#UX Design Archives - Page 2 of 2

How can you Utilise Motion Design to Make your App more Engaging?

Posted on 21/09/202011/06/2021 by Tushar

Only a few years ago, any and all forms of motion and animation was associated with the definition of a bad site UI. Remember the old age advertisement websites which showed offers in circular balls bouncing off from one corner of the screen to another? The case of motion in web design was a sad case.

But ever since the advent of mobile apps, the scenario has changed so much so that UI motion design has now become a popular design trend.

A modern-day interface is no more about static elements. With UI motion design, brands are now covering the void between software and human primal need of variety and connection.

“The most intuitive and pleasurable element of web and mobile application services are the one that involves Motion Design.”

Incorporated at different mobile app journey stages, motion design for apps can not only make the users swoon over your app movements but also increase the app session time. They have now become a symbol of fun, innovativeness, and a sure shot medium of binding users with the applications.

Why use motion design for apps?

There are a number of ways apps motion design has made the overall mobile interactions a completely interesting one. Here, let’s see how.

Slow App Loadings are Now Enjoyable

Slow loading apps are as common in occurrence as days and nights since they happen all the time. There can be a number of issues behind it such as low network from the users’ front, a technical issue on the backend, or too many requests being made on the server at the same time. But, irrespective of the reason, slow load time is the number one reason that takes the users away from the app.

Well, this can be prevented completely by using animation in the app UI design which was one of the mobile app trends of 2018. By adding motion elements in every case of low load time, designers can keep the users hooked just to see the elements or the animation to glide on the screen. For instance, take Google Chrome’s offline page with a dinosaur game.

An Onboarding Experience for users

One of the most common use cases of Motion Design for apps is seen in the Mobile App onboarding stage of the app journey. Used to explain and make the user acquainted with the app, the animation is being incorporated by brands to make it easy for the users to find their way around for the first few runs.

Emboss App in Users’ Minds with Mental Map

Taking the Onboarding Experience to the next level, mobile UI designs help users create a mental map that fits the app flow in the mind. Ever noticed yourself pulling the top Gmail bar down to refresh your mailbox? We doubt it. The reason is that it has been embossed into us just like blinking of the eyes, so we no more have to think twice, it happens automatically.

Letting users know what’s wrong and what’s right

Motion elements can be one of the most impactful ways of letting the users know that they have encountered an issue or that they have crossed a level successfully. When designing to highlight an error, it is important to point out to users exactly what they are doing wrong.

Wrong password shake is the one animation that achieves it perfectly. Just like you show what users are doing wrong just with your motion, the feedback motion should also show the successful events. A simple mailbox popup with a tick mark animation would show the users that their mail was sent.

In the end, never keep the users wondering what they are doing wrong or if they were able to do something successfully.

Now that you have seen how motion elements make the app journey more fun and memorable, let us now look at the app UI design principles that you should employ to keep your motion elements from crossing over to the side of tackiness and uselessness.

The Walt Disney Articulated Principles that you Should Embody in Your Mobile App

Every app development company that has worked with motion elements know that the line between innovation and overdoing it is very thin and it is the place where they blur, the problem begins. Users become disinterested and apps go from being useful to becoming plain confusing.

To prevent your motion signs and movements from seeing a similar fate, you can follow these interaction design inspiration. These principles were first articulated by Walt Disney but are still capable of delivering a memorable enjoyable experience just like Mickey Mouse.

1. Motion Movement Trajectory

The design principle that has been prevalent in the industry follows the rule that animated shapes should mainly follow a straight trajectory movement. But we all know better. You cannot really offer an outwardly Web and Mobile Application Design Service with one leg in old traditions. To make users fall in love with your motion elements, you will have to add new movement trajectories such as curves, verticals, and even wave like and then show people those things visually.

2. The timing of when the Motion appears

Any motion prompt that comes at users’ screen out of the blue without any action motivating it, should be avoided. If you are incorporating motion in your app UI design, do it at a time which asks for it. There are times when it makes sense to add motion like when users enter the wrong password but an animated tick to show they have entered the right credentials can be ignored.

So, before you overboard with them, know at what stage they are actually needed.

3. Focus on the Focus of Animation

If your app has a lot happening on the screen in terms of content, design elements, image or video wise, have a motion element that comes with a tinted blinking background or blurs in and out so that users know what to do next. All your immovable motion features will lose their value if you fail to show their presence on the app screen.

4. Animation Speed

Assuming that you would be making a mobile app for ordinary humans and not Flash, your motion elements should move at the speed of a feather glide. Give users time to adjust their eyes to the movement instead of making it too fast for them.

A pro tip: Add rhythm to your motion. While adding movement into movement seems like a nonsensical thing to do but know that by doing it, you will be going one step ahead of the whole app resonance game straight from the users’ subconscious level.

5. Become an On-the-face Motion Piece

Used mostly in flashcard quiz based and eCommerce apps, these motion types makes the next move a no-brainer for the users. By moving too evidently, like in case of a discount countdown or the drop of location pin in case of Uber, you will be able to lead the users exactly where you want to be while creating a memorable brand image for yourself.

How is animation and motion used in mobile apps?

Like we said before, there is a thin line between doing it and overdoing it. There are places where you think you can use animation but in reality, you can simply avoid it. There are a few ways you can use motion design which makes the best UI design for apps. Let’s take a look at them:

Gamification

Adding emojis and animation mascots can do wonders for your app. These elements make the app addictive and likeable by all. Various messengers have animated mood stickers which give the app an edge over all the other plain messaging apps.

Progress animation

Waiting for something to load without knowing the progress tests a users patience. This is why apps have progress animations that show how much progress has been made while loading certain functions. Progress animation is one of the most liked features of motion design for apps.

Animated notifications

Notifications are usually quite boring but if proper animation is used then it improves the overall user experience. This will also make sure that users remember every important notification they get.

Loading animation

Loading animation is one of the most common types of animation used for app UI interactions. This type of animation informs the users that the process of loading is active and that the app is running well. This animation is a sub-type of progress animation.

Transition animation

Transition animation gives the app a classy look. It also conveys a positive user experience. By allowing transition, you give more life to the app when going from one page to another.

Marketing animation

Marketing animation is great for your brand. Animations used in logos is a great way of grabbing the attention of the users. This also creates a mental image of the brand on the users’ mind.

Scroll animation

Scrolling animation is another famous type of animation added in apps and is considered one of the best UI design for apps. Not only it makes the app beautiful but also gives it an elegant look. However, proper scroll animation needs proper coding otherwise the app may freeze or slow down.

Drawing attention

Attention drawing animation is usually applied when the attention of users needs to directed to certain areas. Suppose, you are ordering from an online food ordering app and as soon as you add items the price changes with a certain kind of animation. This would draw your attention to the numbers which is where the focus should be.

In the article, we have discussed how motion elements are the key differentiator between a boring app and an innovative one, the right stages for incorporating them and even the design principles that should be followed. We being best mobile app design company, follow a simple mobile app designing process to achieve the best results possible. Even though the steps are easy, the work is detailed. If you have any queries regarding motion designs or need interaction design inspiration, contact us at Anteelo.

UI and UX – Critical Components of E-Commerce Success

Posted on 23/08/202009/06/2021 by Tushar

The strong shift towards e-commerce in India is ever more evident with India stepping into ‘1 billion mobile user club’. According to a new Bloomberg report, country now has around 1.03 billion mobile phone subscribers. SBI research report says the e-retail market was around USD 6 billion in 2015. And India expects 125 million online buyers with USD 19 billion (only through mobile) business by 2019.

One of the research held in India shows, ‘The largest digital properties in India (Facebook, Google) and e-commerce businesses have acknowledged that they receive 50% traffic from the web and 50% traffic via mobile (mobile web and app)’. However, mobile traffic is growing at a much faster rate. But, we most definitely cannot ignore the fact that only 7.8% of mobile users have smartphones. But the non-smartphones users heavily use the Internet!

125 million online buyers in India by 2019
Mobile Commerce sales to hit $19 billion by 2019
Just 8% of e-commerce addressable market lives in Top 8 cities, rest to be reached by mobiles.

The rapid change in e-commerce has strongly focused the entire design industry. Looking back, from print we shifted to web design and today we have stepped into the whole new era of designing for systems. It’s not just limited to that! We see highest level of personalization and customization taking place serving almost individual customer needs. The question here is ‘Who’ tracks the online behaviour and needs of your target consumer, ‘Who’ digs into the competitors product, ‘Who’ study the market trends and ‘Who’ gives you a solution that exceeds expectations?

