Lily Morelock

This is a bit of a tongue-in-cheek question Our generation (and the next) seems to rely heavily on apps for, well, just about everything. We need an app to switch on the lights and open the blinds, one to tell us if we slept well (including if we snored and spoke in our sleep), one to check if the sun is shining outside, one to help us choose an outfit, one to tell us what's available in our fridge for breakfast, one for counting the calories in said breakfast, one to time how long we brush our teeth for, one to track our morning jog, one to heat the car...And all of this before we leave the house in the mornings! Yes, yes, I know, the above description is a bit of an exaggeration, but are we using apps to "mother" us? And what would happen if we suddenly had to do without our handy little digital helpers? Would the modern human be able to cope?

A few things you must keep in mind while designing your app are: 1. A complete plan Before beginning the technical procedures of designing the app, make sure you have a clear and detailed plan of how different pages are linked together and how the user can navigate through them. 2. Colour Use a consistent color scheme across all pages; one that you would want to associate with your brand image. Using too many colors can make your app seem amateurish and crowded. This also applies to fonts. Remember, the motivation behind the UX/UI design shouldn t be to dazzle the user, but to facilitate easy navigation on the app. 3. Thumb-friendliness When designing the app, try to keep in mind that when using a phone, there are certain areas of the screen that are better access to the user s thumb. If you design your app to optimize thumb-friendliness, it can turn out to be hassle-free and easy to use. You also need to keep in mind that different users will be using the app through phones of different sizes. What seems like well-spaced-out buttons on a large screen, might seem extremely clustered on a smaller phone. 4. Display and Navigation In the aim to make it easy for users to navigate the app easily, many designers lose out on the effectiveness of the display. You need to find a balance between having all facilities and services displayed on the main page, and having a UI design that requires a lot of navigation. 5. 3-Tap Rule This is a rule many mobile apps follow. The main idea behind it is that any user should be able to purchase a product on service using only 3 taps inside the app. This forces you as a designer to keep the app design minimal and avoid unnecessary complications in the backend. 6. Different UX for different platforms If you are designing an app for a website you already have, or want to make an app and a website for your store, it is important to consider that different user interfaces are needed for different platforms. Navigation, Accessibility, and User Experience can vary largely across platforms. Cmt your tips