For maximum impression when it comes to present your app in front of users you need to pay a lot of attention to the user experience. It is a vital element in the whole process of creation. As you can see in the chart below, the most challenging part for developers, besides the marketing section is considered the design stage.
Image Source: http://www.businessofapps.com/five-ways-to-design-your-mobile-app-for-growth/
For this reason, we prepared some of the practices which will make sensation on app markets this year. Be careful though, these techniques must be implemented strategically to be sure you will obtain the wanted effect. As in other similar situations, the conditions are to know your users and to have a smart plan. Otherwise, the opposite result will make users to avoid your app.
Motion – Based Designs
In the top of trends which continue from previous years is motion-based activity, but you need to create animations with some scope in mind, not to make your app heavier to manage. This type of design has to be made from the perspective of helping users to complete their tasks in a more captivating manner. In the same time, you need to create a relation between animations within your app. A bunch of motions bonded without logic reason, will keep your app far from completing the initial goal. A layout which is creative and functional in the same time is the key for impressing users, like the transition of a music player in the example posted on Dribbble.
Image Source: https://dribbble.com/shots/1850527-Music-Player-Transition
Virtual Reality
Applications based on virtual reality concepts allow customers to meet the sensations of being present in some places which aren’t accessible in real live. Furthermore, virtual reality apps help users to acquire some skills for their professions before major competitions or events. This time, UX ideas for VR go hand in hand with VR hardware, because a virtual reality app can’t be created without 3D experts and it definitely won’t work on all devices. But, if you manage to create a product which offers rich media experience for your users, then the results will reward your effort. Take for example, Jaunt VR which is available for free for both Android and iOS devices. It offers you the feeling that you attend to a live performance of popular artists. And concerts are not the only videos you can experiment by using this app. Explore the possibilities and think about this option for your app this year. For more inspiration of amazing VR apps for smartphone, The Guardian made a top with 10 of the best apps available for smartphones.
Image Source: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/13/best-virtual-reality-apps-smartphone-iphone-android-vr
Augmented Reality
Augmented Reality apps are described as products where some imaginary elements are mingled with real world. There is no need to mention Pokemon Go which broke 5 World Records last year, with its funny characters transposed in real locations. It created a precedent for all the apps that will be designed this year following the same path for offering users something different on the market. This type of apps creates dependency and makes the marketing strategies easier to be implemented. This happens only if AR techniques are used properly, since it is necessarily a correlation between the real environment and the actions inside the app. You can take a look at Star Chart, a useful mobile app which offers information about stars and planets when pointing the phone at the sky. It is impressive, since it can show you where those stars where positioned thousands of years ago. It is available for Android and iOS smartphones and it is no wonder it has so many 5 stars reviews. If you want to discover other interesting mobile applications which use Augmented Reality you can check the top created by Digital Trends.
Image Source: http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/best-augmented-reality-apps/
New Navigation Experience
Another stage in providing a better experience for customers when using your app is to grow its efficiency and to minimize the time lost by users when passing through activities. You know that a bigger period spent in your app isn’t necessarily the sign of a higher engagement. Again, this stage is actually connected to a well – designed user interface. The first step when you create the layout for your app should be the way your users will go through different pages of your product. UXPin offers you a detailed article with 5 patterns for an engaging UX. Whether you choose walkthroughs or content – based navigation, or you go for more attractive ones like sliders, popovers or drawers the focal point is to offer intuitive directions for allowing users to concentrate more on the actual tasks not on the path to get there.
Image Source: https://www.uxpin.com/studio/blog/navigating-mobile-application-5-ux-design-patterns/
In – App Gestures
Image Source: https://krify.co/advanced-mobile-app-design-trends-in-future-ui-ux-2017/
People love interacting with their devices. Giving your app a personal behavior will be a decisive factor in your intent to attract users. Just like the previous trend, a special attention for in – app gestures will simplify the way customers access your app. Since different apps manage the same gestures in various ways, it is a good practice to offer your users some hints which will make the onboarding flow more intuitive. Nowadays, we hear everywhere around us about Tamagotchi Gesture which means adding a more human touch for the experience inside an app. An example of popular app which uses this technique is Twitter. And who doesn’t love Twitter?
Image Source: https://twitter.com/marvelapp/status/784121809373368320
Haptic Feedback
The haptic feedback is the situation when users are convinced to perform various actions with the help of subtle pulses or vibrations. This time, UX meets UI for engaging users and for preventing the abandon of the app because of specific reasons. On AppCrawlr you can discover a list of the best 100 apps which use Haptic Feedback for Android devices. Also, there is a folder with top apps in the same category for iOS. You can analyze some of them if you want to find solutions for your app in 2017. There is no magic formula, but you can consider this strategy for your design efforts. We take Calculator Plus as an example since there are only positive observations, which bring it in top of this list.
Image Source: http://appcrawlr.com/android-apps/best-apps-haptic-feedback
Final Thoughts
With the rapid evolution of technology, it is almost impossible to remain behind if you want to own one of the apps which express success on app market. Creating an attractive user experience is essential when you dream to establish your app in customers’ mind. Some of the solutions listed above require a lot of effort and aren’t available for every developer like VR or AR, but others, such as navigation experience and in – app gestures are mandatory and demand your attention for an app which reaches the highest standards.