The success mantra to stay ahead in the game for all online businesses lies in innovation and tactfulness of online platforms – the answer and key is with UX (user experience) and UI (user interface) experts. These are the people who ensure that your company makes a lasting impression on your potential consumers and convert them into loyal ones!

User should experience a complete bliss when they are navigating through your platform. An easy to use portal with all the necessary information and detail makes a big difference. These designers have an ability to get inside the heads of users and present you with answers to typical ‘What and How’s’ of your digital product! They are part researchers, observers, thinkers, developers and marketers. Remember, when you went to some website and in seconds, were fed up because you could not find the information you were looking for or you had to look up the entire page just to find one simple login; thus, is an example of a bad experience. Such that you would not want to go again. And then there are Websites like ‘Facebook and LinkedIn’ that generate high volume traffic mainly due to the enhanced user experience. Therefore, if you are interested in generating high volume traffic on your portal, you should ensure that it is user friendly and easy to navigate. And, more so serves needs of every individual customers in a way that they feel that they feel part of it.

Like, Beauty is incomplete without brains. Similarly, UX is imperfect without a great UI! A great User Interface is the part of the web interface (portal or mobile) that faces the user when he looks at the portal. The use of effective and simple user interface design will be of immense help in achieving the objectives of going online. Right from colors, fonts, graphics, animations, wordings, placement, almost everything is so beautifully inter-related and in a flow that users are bound to fall in love with your product and portal. A good user interface not only increases the usability but also leads to the smooth completion of any task at hand thereby making everything enjoyable and flexible as per the requirements of users. The visual appeal of a UI on portal or mobile has a significant impact on users as its information Architecture doesn’t enable engagement on its own.

To conclude, UX is as simple as making an online, digital world as human friendly as possible. And, UI makes it as pleasing as possible. The world of e-commerce, demands an expert guidance in offering a platform that would ensure that profits see an upward trend.

Why Rich Animations is a great design trend

Posted on 18/06/202018/06/2021 by Anteelo Master

In today’s world, the animation plays a crucial role in communication. It is incredibly versatile and can communicate abstract, complex and multidisciplinary concepts in an effective and easy manner. Gone are the days when people said: “ Animation is just a small part of interface design or product design and it is not essential “. Today, they are not used merely as eye candy, but as a powerful tool meant to enhance user experience. They are like heartbeats that brings life and soul to interfaces and products.

Latest web developments have allowed animations to be implemented easily which has given us designers truckload of opportunities. Simple or elaborate, animation can fascinate the users at every step. In this blog, I would like to highlight 5 ways you can use rich Animation’s to bring life to your designs:

Storytelling and fun way to convey any message

Who doesn’t like Stories? Probably no one. Animation can be used for storytelling and through them, even the most difficult concepts can be conveyed easily to the users. For example, previously, most brands were using the tutorial videos to help their users understand the process and benefits. But, today, the animation is ruling this space; pick up any app they are generally supplemented with ‘Splash Screens’ or step by step messages to guide users through the usage of the app.

Furthermore, it adds up to the personality of a website or mobile app, basically, your digital presence. Whether it is a long scroll of seamless sections of a website or showcasing of vision and capabilities, your story or action can be told in a fun and elegant manner. For instance, one of our clients, Hakunamatata, in space of Information Technology & Services wanted to communicate their strength in the development space through a website, hence, to highlight this we used ‘Unusual Navigation’ and empowered with many micro-interactions.

We believe, the animated design is a story best told; it adds an extra zing of awesome sauce that pushes the designs over the edge, bringing the very design to life in a subtle and friendly way which prompts the user to interact and explore more. You should check out this website to experience the zing I was talking about.

Interactive and Intuitive

Intelligent animations are very engaging and enable users to focus, get feedback, and communicate efficiently with the brand and its digital interface; this creates a pleasant illusion close to natural interaction as with physical objects. This is the very reason why Apple and Google give so much importance to animation and interactions in their guidelines.

Interactive animations put the user in the driving seat and impart a feeling of having complete control over the navigation while they go through an astounding interactive journey. This amazing website takes users through the interactive journey of Rome’s history. It is the most engaging history book you would come across and a user would feel like they are living the entire era.

Another, important thing to take note of is how a designer can effectively declutter his designs by concealing and revealing options with smooth animations and interactions which can be very useful while designing content/options heavy designs. A classic example would be the Android tray pulling animation with options.

Visual feedback and Micro interactions

These days we see a lot of animations giving visual feedback in the form of effects, transitions, animated colors, icons, and seamless backgrounds. They provide an unmatched user experience, because a user knows he is hovering on a clickable button or a link, and not just some content. Using Animation, the user is made aware of the progress and other features in an instance. An animated interface has the power to entertain the user with a fun loader while they wait for the page to load, inform them with a progress bar, load the animated skeleton of the layout, seek attention with beautifully animated signals when needed, alert a user about an error, help them navigate and what not! Micro-interactions also evokes emotions and feelings for the action. Animation applied for micro-interactions are hardly noticed by the user, however, as with all the small and simple elements of the interface, a lot of intelligence and understanding goes into designing micro interaction which boosts user’s interaction with the interface.

Great and beneficial for designers as well

Animations, not only helps the designer to make a delightful presentation of their designs, but it also enables the designers to discover a lot of potential improvisation while they prototype or animate their designs. I would say every designer should keep animations and interaction in mind while designing an interface, which is nothing but interaction designing.

When the designer does this, not only he takes the wireframes to the design stage, but he also takes the design to the next level for better development, where he has already visualized how a user is interacting with the interface. It speaks volumes about the attention to detail the designer has put into it, as he eliminates bugs, errors, missing links, and dig into a lot of innovative UX with his “ Interaction Thinking “.

An animated design is a living thing! Period.

Not only it is as satisfying as the ‘fidget spinner’, but it supports the very essence of real life interaction and it creates feelings and perception close to what we humans experience while interacting with a physical object. It speaks to you, plays with you, emotes with you, and understands you- Just like your best buddy.

The animation is the future of design and interfaces, which is very obvious with the evolution of VR and AR interfaces, where animation is the key property used to design them. People don’t just buy products, they actually buy the interfaces, the lively designs, and those appealing interactions.

So, if you are creating an innovative product or design, take heed as the future is animated designs. Technologies such as SVG animations and WebGL, which supports us designers to make use of rich animations and interactions to enhance and add life to designs, which eventually impacts millions of lives.

Redesign Mobile App for Market Domination In 15 Steps

Posted on 09/06/202005/06/2021 by Anteelo Master

App redesign is no joke. If you run a mobile-powered business then you are virtually on life-support while indulging in a UI UX overhaul. And if you do not realize that already, then there is all the more need for someone to point you in the right direction.

We assume you want a word by word, validated guide on an app redesign process and we wish there were simple answers. But a mobile app redesign is like your first proposal, you expect everything to fall in place, but there is always that big IF.

So as we share some of our partner experience (without violating the NDAs) you can expect it to be a little bit of both, fact-of-the-matter dope garnished with the necessary do-it-yourself stuff.

Define Your Approach (Please!)

Sequence your design thinking to find the answer to the question “what is a good app design practice?”. A UI/UX redesign is preceded by brainstorming sessions held on rendering structural changes in an app. Whatever your reasons, the re-development process must stay malleable. For this reason alone, we’ll repeat ourselves for the umpteenth time, that Agile development is the way forward. It gives everybody a few extra inches to maneuver ideas and ad-hoc requirements that pleasantly come along. We’ll let the imagery do the talking.

Bring Everyone On-board

Collective decision making will make the process easier. Organizational heads should own up the responsibility to communicate clearly the what, why, and how of everything. You will have to sift through opinionated answers and earnest comments to find common ground between expectations and reality. The process will be tiresome, but will also let you discover the pain points of the app, its backlogs, and key development areas to concentrate on. Answers must address questions like:

What are the plus points of your app?
Why is it lagging, if at all?
Where are the functionalities that need the most damage-repair?

Set Out Tasks

Setting S.M.A.R.T goals is an inexorable step for apps that need redesign. Be specific in what you want from the new look. Set a measurable aim, the accomplishment of which can be weighed by numbers. This would keep you motivated. Do not exceed the time you commit to each parallel task for developing new functionalities. It’s for such days (and nights) that the vending machine had stalked up extra cans of caffeine.

Recycle Your App Design

Mobile app design best practices run high on the recycling quotient. Just because you are revisioning the design doesn’t mean it has to begin afresh. The current app was developed with considerable thought and effort. The idea is to preserve the features that offer the most value and disregard the outdated ones.

