Things to Focus on When Designing for Mobile

People demand mobility in this age of smartphones. They want to access every possible information and prefer doing all sorts of things on their mobile devices rather than a desktop. This has pushed app designers to create mobile designs that offer an ultimate experience to smartphone users.

Do you know the number of smartphone users in the world surpassed 5 billion in 2022? The count would only increase in the coming years. With these many people having access to smartphones, it is now a must for designers to design keeping the mobile experience in mind.

While you do so, there are certain things that you need to focus on to provide an amazing mobile browsing experience. Let’s check out what they are.

1. Effortless Navigation

The navigation journey plays a crucial role when designing for mobile. The easier it is for the users to navigate around, the more likely they are to stay on the application. An effortless navigation means users should be able to move between screens seamlessly without getting lost anywhere. It shouldn’t distract them from their original purpose and in fact, make it easier for them to find what they are looking for.

2. Have a clean, uncluttered interface

Do not fill the user’s screen with content all over. Display only important information and try to keep the interface clean. Cluttered interfaces do not leave a good impression on the users and can make them bounce off. Keep minimum content on the screen that is sufficient for the users to understand the features of the application.

3. Try to use the bottom navigation bar

The screen size of smartphones has increased over the years which has made it quite difficult for users to access the content if the navigation bar is located on the top of the mobile screen. The segment becomes unreachable with a thumb which can be annoying for the users as they have to adjust their grip every now and then.

So, next time you design a mobile application, make sure to put the navigation bar at the bottom, just like how Amazon did with their mobile app. Moreover, keep the touch elements large enough to be easily tapped by the users.

4. Keep consistency in the design

Consistency is the fundamental principle of app design and helps eliminate confusion when users switch between web and mobile. Speaking of consistency, the focus has to be on three main aspects- visual consistency, functional consistency, and external consistency.

Visual consistency means that the buttons, fonts, and labels should be consistent throughout the application. Functional consistency means that the interactive elements of the application should work the same way in every part of the application. External consistency refers to consistency in design across similar products.

5. Make sure the back button is working properly

The back button is quite important when it comes to designing for mobile. It can create inconvenience to users if it does not function properly or erases all the previous inputs when clicked on it.

Make it easy for the users to return to the previous screen and make necessary corrections rather than asking them to enter all the inputs again. It gives a sense of relief to users if they know they can take another look at the information they provided by clicking on the back button and it won’t discard their process.

6. App accessibility

It is important to make your app accessible to a wider audience. That means you should consider people with disabilities too while designing for mobile. The app should cater to different users like ones with low vision, hearing impairment, etc. An inclusive design can allow people with disabilities to perceive, navigate, and interact with your application.

Summing Up

A majority of web traffic comes from mobile devices these days. It is therefore important to create an amazing and engaging mobile experience for smartphone users to make them return to the app again and again. And to accomplish this, one needs to focus on the above-mentioned mobile app design guidelines.