UI/UX design and responsiveness in mobile apps

With the beginning of the pandemic in the world and the acceleration of the work decentralization process, as well as the replacement of in-person classes for distance learning and the demand to make remote what was previously done in-person, the number of electronic devices sold worldwide grew by around 81% according to an ACI Worldwide survey conducted in May 2020.

All this growth, it should be taken into account that now, more than before, our customers have many more models of electronic devices than before, varying not only the system software that these devices use, but also the shapes, dimensions , presentations and purposes.

It is in this scenario that design and responsiveness in your project become much more important, making your mobile software available to more users and valuing the experience on each device without compromising application performance.

Responsiveness and its role in app accessibility

Let's start with responsiveness, do you know what it means? If your app will be available on the AppleStore or PlayStore , for example, know that in addition to cell phones, these platforms are also available for other devices such as tablets and iPads.

By default the dimensions of these devices are almost 2 times larger than smartphone screens, and for these cases responsiveness comes as a tool to adapt your app to different types of devices.

Responsiveness vs User Experience

It's not difficult to find apps that are incorrectly resized according to the devices the user uses. This affects the application's performance and the user's experience within the platform.

In addition to the difficulty of reaching new users , the incorrect allocation of the visual components of the system generates customer dissatisfaction and a drop in the quality of the user experience.

How does responsiveness work?
 

In a simple and direct way, the responsiveness of an application makes it capable of adapting to different screens , managing to fit into different dimensions without losing the aesthetics initially used in the construction of the app, through the rendering of pixels in the viewports of the devices.

Now that we understand how to prioritize the implementation of a responsive project in apps, we enter another very important subject for the acceptance of your app: the design and for that I have UI and UX. You must be asking yourself…

What is UI and UX design?

The UI design , or user interface design, is aimed at the components that allow the user to use the application, such as buttons, scrolls, menus, slides, and everything that he can interact with within the platform.

The UX design , or user experience design, is connected with the sensations, emotions and feelings that the user has with the experience within the application. It is much more subjective and goes beyond aesthetics, it must respect steps and processes to be achieved.

Both designs work together, one making interaction with the system possible and the other providing greater quality with this interaction. If linked to responsiveness, they enable the creation of a much more welcoming and promising app on the most different screens where the app will be used.

And to help you put these concepts into practice, I'll leave below some crucial points for a project that ensure better acceptance by users and are within the standard of responsiveness.

1 - Build steps

This point is strictly linked to the UX design, it is not enough to simply build the application's pages, but they must be ordered so that the user can easily start and end actions within the app. This ranges from purchasing a coupon to completing a proposed exercise.

In addition, the fact of dividing a process into stages facilitates decision-making by the brain , which does not need to analyze many factors to complete a task and also generates the feeling of progress in the user, making it more difficult to return to the point before the stage. already achieved.

2 - Do not leave the environment polluted
 

We have to face the human mind like a child: it gets distracted easily, likes to relate to everything it sees around and soon gets tired. According to the researcher at California State University, Larry Rosen, the average concentration of our brain is between 3-5 minutes of attention, before we get distracted.

When we browse software that provides us with a lot of information, such as social networks, it's easy to lose focus on what you were doing and then get bored with the feed. In the case of unique apps, it is ideal to concentrate the number of information on the purpose of the app. Keeping a clean and organized look through the UI design.

3 - The role of widgets in aesthetics and functionality
 

Unlike notebooks and computers, smartphones and tablets are generally used with the hands, with no mouse to direct the user's intention to access some field on the screen.

Here come points that involve both the UI design and the UX, because if on one hand we have to follow a flow , without it being broken by bumping into buttons that are not part of a certain stage, we have to build a visual that facilitates this handling in the app.

In addition to building larger widgets to avoid bumps, we have to take into account their position on the screen for users. Considering that 90% of people in the world are left-handed, the app should favor shortcuts that are easy to reach by the right hand, making the app even easier to use.

Different that complete each other

It has already been noticed that the entire construction process must be designed to guarantee the quality of the project and that everything is interconnected. UI design builds the bridge to UX design and both are defined for user satisfaction.

As well as the responsiveness that ensures greater system reliability, offering the design and experience projected on different interfaces and devices.

Without these three components, it becomes very difficult to drive a stable and reliable application to offer on application sales platforms and that is why we always value every little detail within our projects.

putting into practice

Have you liked the content so far? If you are thinking about building an application or are already in the process and still have questions regarding your application, please contact us! We at FWC Tecnologia are a mobile development company that is a reference in quality deliveries.

We have a complete team prepared to help you in this process and we have designers who make apps that are not only beautiful, but also with responsiveness and UI/UX awareness . All our designs are exclusive, ensuring a unique identity for your app.