Base Your Decisions on Analytics

High-level stakeholders won’t approve of anything unless they sense a concrete reason. Your arguments for change should be objectively backed and statistically proven. Some of the metrics that should be on your tips are app downloads, screen tracking, page views, event tracking, user sessions, in-app referrals, the list goes on. Read about the tools you can use to track app analytics for mobile apps that need to be redesigned. Embedded analytics will always be crucial for apps whether you redesign them or not.

Read Competitor Like a Book

This is where most people begin, mistakenly skipping the aforementioned steps. Now that you’ve come here it should be clear why (if at all) your competition is proving your nemesis. This has to do with a feature vs feature account that tabulates similarities and differences between multiple apps. Create a checklist to track and accord points for each feature. The scoring system will give you a realistic impression of your market standing.

Think Outside the Box

There is no affiliated gospel for mobile UI best practices. That said the mobile app industry is generally amuck with creativity. No harm in xeroxing a feature or two you like in an app from another domain.

Diagnose Problematic Areas

Having infiltrated the ranks of your opponents, you can narrowly point to the areas that require more work than others. The nature of the problems could be anything, from a genuinely bad user experience, non up-to-date onboarding practices evident in customer reviews, to hidden bugs and unnecessary pop ups. As you quest forward to redesign your app, begin leveraging this intel and fast track development by prioritizing job lists.

Act on Priority

After identifying the most erring details it is time for remedying. One way to do so would be to pen down what’s going for you in a SWOT, Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat graph. This would enable sequential stacking for development cycles, focusing on the most pressing needs foremost. It is vital you ponder judiciously on this aspect while redesigning apps to avoid painstaking efforts later.

Create Wireframes

Be it your in-house developers or an app design company partnering with you, creating wireframes comes naturally to all developers. Ink the ideas built up in your mind with hand sketches and share with all project collaborators.

Make no mistake, you are sharing the foundation of your renewed app architecture and encouraging improvements. Ideation must be clinical in nature and put the spotlight on newly adopted characteristics while preserving the best ones from the previous version.

Be Open to (Further) Change

There has been a barrage of introductions to the wireframe already, but wait there can be more. Re-engineering a product will have its ups and downs and to be honest, it is your call to decide how much is enough. Mature leaders are thick-skinned which helps them accommodate productive advice from peers.

But be careful, don’t let inaccurate feedback get the better of you emotionally. Whenever in doubt, roll the dice back to the storyboard and self-introspect if the steps being proposed will lead to positive change. If not, put your foot down and move over.

Test Aggressively

At Anteelo, it is our staple schedule to act as an app design agency for one client or the other. Rushing into releasing a spanking new version of the app proves self-destructive. As soon as an MVP is ready we open it to a closed group for user feedback. We do not follow randomization and neither encourage it. Rather, the users are handpicked as per the target audience of the app. As soon as they provide a nod of approval we move forward.

Remarket Your App

Taking a new version of your app to the market is like the launch of a new one. It is all about storytelling and giving users an excuse to look forward to rather than just updating their current versions without advance notice. What if some people liked the previous design? Apple could give any brand food for thought on reinventing the wheel. With minimal feature edits, each year, they throw a keynote event that is the most anticipated globally. No, we’re not asking you to break the bank for a national campaign, but have a look at this promo of iPhone SE. You’ll get the point.

Gather Feedback

If you’ve outsourced the redesigning project for your app, demand that the mobile app design company submit user feedback reports on the new version regularly. Why should you care for user feedback?

Because these very people fuse capital into your business and if they don’t take a liking to the so-called “improvements” you’ll face customer churn. But don’t jump to conclusions. Supervise your app downloads, page traffic, sentiment analysis, app store comments to tap the immediate customer pulse. Sooner or later, they’ll come to terms with the design, so our experience says as a mobile design agency.

There is no PERFECT Design

We don’t intend to sound like a monk, but yes, everything is transient. As time fades, you’d have to repeat this cyclical process all over and do your thing. Never rest on your laurels, even if you receive critical acclaim for your work. We never let success get to our head despite having been acknowledged globally for innovation as a mobile app design agency. You can learn more about us as an app design firm reading over our collaboration with Domino’s. We revamped their UX strategy which led to a 23% increase in lead conversions.

Let’s Catch Up

Ever since our inception as a mobile application design company, we have delivered industry-standard value for our clientele. Our technology stack is the latest you’ll find and for any deals on redesigning your UI/UX, we’d be happy to demonstrate what we can do for you.

Why is CX important for websites, and how can it be improved?

Posted on 17/05/202016/06/2021 by Tushar

According to a recent survey from SuperOffice, customer experience (CX) is the biggest priority of businesses over the next five years, more important than finding better products or selling them at the right price. Why? Because customers are flocking to brands that provide them with better CX and 86% of consumers said they would pay more for it. Whether you just sell online or have both a website and a bricks and mortar store, improving CX could transform your business. Here are some of the things that customers are looking for from brands today.

Personalisation

What makes Amazon the world’s most successful online retailer? The key ingredient in its success is personalisation. Its collection of user data ensures it knows its customers exceptionally well and this means that whenever they sign into the website, use its app or open an email, every product or offer provided for them is tailored around their wants and needs. It knows their shopping and browsing histories, the things on their wish lists, when they shop, what they shop for and how much they are likely to spend.

This level of insight means that Amazon’s product recommendations are much more likely to be a match for what the customer wants. This not only results in higher sales for Amazon; it also makes it highly attractive to customers who want to find the right products quickly and simply. This is why Amazon has become, for millions of shoppers, the default search engine for products.

The success of Amazon has led personalisation to become commonplace on the internet. Businesses everywhere are collecting user data to provide similar customer experiences (CX). For small businesses to remain attractive to modern shoppers, they too will need to start collecting user data to make personalised recommendations to customers. Today, it is easier than ever to implement. There are numerous specialist companies offering recommendation engines as a service and if that is out of your budget, try the AI-enabled, PRZ Recommendation Engine plugin for WordPress and WooCommerce.

Simple shopping

While product recommendation engines are beneficial, they can’t predict everything that a shopper wants to buy and they are not much use at all for new visitors for whom you have no historical data. Customers in these situations seek websites that offer simpler ways to shop. They want to be able to find products quickly, have all the essential product data given clearly (description, images, price, specifications, etc.) without ‘information overload’ and they want to be able to pay and leave without a fuss.

This starts with simple site navigation and the ability to search for products. Product search has evolved and customers expect to be able to easily narrow down searches by applying numerous filters: price, customer ratings, size, shape, colour, brand, etc. This can easily be implemented using plugins, indeed many store building platforms come with the functionality built-in.

Providing the right information can be a balancing act. Customers will want to know everything essential about a product, including other purchasers’ ratings, but without being overloaded. They may want to compare products side by side before making a decision, save the product in a wish list if they can’t make up their minds and be shown similar products that they might not yet have come across.

Once a decision is made, they’ll want to buy and go as quickly as possible. This means providing a streamlined checkout process, including guest checkouts for non-members and one-click checkouts for those who have saved payment details with you.

Omnichannel shopping

Though the growth in online shopping has led most bricks and mortar stores to build an online store, many retailers keep those two elements of their business distinct. Technology, however, has blurred the lines between online and on-premises shopping and this has provided yet another experience that customers want – omnichannel shopping.

The modern customer likes the flexibility of click and collect. They want to be able to purchase online and pick the product up from the store. Indeed, this business model stopped many bricks and mortar stores going bust during the pandemic as it enabled them to offer drive-through shopping. While shops were compulsorily closed, customers could order items from their phones in the car park and staff would take them to the car.

For single store businesses that have all their inventory under one roof, putting this system into place is easy to do on your website as it just means linking your store software to your inventory data, a feature available in plugins like WooCommerce. It is more complicated for businesses with multiple stores and separate warehouses as they will need to unify inventory data from across all their stores and warehouses. However, once in place, a customer can remotely buy from a physical store using the website or app.

Omnichannel communications

Modern technology has hugely expanded the number of ways that customers and companies communicate. The difficulty for brands is that consumers have their own preferences for how they like to stay in touch. Indeed, they have different preferences for different purposes. If communication is important, they may want the company to send a printed letter or email, if it’s a special offer they may prefer an SMS or WhatsApp message. When consumers want to get in touch, they usually want a quick response and may use phone, chatbot or, increasingly, a voice assistant or smart speaker.

Providing a great customer experience (CX) means communicating via the channels that consumers prefer. The advantage for businesses is that it enables them to send the right messages at the right time with a greater chance that they will be seen and acted upon.

