With the growing usage of Mobile phones for practically everything, it is almost like an obligation for most businesses to own a mobile app for that competitive advantage. You need an app that can solve a problem for your users without bombarding them with information they might not require. User experience is all about empathy, they say. You have to be bowled over by your own design to be sure that your users will like staying on your app as well.

The first step towards designing a great UX for your mobile app is to ANALYSE. Analyse what problems your App is here to solve. Analyse what kind of audience you are trying to reach. Analyse how and why your app is going to be different from the rest in the market. Single out the most important functionality your app provides and build your UX design around it.

1.Speed it up

Always remember, your users have gone all the way to the PlayStore or AppStore and have downloaded your App primarily because they think it will load faster than a desktop or mobile website. Use caching wherever possible so that data can be retrieved faster locally. Avoid using high resolution and heavy images/videos. If for some reason, the data isn’t loading fast (bad connectivity, slow data retrieval, etc.), tell the user that there is a problem and that you’re fixing it. It will not only keep the user engaged but also buy you some time.

2.Simple Sign-up Screens

A poorly designed Sign-up screen can chase away your prospective customers with no looking back. People hate filling forms. So make your registration quick, ask minimal details and let them go. Allow them to register with their email addresses. Let them login through external accounts like Facebook, Twitter etc. so that it is easier for you to extract their information and faster for them too. If you’re app does not store sensitive information, you can also keep your users logged in always.

3.Clutter-free Content

Your mobile screen can never be as big as your desktop screen. You cannot display the same content that’s on your website. Don’t show information that is not needed at a given point of time. Instead, make use of gesture based designing like a swipe or a scroll to save space. Provide your users with a smooth, clean and minimal user experience. This will keep them coming for more.

4.Designing for Touch screens

Designing for touch screen is more complex as it takes more space for a touch than a click. Larger surface area means your forms or action buttons will need to be bigger with more white spaces around it. Also keep in mind that some mobile phone also use a stylus or directional key pads.

5.Seldom usage of Push Notifications

You have to agree that push-notifications can be quite annoying sometimes. So annoying that users tend to uninstall the app when bombarded with them. Use them wisely and send them out only when it brings real value to the user.

6.Exploit Mobile Characteristics

When designing a mobile app you have the added advantage of using the phone’s features and integrate it creatively into your app. For example, you can make use of the phones Gyrometers, GPS, Camera, Call button etc. and use it wherever it can make work easier for your user.

7.Easy Navigation

Let your users navigate through your app with ease by using tab-bars and navigation bars. With just one tap, your users will be able to navigate from one screen to another.

8.Maintain Uniformity

It is very easy to spot a glitch in a mobile app as the screen space is small and there’s less clutter. So it is extremely important to maintain the same sizes and resolutions of UX elements throughout the app, like text fields, date-pickers, CTA’s etc.

9.Personalization

Tailoring content to suit your user and displaying only that information will not only make your user feel special but also help in displaying only information that your user needs, thereby eliminating more clutter.

10.Keep Updated

Your mobile app’s UI can vastly affect the way you design the UX for your app. Android and iOS keep updating the UI designs very often and so it is very important to stay updated and design your UX based on these new UI features.