The dramatic rise in mobile development industry has led developers to think that that creating them is an easy and an uncomplicated process. App development is undoubtedly a lucrative career since, once they become popular, can generate substantial income for their developers.
Most Developers aspire to create alluring and fast-selling mobile apps which can capture the market quickly and gravely ignore the important aspect of App Context and design. The common mistakes include failing to maintain consistency throughout the lifespan of an app, to attracting users in the first place. Before you start designing the app it is imperative to focus on these issues which later on can jeopardize your success.
Few Important questions every developer need to concentrate
• Who is the target audience for the app?
• How might the type of user affect the design of the app?
• Is your app meant to be accessed quickly and for a short period of time?
• Is this an app with lots of content that allows users to stay a while?
• How will the design convey this form of use?
Some pitfalls in the development process which need serious consideration that developers should try to avoid.
1. Overlooking the importance of a good flow for your app.
It is important to opt for an organised, definite and simplistic user flow so as to have a smooth and easy navigational structure.
2. Forcing users to register before they have tested your app
Your app must be first felt by the user who acknowledges its values and later decides to register automatically.
3. Building on multiple platforms
This will increase your engineering costs by developing an app on both platforms. If you need to make any changes to design or functionality, then you will have to simultaneously make changes at both the places. This increases development time and cost. It is best to concentrate on building for a single platform. Develop your app on Android and have a couple of iterations before applying it on iOS.
4. Improper On boarding
Not considering user skills, knowledge and behaviour is one of the major mistakes of any developer. Under-estimating User experience will create problems in the development cycle. It is important to constantly watch out for feedback.
5. Ignoring the UX Design Mapping
Making the hit area smaller than it should be will hamper user’s experience. Most users’ index fingers are 1.6 to 2cm wide. Take this into your design consideration and place adequately sized buttons and space, so that the users can tap when required. Otherwise, your users may tap into numerous buttons or open up unwanted features, which will irritate the customer.
6. Not using enough white space
Your design and design elements require some white space between your texts, image. Give the room it deserves, such that your hard work can be seen clearly and understood in your app interface.
7. Ignoring design consistency
Try not to use different words for the same functionality.
8. Loading too many features in your app
Cramming an app with too many features is a mistake commonly done by an over- zealous and raw developer. If required, go for another screen or button.
9. Using intro animations
It’s important not to overdo animations in your app them. If you intend to introduce such animations, make them fast, responsive and attractive.
10. Not keeping the user informed about what’s happening
Making it difficult to guess for the user to what is happening is not a good user experience.
A progress indicator or small animations are better examples in a mobile app world. This can indicate to the user that something is coming up and will keep them engaged.
11. Designing an App without keeping a Purpose in mind
It is very important to concentrate on your target audience.
12. Doing your own beta testing
Acceptance testing and usability testing is part of the product development cycle. Trying to do your own beta testing will not bring in the out of the box mind.
13. Designing without a Real Data
A costly, time-consuming update is usually required, a process requiring new rounds from both designers and developers.
14. Creating a vision which the Code cannot Complete
Profoundly animated and highly dynamic UIs, are visually appealing, but may increase time of development process. A compelling visual design which has no direct relation to the underlying code is not ultimately feasible.
15. Disregarding App Development Budget
Carefully calculate the average costs of constructing your concepts so that your design concepts are within economic budgets.
Mobile App development is not a linear process, It is an organic process wherein designers and developers need to work together to create a vision which is compelling and exciting. It is essential to strike a balance between an app that is instantly intuitive and at the same time introduces the users to the most stimulating and, engaging features without wasting much time.
An app should offer pleasing details, without losing sight of a bigger purpose. Knowing mistakes made by others can immensely help in your development cycle. Obtaining feedback about user experience through mobile app analytics can give your valuable insights into various pitfalls.
Do not compromise on planning time, or cut corners, and do not skip usability testing to attain instant fame.
About Author
Founder
David Watson is the founder of DesignDrizzle and is a professional website designer for over 10 years. He has competence in creating visually appealing and user-friendly websites for all the clients. He likes to explore new and creative ideas for designing, photography effects and other inspirational subjects
I agree. When I was new in this industry, I even used to make these mistakes but now I don’t.
I did some of theme mistakes in my last project but rectified immediately after testing the app.