The challenge here is, again, one of data. Not only does the company need to know which channel each customer prefers but it also needs to unify data to provide a complete overview of the customer journey. This way, whoever is communicating with the customer (human or AI) will have access to all the information needed to send out the right correspondence or deal with enquiries seamlessly when customers move from one channel to another.

This is the level of sophistication that many businesses have managed to achieve and which customers now expect from retailers. If they send a message on social media and phone up later, they’ll expect whoever is answering the call to have access to the social media message. Just as importantly, if they have used a smartphone app to add a product to their shopping cart, they’ll expect to see it still there if they visit your website on a laptop or try to order it using a voice assistant. Everything has to link up.

Conclusion

As you can see, customer experience (CX) is essential to staying relevant in an ever more competitive market and this is forcing brands to adopt new business models and the advanced technologies needed to implement them. For websites, the collection of data needed for personalisation, omnichannel shopping and omnichannel communications often require much more disk space and processing power than shared hosting packages provide. Upgrading to VPS or the cloud provides far more capacity to deploy the new technologies that CX relies on and is your first step to transforming your site.

Typography Comprehensive Guide For App UI Design

Posted on 11/05/202016/06/2021 by Tushar

“The text is too big.” “The words are placed too distantly.” “The words are not going with the image” Such comments have been passed continuously ever since the day user experience established itself as a crucial element of the mobile app design industry. With users spending a major portion of their day on applications, consuming information, and interacting with words, the importance of carefully crafted typography has come to the forefront.

Let’s walk you through the concept that holds the power to lower app abandonment and play a crucial role in increasing the app revenue – Typography.

A Basic Introduction to Typography

Typography, in simple words, is an art of organizing written text, point sizes, line-spacing, and other elements in a way that offer a pleasant and readable user experience. It is a craft that enables designers to transform human interactions into durable visual form.

Now, when talking about what is typography, it is good to have a familiarity with elements it comprises of – something we will discuss in the next section of this article.

6 Typography Elements You Must Know About

1. Typeface

Typeface refers to a set of symbols, numbers, letters, and characters that share similar features. For example, Garamond, Helvetica, and Baskerville is a typeface.

2. Font

Often used as a synonym of typeface, Font is basically a typeface that is set in a particular style, size, and height.

3. Line Length

Another typography design element you should be familiar with is line length. It refers to the area covered by a block of text positioned between the left and right margins.

It is usually calculated as the total number of words or characters in a particular line.

4. Line Spacing

Also termed as Leading, line spacing is the distance between two baselines, i.e, imaginary lines where the text resides.

5. Kerning

Kerning is defined as the spacing between two particular characters or letters.

6. Tracking

Tracking is another typography element used by UI designers for crafting a better experience. It is termed as the spacing between two individual blocks of texts and is also known as letter spacing.

Now as you know the definition and typography elements to consider for user interface design, it’s good to look into why is it necessary to focus on this UI design method.

So, let’s go through the advantages of focusing on Typography in UI design.

Reasons Why It Is Important to Consider Typography

1. It Sets a Mood/Tone

The foremost reason why typography is important in UI design is that it helps in setting the tone of the message. While plain and simple typography shows that content needs to be considered with seriousness, innovative typography adds fun and excitement to the screen.

2. It Helps Deliver Better Visual Experience’

Typography also boosts the visual appearance of a mobile app. When chosen wisely, it infuses positive vibes and helps to deliver a delightful experience to your target audience. Whereas, wrong typography ruins the user experience and compels them to exit the platform soon.

So, it is profitable to consider typography as a key element of your mobile app design process.

3. It Enhances Readability

Another reason why focusing on typography is one of the proven tips to enhance mobile app UI design is that it eases the process of reading content. It simplifies how users comprehend every single detail you mentioned in your app while helping in building better connections.

4. It Shows Professionalism

Typography also adds a tint of professionalism in your mobile app UI design. When you pick a typography which goes with your brand vision, customer behavior, and market standards, it brings a positive impression on the audience. It encourages them to trust in your brand and thus, support you in achieving expected goals in stipulated time and effort.

5. It Boosts Sales Conversion

Typography encourages users to spend more time on your application and understand the context more effectively. This increases the chances of motivating them to perform the desired actions and ultimately, boosts sales.

6. It Creates Brand Recognition

When you use a particular set of typography and use the same pattern throughout your content, users start relating it to your brand. They begin to remember your work via the typography you have used.

With this attended to, it is likely that you would be interested to know how to use typography in UI design, next.

While hiring a reputed mobile application design and development services provider is a good idea, having information about popular apps to get inspiration from can be really significant.

So, let’s look at the list of apps that have over time, amazed users through their mobile design system typography.

5 Mobile Apps to Take Inspiration From

1. Hotel Tonight

Hotel Tonight has used different fonts and styles on both platforms. While the brand implemented various weights of Google’s Roboto for its Android application, it used Gothan for its iOS platform.

2. FIFA

FIFA mobile application has used Miso for typography in UI design, though in different font sizes and weights to bring better emphasis on particular content elements.

3. Fancred

Fancred has also focused on using different typography elements in their app UI design. Besides, they have also experimented with the idea of adding text to pictures and did UX reviews to give a seamless user experience.

4. Citroen Lifestyle

Citroen Lifestyle is another impressive iOS application that has worked with the idea of using font pairing, text-in-picture, and other ways of implementing typography in their app design.

5. UltraVisual

Another mobile application that has inspired users with its typography is UltraVisual. The application, in its iOS version, has used different fonts and added content on photos to deliver better information with minimal space.

Now, as we have seen what Android and iOS applications you can consider for getting an understanding of the rightful implementation of typography UI design, let’s take a look at what UI typography style guide to follow while creating a design strategy for your app.

8 Typography Principles to Focus Upon While Creating Your App

1. Complement Mood to the Message

As per the best mobile design experts, every typeface comes with a unique vibe. While some are fancy and friendly, others are simple and yet professional. In such a scenario, picking the one that goes with your brand message is a must.

So, do not overlook this fact while pondering upon how to improve your UI design through better typography.

2. Pick the Font’s Point Size as per Design Context

Choosing too small or too bigger fonts altogether makes it difficult for users to continue reading with the same flow. It affects the readability of the app content.

In such a scenario, it is important for mobile app designers to select the right font point size for their app’s UI design.

Now when talking about picking the right font point size, it is profitable to invest your time and effort in the general thumb rule-keeping body text between 10 and 12 points for print projects and 15 to 20 pixels for the web.

3. Stick to a Limited Number of Fonts

Adding too many fonts on the same page can be a barrier to readability. So, it is again vital to keep yourself limited to a certain number of fonts – usually those who are not drastically different in look and feel.

4. Build a Hierarchy

Another rule to follow when talking about typography in UI design is to create a good hierarchy. This will help in easier navigation, better organization of every element as well as simplifying the process of finding information.

Now, when focusing on creating a hierarchy, the basic things a UI designer must know are:-

Employing text size to prioritize information by importance.
Adding appropriate spacing to make content scannable.
Arranging related items together.
Introducing headings, subheadings, etc. in the content.

5. Focus on Grammar

Since a wrong spelling can break the flow and make it difficult for the audience to comprehend the whole meaning, it is again imperative to focus on the grammar aspect as well.

6. Don’t Overlook Spacing and Alignment

Spacing and alignment also make a huge difference in the overall app UI experience. When you introduce the right amount of spacing and alignment in your app content, users find it easier and faster to grasp the information and respond effectively.

For example, when you use center or justified alignment, users have to struggle with maintaining a continuous communication flow. Whereas, this is not so in the case of left-aligned content.

Likewise, when the letters in your app content are too tightly hugged or at significant distance, users fail to continue reading with the same pace and often exit the platform. But, this does not happen when you pay attention to proper spacing between all the words and letters.

So, do not forget to focus on this principle when considering how to use typography in UI design.

7. Prevent using Design Fads

Another thing you should focus upon is to prevent employing design fads. This is because the fads do not prevail in the market for longer. They have a shorter time span, implying you might have to change your app’s UI design with some other typography later.

So, do not prefer going with any such design fad.

8. Observe and Practice

Last but not the least, invest your time and effort into practicing different typography and evaluate their success rate. This will help you in receiving better user experience outcomes.

Now while these principles of typography will help you with crafting a perfect UI design plan, it is incredibly important to keep a watch on the typography trends as they were one of the crucial mobile app UI design trends for 2018.

So, taking the same thought into consideration, let’s end this article with a focus upon top typography trends to watch out for in 2019.

