Mobile apps have nowadays gained high importance as more and more users are switching to use them to gain information, shop for products and avail other services. A feature rich and eye catchy app is what the users need as it gives them a wonderful experience.

With iOS and Android app store constantly being loaded with various mobile apps, you only have just a few seconds in hand to impress your users and get them hooked to your application. So, it is crucial while designing the mobile app that you understand the behavior of the target market that you are particularly aiming to entice with your app.

As a senior mobile app designer, I have always suggested my team to carefully understand the client’s requirements and consider all the factors that would affect the performance and usability. One crucial mistake committed can have serious repercussions. High performance of the app can only be attained when the design is perfect and is visually appealing to the users. User interface should not only create the first impression on the users, but it should make them feel more dependent and engaged with the app that they use it. In simple words the app should be smooth, highly useful and relevant.

Today, I will discuss with you some important designing principles that you should follow while creating mobile apps.

Identifying the target users: Before even starting to write the script for the app, you must clearly understand the users’ mind who are actually going to use the app. The app should target non experienced users and so needs an UI design that is intuitive and very simple. High resolution images and easy checkout and secured payment gateways should be considered.

Right sized graphics: When it is all about graphics, developers and designers usually follow the thumb rule of one size fits all, which is actually a wrong approach. Though it makes resource management simpler, but it affects the visual appeal of your mobile application.  To make your app look marvelous, include graphics that are tailored according to the specific devices and screens.

Perfect balance between UI and performance: Performance of an app depends on things like content display, ease of navigation or load time.  The app graphics should always comply with the above specifications and too much of videos, images and also similar content would make it slow and dreary. Again a UI with many navigation links and dynamic content will also stand against the performance of the application.

Use the features of the device: Since the smartphones are integrated with high end features, app designers should use the device GPS feature to HD displays to make the app more engaging. Apps like Paytm use the camera feature to scan the barcodes, using the hardware functionalities of the device will augment the beauty of your mobile app.

Keep it platform specific: There are numerous mobile platforms and each offers unique features in appearance and power, the same layout or design cannot function well on all the platforms. So, it is good to target either Android or the iOS platform and build the app accordingly.

Contrasts for view: If you are not careful while choosing the color, fonts and background color, then your app may be a big pain to the eyes. Apps that are difficult to read or navigate are always abandoned by the users. To avoid such cases, choose on high contrasting color schemes that makes the content and the design stark clear.

Use a layered UI:  A layered UI allows the users to unfold and find new features as they continue to use the app. This will of course keep the users engaged and will help them to explore more and more.

Thus, I hope that these design principles will help you to remain ahead and build successful apps and help you to communicate with your base users.