iOS App Development- Guidelines For Designing A Commendable UI

Designing for iOS powered devices is entirely different from designing for the web. Specially, if you’re intending to design the user interface of an app that can run on iOS, you need to take a sneak peek into the different standards that have been specified by Apple- the company behind iOS. With a keen eye for detail, you can easily come up with an app that can surpass yours as well as your customers’ expectations. In today’s post, I introduce you to some of the must-know iOS UI design guidelines that will enable you to design a perfect UI(User Interface) for your iOS app.

1. Use UI elements that are dedicated to touch gestures

In order to make your iOS app stand out from the crowd, it is crucial for you to load it with flawless touch controls. Irrespective of whether people tap the controls or use the keyboard, as an iOS app builder, you need to pay special attention to the concept of inputting information. You need to make it easy for the users to make certain choices regarding the elements that have been included within the iOS app. Allow iOS app consumers to use a picker or a table view for selecting an item from a detailed list of items. Eliminate the need for typing in words for selecting a specific item. Doing this will definitely make interaction with your app even more organic and simple.

2. Be wary about using the correct sized icons

Since icon is one of the most crucial aspects of iOS app design, it is recommended to be very cautious while including one in your iOS application. You can always choose to start penning down the idea of an icon on paper. Once you have something you feel you can work on, move forward and design the icons that will define silhouette and allow you to tell the story of what the app portrays. Avoid including text within the icon because it rarely works for the app. Talking about the specifications, a standard iPhone icon is about 57 x 57px with a border radius of about 10px. Also, the iPad icons have a measurement of 72 x 72px with the border radius of 12px. Last but definitely not the least, the icons that need to go into iOS apps that are targeted for the App Store come with a size of 175 x 175px.

3. Color is yet another vital concern that can’t be missed out

Color is undoubtedly a communication enhancer for a mobile application. It allows you to impart vitality and render visual continuity into an app. With a perfect blend of pure and clean colors, you can definitely make your app look great, both with light and dark backgrounds. If you’re inclined on adding multiple custom colors into your app then make sure they work well when collaborated. Also, make it a point to consider the color contrast that’s used in different contexts. One of the most effective means of finding whether the colors have sufficient contrast or not is viewing the app on a device that’s positioned in varied lighting conditions such as outdoors on a sunny day or indoors without the lights being switched on.

Yet another approach of determining the contrast match for your app is calculating the ratio between the luminance values of the background and foreground colors that have been used inside the iOS application. You can use an online contrast ratio calculator for performing this calculation. Ensure to keep the color contrast ratio for your app as 4.5:1 or something higher.

4. Formatting the content is essential

As an approach to design an intuitive user interface for your iOS app, make sure to format your app content so that it fits the screen of every iOS powered device. Ensure that the app users are able to see the primary content without the need for zooming or scrolling in a horizontal direction. Talking about the typography, the default font that’s being used on all the major iOS versions is Helvetica Neue. Although, with the inception of iOS7, Apple has been using a slightly tweaked version of Helvetica Neue, using the original one for your iOS app design process is something that will yield the expected results.

Conclusion

Here’s hoping the user interface designing guidelines mentioned above would definitely aid you in coming up with a brilliant iOS app that’s both user-friendly as well as fully-functional.

Author Signature: Lucie Kruger is an eminent Senior Content Editor and IT consultant for Mobiers Ltd, which is the leading iPhone Mobile Application Development Company. She provides concrete information on latest technologies like iOS, android mobile apps development.