Typography Trends You Should Stick to in 2019

1. Hand-Drawn Fonts are Popular

The foremost typography trend to follow in 2019 is using hand-drawn fonts, i.e, the fonts resembling with our handwriting.

Such fonts are highly preferred by brands like Etsy and Fiverr because of the fact that they add a human touch to the app design and encourages users to connect more easily.

2. Glyphs are Gaining a Huge Momentum

Not only text fonts, but designers are also focusing on a varied set of symbols and non-alphanumeric characters like dividers and icons in their app UI design to enhance the user experience.

3. Font Pairing Will Go Trendy

Another answer to what are the typography trends to focus upon in 2019 is font pairing.

As the name depicts, it’s the practice of using a combination of two or more different font types in a particular design in order to add a surprising element in the content.

4. Variable is the New Responsive

Another typography UI design trend for designers to focus upon this year is to introduce variable fonts.

Unlike the traditional fonts that are static, these fonts showcase content in different smooth yet non-discrete transitions. This makes content more appealing and engaging.

5. Variant Sizes Will Create a Perfect Match

UI designers will also experiment with contrasting fonts this year and for some time to come. They will use the same font in varying sizes to create a ‘hierarchy like impression.

And in this way, direct users to focus more on particular texts instead of giving equal attention to all.

6. Photos Will Go Expressive

In 2019, UI designers are taking another route to deliver visual storytelling experience to their audience. They are adding text and other elements to photos. And in this way, delivering more information in minimal space and that too without making it unpleasant to eyes.

7. Geometric Typefaces Will Take a Lead

Last but not the least, Geometric typefaces will also take a lead in the marketplace this year. The typeface, created with the help of straight lines and round forms, will add a futuristic vibe to your content and make it easy to scan and readable.

It will be highly used in the process of creating branding and logo designs, especially in the field of Science, Technology, and Engineering.

Frequently Asked Questions About Typography in UI Design

1. What is good typography?

Good typography is defined as the one that complements the tone of the design while helping spread the desired message. When talking about picking good typography for any design, there can be more than one option available.

2. What are the principles of typography?

While there are various principles related to typography, the prime ones are:-

Pick typography that enhances the tone of the message.
Pick the Font’s point size according to the design’s perspective.
Set up a Hierarchy.
Pay attention to Spacing and Alignment.
Observe, Get Inspired, and Practice.

3. Is typography an element of design?

Yes, typography is a part of the design. The technique enables designers to present their app content in an engaging and knowledgeable manner – resulting in a better user experience.

4. Why is typography important in graphic design?

Typography is important in graphic design because it:-

Sets a tone/mood to the message,
Encourages visual experience,
Shows professionalism,
Enhances readability,
Boosts sales conversion,
Creates brand recognition.

Here are Tips to Enhance Mobile App Design by Improving Its UI

Posted on 20/03/202015/06/2021 by Tushar

Often, we hear the terms ‘UI’ and ‘UX’ being used in context of websites and mobile applications. Haven’t we all heard or made statements such as ‘I just couldn’t understand the UI of the application so I didn’t install it’ or ‘the UX of the website is so great I keep going back to it.’ What are UI and UX actually and how do they impact a mobile application’s performance? And more importantly, how can mobile application design be enhanced using UI and UX?

This blog will talk about the vital UI and UX aspects of a mobile application and also provide handy tips that are proven to improve an application’s UI and UX.

User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX)

User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) are commonly used interchangeably, but the fact is that UI and UX are quite different from each other. “Design is not what a thing looks like or feels like; design is all about how anything works.” Steve Jobs’ legendary words sum up the co-dependence between UI and UX. A great product design strategy for your mobile app will keep end users’ needs in mind and meet the bottom line of conversion, every time.

Both UI and UX work hand in hand to make interaction with a mobile application as painless and smooth as possible.

User experience refers to the interactive side of a website or application. It governs the kind of experience a user has while interacting with a product. An application having a great UX will put new users to ease and actually encourage them to explore the application. So, UX developers have to actually anticipate how a user will think when they use a product and then design it in such a way that the interaction becomes seamless and intuitive. When talking about a website’s UX, site map, page load, responsiveness, and content are relevant aspects and for apps, navigation and layout are relevant UX aspects.

User Interface on the other hand refers to the visual elements in a website or app. The typography, color schemes, and layout of various design elements are usually a part of UI design. So, if a call-to-action button has to be placed on a webpage, its color and fonts will be decided by the UI developers but its placement, resolution, and functionality will be determined by a UX expert.

So, while UX professionals make designs centered on user’s needs and research, UI professionals create visual designs based on a client’s needs and requirements. But the end objective of both UI and UX is to please website visitors and app users and encourage them to return to the app or website again and again.

Tips to Improve Your Mobile App’s UI

Designing the perfect UX and UI is an art and a science. Your mobile application’s design can make or break its fate. While style certainly can’t beat substance, it’s a definite deal breaker for app users. All users love apps with familiar layouts, quick load times, and seamless experience across devices and screens, cohesive visual elements and strong branding. So, for your app to be a hit, it needs to be appealing inside and out.

Have a Unique app icon

A killer app icon will make your app stand out among the dozens crowding a user’s screen. Facebook, Google and WhatsApp icons are recognizable by people across the globe. Ensure that your app icon reflects your brand’s colors and style. Use the icon consistently across screens and pages and on all marketing collateral. The aim is to forge a strong bond between your brand’s message and its icons so that people make the connection instantly.

Keep in mind the following when designing your app logo:

Either use a unique image or your brand name’s initials in the icon. Your company’s logo is also a good choice as it might already have established repute and visibility in the market.
Avoid incorporating long words in the icon as it affects readability adversely and crowds the screen.
Submit several iterations of the icon while publishing your app.

Prioritize interaction design

Interaction design is an essential aspect of mobile app design. Apps with great interaction design are simple to use and seem like second nature. Users are able to figure out how to use these apps without reading lengthy tutorials or seeing complex demos. Each element of the app just fits together perfectly such that design becomes secondary and functionality gains priority.

The three pillars of interaction design that can enhance your app’s UI are:

Goal-driven design: User research and use case scenarios should be made for numerous situations so that you understand how a user will behave in a particular situation. Your app should not lose users at any point. Since it’s relatively easy to acquire an app from play stores, users don’t hesitate to abandon an app that isn’t meeting their needs instantly and opt for a competitor app. So your UI developers have to only attract visitors but also retain and convert them efficiently through brilliant design and interactivity. Customized workflows have to be designed for different use cases. Familiar navigation and simple layouts are best to guide users to the next steps. Uncluttered typography and contextual content are absolutely essential to maintain attention.
Usability: Usability testing is arguable the most important phase of app development. It allows real users to interact with an app under construction. Careful observation should be made to identify breakpoints and incoherence in the app’s UI. Usability testing should be repeated a number of times with different users and in different environments. This will probably give the most authentic feedback to your developers even before the app hits the market.
Feedback: Users need to be validated after they complete an action, especially new users unfamiliar with an app’s functioning. So, provide timely feedback in the form of visual cues, sounds or prompts as a user performs an action. It’s also a great strategy to include a prompt about the next step they should perform to guide them towards conversion stage.

Reduce, Reduce, Reduce

While mobile applications are becoming the go-to source for every kind of transaction, it’s a harsh truth that people’s attention spans are reducing by the second. Web users have no patience to read walls of text or go through lengthy how-to guides.

Keep your app copy clean and engaging. Also adhere to the context of the content. The aim is not to wow audiences with long, technical terms but to endear them with simple easy to understand content.
Use pictures and icons lavishly. They not only make your app attractive but also occupy less space and are more effective that textual cues. Keep in mind that pictures used should not be generic stock images. They should be customized to platform and screen size and have a comfortable resolution.
Mobile apps have trouble with multitasking. So focus on limited features. Don’t try to accomplish everything with a single app. Remove all extraneous elements and features and make your app screen uncluttered. This will appeal to users and also up your app’s performance.

Concentrate on Responsiveness

Finger-friendly design is a must for mobile applications. Your app should run flawlessly in different devices and screen sizes. Whether this requires tweaking media queries or JavaScript, no stone should be left unturned to keep users engaged when they switch between laptops, smartphones and tablets.
Use images in suitable format that fit the platform on which your app runs. Stretchable graphics are a great choice for Android app design.
Follow platform rules and design for best utilization of the particular platform. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel and create unfamiliar screen controls an interface elements. Take cues from the platform about the look and feel of your app. This will not only reduce redundancy of efforts but also delight users.
Adhere to the UI guidelines prescribed for mobile applications. There are norms for buttons, menus, widgets and every mobile element. All applications are scrutinized for these guidelines by play stores before they are published there.

