all kinds of information required almost immediately through the well-known web browsers and mobile applications. These applications in people’s daily lives have led to the development of more and better applications of all kinds, from banking, ordering, medicine, and even home security.
Table of Contents
Eight Principles Of UX Design
To design an excellent mobile experience, you must trigger positive reactions and satisfy the basic principles of usability. Here are eight proven UX design principles for the best possible user experience.
1. Prioritize content
The human attention span is concise, about 8 seconds. If you do not manage to impact your possible user after that time, I doubt that you can do it with a little more time.
So that this does not happen, it is essential to show the content or crucial functionalities from the first moment. The secondary content must be available in drop-down menus, with simple terminology to avoid confusing users and, if possible, the use of icons preferably.
The devices are limited to reduced display spaces, so it is crucial to remember that less is more. For this reason, we must avoid elements that distract the user when browsing the application.
2. We Make Navigation Intuitive
Users should remain able to navigate through the app without any further explanation. Users lack the patience to follow complex processes. They don’t want to waste their time and effort.
You have to make it very easy for the user to complete any task within the application. You must avoid forcing the user to jump between pages or applications to complete a simple action. We must simplify the process at all times.
3. Touch Screen Button Sizes
Most of the time, people use their thumbs to interact with the app. It is important that the elements of the interface and especially the buttons have the appropriate size. Making the controls very small can often be frustrating as they are not accurate when clicking. On the other hand, being very large, they occupy a space that may be important to display different types of content.
We should worry about the size and the space that there may be between the clickable elements since, being very close together, buttons can remain pressed by mistake, which leads to unwanted actions.
4. Provide Control To The User
People like to feel like they are in control of everything they do, especially when it comes to a device that accompanies us at almost all times. Give it the option to be able to control notifications, change settings, cancel actions, etc. It gives you the feeling of having control over the system.
5. Readable Text Content
The key to good mobile typography is readability. Reading on a desktop is not the same as reading on a 5.5-inch device. There has to be a balance between the space available and the size of the text. It cannot remain tremendous as it causes uncomfortable line breaks and loses interest in reading. In the end, it tires the reader.
A clean design avoids distractions when reading and gives a better user experience. It is recommended to keep 30 to 40 characters per line for mobile devices. At the same time, we must not forget to maintain the spacing between elements and texts.
6. Let’s Make Interface Elements Visible
Users remain not deprived of access to applications by being on buses, cars (as passengers), trains, subways, etc. It is vital to have enough contrast between elements and the background so that your app’s content can remain consumed from any space or place, in daylight or the dark. It is not an easy task, but we can always test it with users and measure the impact.
7. Hand Position Controls
Studies show that 49% of people hold and interact with just one thumb. It is essential to consider this statistic when designing and defining the location of some of the most critical elements of the application. The conquest of a good user experience is to consider developing your application for both right-handed and left-handed users.
8. Minimize Data Entry
Typing on mobile devices can be annoying because the letters stay close together, and autocorrect doesn’t always help in the best way.
Users are always looking for the easiest ways to do things, and we must not change this. I was hoping you could help them by simplifying writing by shortening forms, removing unnecessary text entry fields, using the option to remember me for the future, or registering through third parties.
Customize the keyboard depending on what you want to request from the user. For example, if it is a phone number, make sure that the keyboard that appears is numeric. It speeds up the process and provides a good experience for the user using the application.
Conclusions
The User Experience Principles, or UX Principles, refer to the set of factors and elements related to the user’s interaction with a specific environment or device, which is the generation of a positive or negative perception of said product. 8 Principles of Mobile UX Design
