3 trends of mobile app designing in 2015
Today applications are not just restricted to desktop but it has moved a long way along mobile applications as well. The only trick while trying to convert a desktop app to mobile app is to feel MOBILE! While designing you should consider the fact that today user is using these apps in different environments. Sometimes, they operate it with one hand while in a highly crowded Mumbai local train or sometimes barely wanting to take his hand out of his blanket in winters!
The biggest challenge is that, everything you show on a desktop site cannot be fitted onto the mobile app. Yet when the user uses the app, they are pretty much knocked off their socks and their minds are just blown off! At the same time the app must be able to achieve your business’ online goals.
To view the usual UX design process, click here - UX design process
These are few trends/tricks that designers across are using to make the user experience MOBILE
1) Hamburger menu -
You would be using this terms more than often but it’s interesting to know why it is termed so - It’s because it roughly looks like a bun-meat-bun sandwich!
The idea behind the hamburger menu is that you can use it to hide site navigation on smaller screens, showing it only when the user clicks the icon instead of always showing it. This allows the designers to display its main line of business as the landing page and putting the rest in the hamburgers. The apt use of hamburgers might differ from one designer to another.
But few experts stand by the thought that hamburgers are not magical enough to get user’s clicks for everything featured on your site. You would be only presuming that what is on the landing page is the user’s priority. Even the Apple, plans to kill the hamburger menu!
2) Filling forms on the app -
One of the most tedious point for the user is when he sees a big form in front of him to be filled. There are tricks that designers are adopting to give a perception of crispness of the form or a motivation to fill the form.
- Showing via dots or progress bars how much of the form is already filled by the user. This gives a sense of motivation of filling ahead.
- Breaking the form in smaller sections. This keeps the user patient and he does’nt drop at very moment he sees a long form.
- Giving drop downs with options or predictive texts. This makes filling the form simpler for the user. Or some smart designers also give options as buttons if there are limited and few options.
- Asking questions in a wizard form. This ensures one screen has not more than 3 questions which decide the questions which should be on the next upcoming screen.
3) Card Layout -
It was a style pioneered by Pinterest, this is trending concept most designers are using to get users into the genre they are interested in. This ensures filtering feature in a fashionable way.
There are lots of more trends and tricks that your fellow designers are using. Keep following CanvasFlip for more of such trends in the next week edition!
Also keep sharing your awesome tricks and observations on mobile development as comments or emails.