Know Your Visual Elements

Visual elements such as fonts and colors although a part of UI, contribute substantially to the holistic user experience with an application.

When choosing typography for your app copy, focus on readability rather than attractiveness. The aim is not to distract users from your app’s features by using large, whacky fonts. Too small fonts become miniscule on smaller screen sizes. So, keep font size above 12 pt. at least.
Understand colors thoroughly and use them smartly to enhance visuals and show screen transitions. Fade out between screens will soften screen transitions. Highlighting a button can prompt a user to perform an action. Changing a button’s color after it’s been clicked will show a goal-driven action has been completed.
Use popular icons to show typical actions. For instance, a heart can be used to signify favorites and a tick mark to show completed action. Replacing text with representative icons will help your app’s international users who may not understand your app’s copy.
Keep an eye on app design trends as they keep changing rapidly. Material design, flat design, minimalistic design- choose wisely to give your mobile app a contemporary look.

Designing a mobile app with a great UI is a tough task. It requires years of patience and an in-depth understanding of user psychology. But practice makes perfect. So, keep iterating and testing to get the perfect mobile app design. Anteelo’s skilled UI and UX team has created more than 350 Android apps and iOS apps. We even provide comprehensive design consultancy to audit your app’s design elements and enhance its performance and usability.

How to Successfully Validate an App Idea

Posted on 11/02/201919/06/2021 by Tushar

Getting an app idea is easy.

How many times have you found yourself looking at something – an event, an issue, or simply a situation and thinking how easy it would have been if there was an app for that?

This occurrence which is also known as ‘There should be an app for that’ is something that has almost single-handedly been responsible for the creation of many millions of apps that are operating in the stores today.

But how to put a filter on your closet full of ideas? How do you validate your ideas’ feasibility? How do you answer ‘Is my app idea any good’?

This is where your search ends – the search to know the right app ideation process.

Let us start the piece on what to do with an app idea by getting you acquainted with the six app idea validation process – something that sets the basis of any and every mobile app development process.

The Six Stages of Mobile App Idea Validation

Validating an app idea to ensure that it fits with your future goal is something that cannot simply be attended in some pointers. There are three different parts and rather phases attached to it.

Here are the six steps to verify your app idea –

Phase 1: Finding an app idea

The first answer of how to validate an app idea revolves around finding an app idea. Until and unless you have a few app ideas on you, checking up on its viability will be out of the question. But how do you get an idea? Where should you head out for inspiration?

While it is true that some of the best performing applications today were inspired by real-life challenges, it will be a little boastful to assume that the same would happen to you and you will too get a real-life problem’s solution, although it’d be awesome if you do!

But in case you don’t, here are the ways you can gather some inspiration for your mobility business:

1. Monitor the app stores thoroughly

Start by making a list of your most preferred app categories where you would like to make an entry eventually. Once you have a list ready, review the top applications in there. See what features they have, what is missing, is there some feature that you can offer in your application, which could make yours different from others, etc.

2. Go beyond app stores to app review and listing websites

After you have studied the top ranking apps in the stores thoroughly, move on to looking into the app rating and review websites – ones which contain the details of the new launches in your preferred category. In fact, you should also make use of sites like AngelList or ProductHunt which contain the details of the new businesses that are now entering the domain you are interested in – be it mobile or non-mobile. And see if you can take these businesses on mobile.

3. Attend meetups

The next activity that you can do to get ideas when you are at a stage of a blank slate is attending meetups and conferences where entrepreneurs meet to discuss their idea and find potential people who might be interested in backing their idea.

These meetups are more often than not a well of information and ideas waiting to be brought to the mobility space.

4. Check who is getting funded

The last of the tried and tested way that helps in getting inspiration is seeing who is getting funded – knowing the industries and business models that are now getting attention will give you a clear notion on app idea testing and where the future lies. A piece of information that you will be able to use to place yourself in it.

Phase 2: Researching the viability

Once you have a basic idea of what app category and type you would be interested in to enter the mobility domain with, the next stage comes – checking the idea validation framework whether it is even viable in itself. This is one of the most crucial steps.

Everything from your business’s future to the justification of how much your app costs depends on the amount of research you put into checking your application’s validity in the market.

This phase is what our article is based on. So, we will be looking at it in much detail sometime later.

Phase 3: Analyze the market fit

After you have known about the app concept validation, the last step before you enter the mobile app development process cycle would be to analyze what the market would demand from your application.

This stage would mainly deal with two things – your app’s feature set and its business model. Make a note of your competitors’ features and see which all you can combine and put in your one application.

Now that we have looked at all the three stages, let us get to the main section of the article, as promised in Stage 2 – How to Validate an App Idea.

Well, here are the Effective Strategies to Validate Innovative App Ideas.

Phase 4: Creating MVP

When you know about your rivals by analyzing the existing applications, acquiring the genuine need of your target audience by studying the market, and hearing the problem areas of the users; you are totally clear in your mind about the application that you will create and features that you will add.

After getting to know the basics and the requirements, you need to consider making a minimum viable product. Make a completely functional MVP and send it out for testing with just the main features to see how it functions in the real world.

Phase 5: Creating digital prototype

When you are finished with all the phases, then you have a reasonable idea of what you are going to create and thus now it’s time for the formation of a digital prototype. Models characterize the flow of design and how it will function before the development of the application. When your prototype is prepared you can do iterations to test the effectiveness of your mobile app and roll out the necessary changes in the design stage to avoid iterating the complete application development cycle and saving time too.

Phase 6: Final design creation

After all the phases are finished and all things arranged, you simply require to draft the last application design and voila! Your application is in the market providing you profits. The design needs approval by the customers who will utilize it, however a design sprint can help you in such cases if getting customer approval is hard for you. Start by testing the design by three or four users, getting feedback from them and executing on the feedback. After this you can dispatch a beta version by permitting only a few customers to join and sign up, and get the insights about their experience to make the end result and launch your application.

Ways To Validate An App Idea

Validating your application idea is a process which takes up multiple steps and time, efforts to become fruitful. Let us look at some of the top ways that can be applied to answer how to validate app idea, whether there is any idea validation tool or is it manual process?

1. Talk to the targeted users

Reaching out to your targeted app users can be your first step to introduce your app to the world. But how do you know whom to contact?

Well, the first thing that you will have to do is create user personas. The benefits of user personas creation ripple down to a number of other app development stages as well. You will have to define your user group in a way that you have a clear understanding of how your app would be used by the people – the features that would be preferred, the layout that will be applied, etc.

Once you have identified the user type who would interact with your app once it’s launched, the next step would be to get your app idea to reach them – the stage that plays a crucial role in finding an answer on how to know if your mobile app idea will be successful.

There are multiple ways to do that.

You can create a survey around your app’s features and send it across to your pool of prospective users to measure their interest rate in your idea. The ways you can reach your users are – A. Through Social Media Ads B. Through Community based Websites like Reddit, Quora, etc. C. Through Connecting with them via Blog comments that they have commented on.

The idea of this stage is to help find answers to the following questions:

How significant is the problem that you are out to solve?
How often does your user group face the issue?
How satisfied are they with the present solution to their problem?
Is the solution that your app is offering something they would be willing to pay for today or in the future?

2. Study the stores

With millions and millions of applications being present in both App Store and Play Store, it can be quite a task in itself to find out your competitors – those operating on the same business model as yours and those who are working on your prime most feature.

Doing a competitive analysis of your mobile app is not easy. There are a number of applications that you will have to peruse and a great number of features you will have to make a list of.

To make it easy on you, here’s a short point by point process to help you understand the track that you will have to follow when doing competitor research and also to answer how to find out if your app idea exists.

Step 1: Start with putting your preferred category name in the search box of the store and see the apps coming in until two scrolls.

Step 2: Enter the keywords that you think your users will put in to find your app in the stores and put them in the search box, individually as well. Make a list again of the apps coming up till two scrolls.

Step 3: Make a comprehensive list of their feature set – see which are common and which are not.

Step 4: Study their reviews and ratings to see how users are interacting with their application, what they are liking and what not, etc.

3. Do keywords research

This step is your way out to understand what people are talking about your category. The mode to gauge if there is an interest in your application – a stage that will help give you a clarification of I have an app idea where do I start?

To start with, you will first have to list out 15-20 words or phrases which you think people will search for to arrive at your application and offerings. Once you have the list ready, put it in tools like Google AdWords or Moz keyword explorer to see the traction the words are getting. The search volume there will tell you whether or not people are looking for an idea like your application.

