Inspire me with an app

Inspire Me With an App

A Story of Good vs Bad App Design

I see A LOT of app designs every day as part of my job at Appzio. Good ones, bad ones, crazy ones, total-copy-of-popular-app ones and even those website-in-an-app ones. So even though I am not a designer myself, I know a thing or two about app designs and I would love to share with you, to save some nerves for your app users.

As Appzio is a platform that helps developers to deliver high quality apps with far less coding, you can imagine that this promise attracts a big variety of businesses. So this article is a light, condensed summary of experiences and conclusions of stories, as seen by our partners and our team while delivering hundreds of apps.

First thing first…

Аn app is not its design

The other day I had a call with a client that started with, “I want to build an app that has same features as” one of the biggest applications on the app stores. Amidst the talk he adds excitedly, “I have bought this template that shows the features.” As many others, he feels that when a similar design has worked for company XYZ — it will work for him, too and he will have multiple users from day one.

Normally what a good app developer does at this point is to point out that the design shows some of the features, yet not all. Also, what made the other app successful is a combination of ability to be appealing to users & bring convenience + successful user acquisition funnel + good user retention practices + constant iterations based on feedback (among others).

Sounds complex and it is. Yet, the thing that good apps have in common is that good apps bring value to the users. This is what should be the first goal for everyone that plans to release an app on iOS and Android and this was my first tip to the client above. And then we discussed further, as follows:

Focus on value

What would make you, as a phone owner, download your own app, spare the 20MB+ of space on your device and separate a slot for the app icon on your phone screen?

Often, this question gets people thinking of what is important in their app and then focus on making sure that users find it easily. Apps, are meant to be used primarily on small screens, with different sizes due to the large phone devices fragmentation. So if your app has hundreds of different screens and functionalities, it will be tough to build an interface that will immediately reveal them all to the users. You need to build a reasonable learning curve that comes naturally. That is why it is important to identify first what are the important flows inside your app that allow to extract value quick and then make them stand out.

Thanks to Pixabay.com

3-clicks away

A good practice is to keep whatever the user searches for in maximum three clicks from the first interaction. This is important not because it coincides with the popular 3-clicks rule that comes from web, but because on mobile users have much more limited attention span. They are used to things happening fast and smooth as a good native app is snappy and responsive.

When you think in this frame, you will be able to come up with optimized user flows and often will identify redundant functionalities which either need to be combined with other existing ones or need to go.

Be serious about your app

By now, hopefully, it is clear that before going to design stage it is important to understand how an app works. First step to this is to understand what is the value of the planned app. Then you carefully consider how to structure the interactions so that users extract value fast. I would normally do this in writing so I have a brief description of the app to be built. Next you need to prepare a description of the whole flow of the app. Take this step really seriously as it can make or break your app!

When advising our clients, we suggest that they use a professional tool, where professional does not mean expensive. Popular ones that does not break the bank are Balsamiq and Wireframe.cc and I personally advise to look into Sktech (MAC users only), as it allows you to get more visual (thus weed out more possible problems in one go). If you want to learn how the different tools compare and what are their pros and cons, you may check this excellent blog post by Yuval Keshtcher on the topic.

Once you pick your weapon-of-choice, structure first how do you imagine your in-application flow. Starting from the home screen, you should define what are the possible interaction tracks for a user, which functionalities he sees and reaches first, which ones he has the options to reach. To get best results, make sure you also draw the logical links between the screens so that they look like a clear track. By doing this you will find a lot of flows in what you previously thought is “clear”. What is best — you will fix them. You do not have to have tens of years of apps experience (although it certainly helps :)) to create a product that calls for a sincere “wow”. Make sure it brings value and is easy to use and results will follow.

Thanks to Pixabay.com

Further, consider how to combine similar minor functionalities and fit them in the same screen. This saves users time and it allows you to avoid possible information/options clutter. A good example is every app’s settings screen. There you have a lot of fine-tuning components that would just bloat any other screen, yet at this specific place they feel at home. Users also expect that these extra features are consolidated at one place. Thus, they would be willing to find them on their own and spend time at these specific corners of your app. This just makes their life easier as in one go they can adjust multiple things. Same goes for profiling screens and functional-subset dashboards.

So be visual, imagine your app in details and draw/write/sketch it down. What you will have as a result is a description of your app and as-detailed-as-possible wireframes that describe vividly what your app needs.

With these documents in hand you can confidently move to the next cool part — designing!

Then be careful

A recent article stresses on how you should not take design lightly. Our experience shows this is important thus our clients are not limited in what designs they want us to use. We just encourage them to go via the steps I described above or let us help them. Some really nail it and have distinctive cool look of theirs apps. Others need further assistance so I will share some of the tips I give them.

Going cheap

Going cheap is always lucrative as there are so many places where you can see people sharing designs for pennies. Usually you get what you pay for, so with small exceptions when you save on designing your app you save on your total app quality and perception by the users. Still, a lot of the bad designs are born by the desire of people to “just” get a skin for their idea where in actuality the designer has to come up with all the missing links in the logic. Then as an art person he either goes crazy and creates something weird or randomly stitches a few screens together.

So to avoid problem and still save money — make sure you have a very good description of your idea and the wireframes mentioned earlier. Also, it often helps to prepare moodboard where you pin screenshots and ideas from apps that you like and feel they are relevant to what you plan to do (yes, Pinterest is a nice place for this). Including some brief notes would help further, too. Be creative!

Going with grandeur

While picking the lowest price for your design is dangerous, it is equally risky to pick a provider just because he or she claims is best around and thus charges the most. It is a common way of thinking for people — most expensive is best. It’s a trap.

Do not expect that an expensive pro would solve your problem with the app. A good designer can guide your app to success or to being totally inaccessible and difficult to grasp. So you want to challenge and steer your art assistant without building unnecessary limitations. To get the most, present your idea in details, ask what is lacking, ask for solutions of problems you cannot solve and definitely ask for samples that relate to what you do. After all, if you pay well, you should make sure you get best for your product.

Free alternatives

There are also a number of free alternatives around which can position you in between the two examples above. Some providers offer free and polished UI kits that you can use to start your app planning on your own. Sometimes they are good and will help you impress your first tens of thousands of users. For one, Appzio’s UI eye pleasing kit is such and it is available absolutely for free for iOS and Android and is used by professionals. Also there is a number of good separate lists for iOS and Android that open up a lot of opportunities.

What your client wants

Once you are ready with your initial designs, wireframes and application description — you are ready to start developing your app.

Always remember that the key in each and every step is to find value for your clients and focus on it with zeal and persistence. Inspire your clients and excite them on every step. Aim at building a good app and not just another appstore filler and you will do that!

I hope you liked this article and it will help you. And always — if you want some side-opinion on your app design do not be shy to ask. Start by letting me know in the comments below or over email. I will be happy to assist you and share my unbiased opinion.