Modern Principles of Mobile App Design: Introduction
Apps are now a mainstream, trusted way to deliver content and services.
But in a crowded market, how does a mobile app become useful, relevant, and valued so it delights and retains users? Google's UX Research Lead Jenny Gove details 25 principles for building a great mobile app.
Mobile Apps: Users can't get enough of them. Want proof? An estimated 200 billion apps are expected to be downloaded in 2017.(That's billion with a "b.") Marketers are experimenting with their own app experiences and investing to ensure that they're discovered; they spent around $3 billion on app install advertising in 2015, an increase of 80% from 2014.
Given this massive shift in consumer behavior, it is no surprise that marketers are keen to continuously improve the app experiences that they create. Apps provide opportunities to build around user needs and grow long-term and profitable relationships with loyal customers. It's become tougher for developers and brand marketers to get people to find and download their apps, and once they do, stay engaged. As many as 25% of app users open an app once and never return.
More than ever, people are engaging with their phones in crucial moments and for shorter periods of time. Their experiences need to be efficient and delightful. Plus, a well-designed app that provides utility has the power to cut through the clutter. It can deliver on people's many I-want-to-know, I-want-to-go, I-want-to-buy, and I-want-to-do moments.
As many as 25% of app users open an app once and never return.
We know that following a simple, powerful set of principles helps. That was what we learned from our prior work on mobile site design. It led brands to make changes and remove barriers so they could give their customers truly helpful experiences. As with mobile websites, mobile apps need to help users complete their tasks and make it easy to convert.
With that in mind, we sought to uncover the key ingredients of a great mobile app. We partnered with AnswerLab to conduct a user study of more than 100 people on 100 different apps across a variety of verticals including e-commerce, insurance, travel, food ordering, ticket sales and services, and financial management. (Gaming apps, social networking apps and music services were not included in the study.)
Users should be guided to the content they're looking for, quickly. These key principles will help you design effective and delightful app navigation.
1. Show the value of your app upfront.
Engage users by addressing their tasks clearly, placing calls to action up front and center. Highlight your app’s key and new features in context at the appropriate place in the app so they're a source of delight and interest rather than frustration and confusion.
2. Organize and label menu categories to be user-friendly.
Users struggle to interpret and distinguish menu categories that do not align with their mental models for categories. Menu categories should be clear with no overlap. This is particularly important when a user turns to a menu as a last resort after exhausting options through search.
3. Allow users to "go back" easily in one step.
Users may only want to go back one step as they use the app. Apps should leverage back functionality so that users don't feel forced to have to start over from the home screen, which, in some cases, results in losing any unsaved data. Allowing users to go back one step eliminates this frustration and the need for any inadequate workarounds. Granular navigational controls are valuable in helping users convert.
4. Make it easy to manually change location.
Auto-detection of location can save users time. However, there are times when users need to find a store that's not located nearby. Make manual entry of location easy and straightforward.
5. Create frictionless transitions between mobile apps and the mobile web.
Users can get frustrated when an app takes them to the mobile web for more content or to complete a task. For instance, it can be confusing when the look and feel or design layout is different across the two platforms. It’s also problematic when transition times are slow and the user is forced to wait for the web page to load. If it is necessary to transition the user to the mobile web, ensure a consistent design to support the transition. It’s also a good idea to make sure the transition is speedy and the benefit—in contrast to any remaining friction—is worthwhile.