The information that you will find here would be a clear sign of how attractive your app idea is in the market presently. Also, the list of keywords that you are able to create at this stage will come in handy in a number of other steps later as well, like in case of ASO or when promoting your app outside of the stores. In fact, the step will also get you closer to find app developers specializing in your preferred domain.

4. Create a landing page

It is time to utilize the network you must have created during the survey and social media process.

Make a landing page (otherwise known as a single page website like document) to pass on to people you had reached out to earlier and people whose attention you will acquire next. The idea of it will be to see if at all people are interacting with your mobile app idea.

Tracking of which can be easily done by linking your microsite or landing page to MixPanel or Google Analytics. Also, remember to shorten the link using Bitly or URLBuilder to see how many times the link was clicked.

Other than this, when we talk about the basic things that should be present in your landing page, it looks something like this –

Description of your application
Screenshots or mockups
eMail subscription form

The tools that you would be requiring for creating a ready to be shared landing page includes:

For Creating Pages – Unbounce, LanderApp, Launchrock, Lead Pages, QuickMVP

For Designing Screenshots and Icons – LaunchKit.io

5. Upload rough version of the app on review websites

There are a number of websites where you can submit in your app idea – like ProductHunt or AngelList, etc. So, put in your idea there and see how other entrepreneurs and general new business enthusiasts are reacting to it.

You don’t necessarily need a prototype to use this approach. These sites even let you open pages where you can put in your app’s description and probable list of features that you have envisioned for them. So, make use of these websites to showcase and promote your app idea to the world.

6. Understand the size of your target market

To know your target size you need to first make a list of keywords that are related with your application idea. Then add these keywords to the Google keyword planner tool or any other keyword planner tool. The tool will provide the normal monthly searches that these keywords are getting locally and worldwide. The higher the quantity of searches, the more will be the demand for the services related with your application idea.

Now that we have looked at the ways you can validate your mobile app in the market, it is time to look into the different approaches you should follow to get your app idea across to the potential pool of users – something that would require the help of a mobile app development agency.

Approaches to Check the Viability of Your App Idea

When it comes to transforming your app idea into approaches or ways that can be shared for the world to explore and dissect in detail, there are three methods that come up – MVP, POC, and Prototype.

Let us look at all the three approaches in a little detail now.

Proof of concept (POC)

It is a small version of the project which is used mostly for in-house distribution of the app idea as compared to showcasing it to the other stakeholders. Usability is not something that is given much attention at this stage.

The intent of this approach is to see how the idea is looking inside a mobile app, at a very raw level. It helps mobile app developers understand what flow should be kept and how long will it take. In fact, POC is the stage which plays a very important role in determining how long does it take to develop a mobile app.

Mobile app prototype

While the intent of POC is to show that a feature can be added in the app, Prototype shows how it can be done. A prototype is basically an interactive model of the end product which communicates the navigation and design of your application, which can be made using a number of tools.

It helps your stakeholders visualize how your app would function while showcasing the user flow and giving everyone the idea of the layout and design. Mainly, it is designed by mobile application builders for determining the feasibility of the app but does not represent a final product. The fact that it highlights the issues at the semi-early stage of the mobile app development process makes it easy to fit in the solution from early on as well.

Minimum viable product (MVP)

MVPs are your best shot answer to know how to develop an app idea. It is a minimal form of your mobile application which is shared in the market to test. MVP helps in understanding how exactly are your users interacting with the app. While prototyping helps in solving issues which arise at the start of the development process, the intended outcome of MVPs is for identifying the pain point of the users and some time to get funding from investors.

They are used to verify the following things:

Viability of the product
Assumptions which the team had made about the product
Market demand
Usability

Ultimately, MVPs are used to provide immediate value while keeping the mobile app development cost to a minimum – all the while giving you the possibility of iterating your app development process stage by stage.

Build your brand recognition

After creating and evaluating your MVP effectively, you ought to build up your brand image. Having all-new information every day, a current approved application idea could be invalid tomorrow – we don’t have to remind that, those who are not remembered are not seen – thus you should act quickly and develop your brand recognition.

Above all, your brand image and related things should convey the essence you wish to bring to your application. Arranging about better visual design and identity could guarantee your approval publicly, beside assisting individuals grasp the worth and functionalities of your application idea without any problem.

So here was everything that you needed to get started with the stages of app idea validation – things that would be needed to get your idea off the ground and in the market. In the end, it all depends on how unique yet needed your offered solution is and how many people you are able to reach out to validate your mobile app idea.

The next step? More research.

Now that you have a valid app idea, the next idea is to find the right mobile app development outsourcing partner.

Get Your SaaS Business on Mobile App: A Guide

Posted on 20/01/201917/06/2021 by Tushar

There are a number of benefits that come entailed with the integration of SaaS mobile app development within an enterprise solution, benefits ranging from low cost, easy maintenance, zero space invasion, and the freedom from worrying about system upgrades, amongst others.

While these are the customer/enterprise side benefits, for the SaaS vendors, the benefits are equally attractive – Easy expansion to the foreign market, Service delivery automation, and zero chances of piracy, among a number of others.

All these reasons along with a lot many others have created a huge demand for the SaaS offerings for easing the processes of millions of SMBs around the world.

The demand that comes with a huge revenue generation capability, has grown manifold with the advent of mobile apps.

In this article, we will be giving you insights on how you can start a mobile SaaS business and be an amazing value offerer.

But before we do, it’s time to get back to the basics –

What is SaaS?

Commonly referred to as on-demand software, SaaS can be defined as the software distribution model where a service provider hosts the software for their customers and make it available to them through the internet.

Because of the ease of access that SaaS offers, it has become a popular delivery model for a number of different business applications along with being incorporated in the delivery strategy of the enterprise software vendors – a popularity that has increased the offerings market share to a great extent.

There are a number of different SaaS application ideas which are being offered as part of business applications, such as – sending and receiving email, team collaboration, billing/payroll processing, customer relationship management (CRM), sales management, financial management, human resources management, enterprise resourcing planning (ERP), database management, document management, and content management.

Here are some of the most common uses of SaaS among the many SMBs around the globe –

The use cases of SaaS that we just saw are now slowly making a transition on mobile.

Mobile SaaS applications are what is soon replacing the traditional SaaS model. Businesses – both that are already an established name in the industry and those that are planning to enter the flourishing market, alike are investing heavily in the development or expansion of their SaaS offering on mobile.

This article is for both – Entrepreneurs who are just starting with Mobile SaaS and Businesses who are planning to expand their SaaS offering on mobile.

But before we move on to the guide, let us first look at the Mobile SaaS applications market – the growth tangent it is on and the reason behind that.

The Rise of Mobile SaaS Applications

There are a number of SaaS businesses that are moving on mobile with the hope of increasing their active users and user engagement count along with the benefit of making their business a common name in the corporate world.

Here are some statistics that prove how big the market for Mobile SaaS companies already is and going to be in a few years time:

Mobile SaaS is taking over a number of brands belonging to the small and medium enterprise level, across industries. Factors like increased user base and easier deployment have been driving the businesses who are in the SaaS domain or are willing to enter the space, expand their business plan to mobile apps.

Let us, deep dive, into the benefits that investing in SaaS application development services provides to businesses, instead of looking at it from a superficial level.

Reasons Why Your SaaS Business Need a Mobile App

There are a number of reasons why you should invest in a sound SaaS application development company, here are a few of them –

1.To Make it Accessible

Greater accessibility lies at the core of the mobile app concept. The moment you expand your business website to mobile in form of an app which does not function as an extension of your website but as its complementary addition, you open your business’s avenues to a greater audience who are practically against the idea of switching on their laptop to work the moment they get home.

By presenting your SaaS offering on the mediums that the world is comfortable being available on, you help businesses who then partner with you to be available at all times.

2. To Increase the Active User Count

When you look at the percent of users who are active on your software in typical office hours versus those who are active beyond the fixed office hours, you will see a declining value. Now whether you are a new entrant or a SaaS brand that has been in the market for a long time, a dwindling active user count is never good.

But when you bring your software on mobile, you give the thousands of businesses and their million employees an option to be available on a 24*7 mode – the need of every present-day business – on a device that stays active every waking hour of their day.

