Bring best mobile user experiance

I don’t specially need to say what smart phones’ role in current world is.  Those days are gone when a mobile phone (featured) was merely meant for communication. Now communication is only a feature of mobile phones (smart phones). In addition to it, mobile phones are loaded with lot of attractive features, which significantly turn everybody on.

As smart phone users are increasingly growing, all the businesses bringing their presence to users by building app & mobile websites. I am not selling smartphones here, but this is imperative from where we realize why we need to look at best user experiences!!

It’s always proportion with end users/audience, more users the more apps, more apps more competitors.

Well, in the massive competitive market and user choices, how do you stand in race?  What does it take to become successful and why do users seem to embrace certain offerings when most lack behind?

The one key differentiator is user experience.

People often get confused user experience (UX) with user interface (UI), User Interface design is mostly been done by graphic designers who just design visually appealing interface based on provided UI story boards (by UX designers). Whereas user experience (UX) involves understanding many factors, from human behavior and interaction design to an appreciation of the technical constraints that mobile brings.

My recommendation is, don’t let graphic designers to decide application flow, layout, elements and their placements etc, unless they have foresaid qualities. They are good at their colors; let them design prototypes with an attractive look and feel.

User experience design

User experience is what a person feels about the relevance and effectiveness of the apps they interact with. User experience is about the meaningful aspects of how people see, hear, and touch it. This means the focus is on how the user enjoys and perceives worth when interacting with an apps. It’s about making solutions easy to use, valuable and effective for people.

When using a computer to access the Internet, users are typically more kinda relaxed, for example sitting at a desk, and have a larger viewing screen and more traditional input methods. Mobile devices are just opposite, where you’re faced with a small screen, limited input methods and environment.

When we use our mobile phones we are more prone to interruptions than when we are sitting at a desktop. A good design approach needs to pay obvious attention of the user and the interruptions they are likely to face. It needs to reduce the hiccups and allow things to be as straightforward as possible.

Common user guidelines:

There are few common design guidelines can be employed in order to bring best mobile user experience. 

Identify

Identify why and how your product will be used. Are you going to offer your target users something they actually want? If so, is your mobile proposal useful and relevant to your target audience?

Only by having clear knowledge of your target audience and understanding what they’re looking for will be able to meet their expectations and provide a convincing experience. Once you’ve fully understood your users’ “wants and needs”, you should map these against your business objectives (requirements/goals). In the end, your mobile offering should contain the right content in the right way and right place at the right time.

Simplicity

More than on any other platform type mobile platform’s goal should be to minimise any confusing points and allow users to perform the tasks they wan quickly and easily, without making them jump through lots of hoops.

Considering constraints such as limited screen size, the user interface needs to be clean, free of clutter and easy to use. One key question to ask is, whether the user will be able to navigate and use an application without instructions? This is known as discoverability - users do not want to have to think about what they’re doing; they just want to be able to do it.

The more options you show a user, the more you make them think and the less they will actually do. A good mobile designer will prioritize what’s important and remove any unnecessary elements that can clutter. It’s also advisable to provide relative, practical guidance that helps users make good decisions. For example, use clearly labeled and logically positioned buttons that takes user to desirable elements quickly.

In summary, every aspect of the user interface design must be justified; anything that doesn’t need to be part of your mobile offering shouldn’t be. Even if you think a feature is essential, reconsider if it really is.  Simplicity, efficiency and elegance can set you apart from the competition.

Innovative

Innovation is not just doing new things; it can be old or new but doing in a new way.

Innovations must tightly related with business objectives while at the same time addressing a real user need or benefit and should never be technology for technology’s sake. The goal is to enhance the user experience by making it more convenient and efficient for the user to get their task done.

Innovative apps often use native device features like location and direction services based on the GPS and compass technology, video camera or motion detection for interaction.

Knowing what competitors are doing helps to differentiate your offering from theirs, but also it’s crucial to look out of the box. Look beyond your competitors to grab inspiration and seed ideas that surprise and delight your audience. Comparing the best mobile experiences along side of what your customer needs makes you to stay ahead.

Go Social

Mobile devices are at the centre of how people communicate with their friends and colleagues, whether by phone, text, email or increasingly, through accessing social networking sites. We have seen a dramatic rise in the number of people using social media. Mobile usage is now fuelling the popularity of social networks. Facebook alone claims that 480 million people access their accounts via mobile, performing a range of activities, posting comments and shares, uploading images. This is proof enough where mobile users now spend more time on social networks than PC users do.

Businesses need to understand how to dive into this socially connected world and create opportunities that can drive revenue by building tighter bonds with users.

Evolution

Continuous evolution is imperative to keep applications up to date, it can be advances in technology, new industry trends, differing business requirements and last but not least, feedback from your users.

Listen to your users and be able to respond quickly to their feedback and their needs. Keep them happy and engaged by creating an agile deployment strategy, introducing new features as they become ready.

Most mobile users are familiar to receive the benefits of the latest technology and love to experiment with it. If bugs or security flaws are found, release fixes immediately to correct them, making sure to be clear about the new features you’ve implemented, the bugs that you’ve fixed, and whether or not you’ve fixed any security issues.