3. To Save on the Business Boosting Costs

It is no surprise that mobile apps reduce the cost of marketing, advertising, and keeping a staff just to keep users updated with the service. When you move your business to mobile, you are able to send out notifications and messages in a more real-time as opposed to being active on a website or desktop application, where multiple actions are happening at any given time, making the notification and message ignorance rate high. But the same when sent on mobile increases the engagement rate to a much greater rate. The heightened probability of user engagement that apps get you increases the probability of becoming more profitable.

4.To Have a Competitor Advantage

There are a number of SaaS agencies that have still not expanded to mobile, so the mobile landscape is still very open for the SaaS brands in terms of competition and it is presenting itself as a golden opportunity for businesses that are just starting their Software as a Service business. By becoming available to the users on the device they are most active on, before the other brands, your SaaS business development graph would automatically gain a high user base and an automatic competitor advantage.

Now that it has been established that your SaaS business needs a mobile app, let us now look at the platform you should focus on. If you have an idea of the mobile app ecosystem, you would know that there are three types of app choices that SaaS mobile app developers give you, which your businesses can choose from – Native, Hybrid, and Web.

Native vs Hybrid vs Web: Which Mobile App Should Mobile SaaS Companies choose

While there is no one answer of whether to choose Native, Hybrid, or Web for your mobile app expansion, as they all come with their share of pros and cons, there are factors that can help you decide which option to go for.

Before we get into them, it is apt to look at what differentiates the three mobile app types.

Native Apps: Native applications is deemed to be the best of the lot. The app type is known for its superior quality and better performance, along with giving businesses a direct link to the users’ devices. The idea of Native App is that the mobile application should be downloadable through the Play Store and App Store and give a direct access to the users’ device functionalities like Camera, Microphone, Contact etc.

Hybrid Apps: A mix of both Native and Web app, Hybrid apps appear as Native app but are actually web app that consists of Native UI elements which allow them to interact with the device’s functionalities, something that is missing in the case of Web applications.

Web Apps: It is a mobile application that users can access through the web when they go online. Since it is not a standalone application, it is not available on the stores to download and becomes dependent on the internet connection to function.

With the high-level meaning of all the three mobile app types now attended to, let us look into the factors that differentiate them.

Now that you have seen the contextual difference between the three types of mobile apps, it is time to look into which app type would be best suited for your SaaS mobile app. The answer lies in the functionality you are offering through your mobile app.

If the functionality calls for an online, real-time update with a lot less reliability on the device’s functionalities, go with Web or Hybrid apps. And if the app gives a focus on the superior experience or includes media sharing, go with Native app type.

Now that we have looked into the app type that would be best suited for Mobile SaaS companies, it is time to help you get an answer to a factor that would contribute to the future of your SaaS business – The Pricing Strategy.

What Pricing Strategy Should You Fix For Your Mobile SaaS App

Pricing is a very tricky nut to crack when you are starting your SaaS business. You don’t want to keep it very low to appear as a low-functionality, easy to be slid application and the same time you don’t want to keep it very high so that it becomes out of reach of the thousands of SMBs around the world.

Like the app type choice, there is no fixed answer to this, but what helps is knowing the different pricing strategies that you do have.

Let us look at some of the Mobile SaaS Pricing Strategies that are being followed by most of the SaaS brands.

A.Per User Pricing

One of the most SaaS pricing models, Per User Pricing is where you ask businesses to pay according to the number of users.

B.Per Storage Pricing

Offered by brands like Google and Dropbox, you pay a certain amount for utilizing X amount of storage and the moment space is utilized, you ask businesses to pay to use more space.

C. Feature-Based Pricing

In this case, you charge businesses on the basis of features that you are offering and they require. Here you set an advanced level of every feature and ask businesses to pay more depending on their growing requirement.

D. Freemium

Under this mobile SaaS pricing model, you offer the best features of your software to the businesses for free and then ask them to upgrade if they wish to avail the add-on services.

So here was your list of pricing strategy that you can find the majority of your Mobile SaaS apps following and now it depends entirely on your business model that which pricing strategy you think would best align with.

Now that we have looked at the things or factors that should be considered when building a mobile SaaS app, it is time to look into the factors that should be avoided at all costs. Because ultimately, the number of desktop SaaS users are a lot more than mobile users. And the reason behind this difference is the mistakes that SaaS businesses make when going mobile.

Here’s what those mistakes are:

Mistakes To Avoid When Starting a Mobile SaaS Business

While it is understandable that the complex functions a user can achieve through desktop or laptop are difficult to achieve through a mobile screen, it is nevertheless important to understand the actions your SaaS users would perform outside the office and ensure that your mobile SaaS is prepared for them.

When you make a Mobile SaaS with this aim, your app automatically comes one step closer to becoming a hit. Here are the mistakes that you should avoid in order to ensure that your business is offering the best solution to mobile users.

1. Thinking Responsive Websites are Enough for going “Mobile”

There are many SaaS-based companies who believe that offering responsive websites to the users solve the purpose of going Mobile and is enough to support the demand of the on the go businesses. But is it enough? No. When you develop a mobile app, you give users a mobile-centric experience that has been designed around their device and operating system. It offers them accessibility and speed that is impossible to be achieved through responsive websites.

2. Making a Mobile SaaS app just for the sake of it

There are a number of businesses who have a strong desktop user base and taking their mobile counterpart not so seriously, they don’t invest in the proper development of the mobile SaaS app. What they fail to understand that with a failed, unplanned mobile app they are putting their desktop SaaS product image at risk as well. The need of the hour for SaaS businesses starting with or expanding in the mobile ecosystem is to not deliver a low performing, buggy app but getting it developed from experience SaaS application development company, that understands the difference between the web and mobile experience and have a clear understanding of which events should a mobile app attend and which should be restricted to the desktop version.

3. Personalize the Experience According to Mobility based Use Case

There are a number of functions that a user can perform on a desktop SaaS but the mobility needs would be very restricted and ones requiring a quick in and out time. So you will have to identify the tasks first and then plan a mobile app around it instead of putting all the desktop features inside the limited space mobile app. With this, we have looked at the factors to be considered when starting a mobile SaaS business and the ones that should be avoided. Next, we will look at the challenges that you will have to overcome in order to become a valuable Mobile SaaS business entity of the industry.

Challenges Associated with Mobile SaaS

There are a number of challenges related to Mobile SaaS integration that are keeping businesses away from exploring them to the core. While some are at a more organizational level like making the employees use a mobile app in addition to the core desktop version, there are some at the functional level as well.

1. Data Related

SaaS Integration, whether on desktop or mobile has to deal with a great amount of data coming in from millions of users. In a scenario like this, it is important that you have proper data control, management, and security infrastructure in place. While developing a SaaS Mobile app we ensure that the ecosystem we are using and the cloud integration we are applying is hackproof. We also maintain a strong backup in case the data is taking time to be fetched so that there is zero time lag for hackers to enter the system.

2. Testing Related

One of the biggest challenge associated with Mobile SaaS apps is testing the apps. Here are some of the testing specific challenges that you may encounter –

Quick validation round for constant updates
Inability to authenticate the interface specific component in the backend
Difficulty in verifying security because of multiple data format
Mobile app not following any standards
Complexities at time of data transfer confirmation between a business and SaaS mobile app

Here’s how we solve these challenges at Anteelo –

We use automation tools for testing our SaaS application to avoid the issues associated with constant updates.
We segregate problem areas by categorizing them according to severity.
We apply hack-proof encryption algos for unbreakable security.
We develop standardized test cases and then validate them on basis of priority.
We thoroughly check the transfer of the data between the network, companies, and SaaS apps.

With this, we have now come to a point in the article where you are contextually prepared to start your SaaS business on mobile. The last thing that is left for you to know is the SaaS app development cost.

How Much Would It Cost You To Develop a SaaS System

If you break down the Mobile SaaS applications cost, you will get Five elements:

Coding and Development
Integration of Other Systems in the App
Building Tests
Alpha and Beta Testing
Marketing and Release

Noting the work that would go into the development of your SaaS system, the cost that you should be ready to pay would be somewhere in the range of $50k to $250k.

With this, you have read it all – The Mobile SaaS Market, the Benefit of taking the Mobile route, the Factors to consider and avoid, and the Cost of Mobile SaaS development. The only step left for you to take now is to get in touch with our mobile app development team and start your Mobile SaaS journey and make yours a SaaS based mobile app example.

Basics of Integrated Information Architecture in UX design

Posted on 03/10/201819/06/2021 by Tushar

Your website may have a lot to convey but if the content is not structured properly on your website it could mean people leaving your website soon after landing on it. It is no secret that websites that do well have been designed well and the information on them is easily accessible. However, it needs to be acknowledged that such websites cannot be created overnight and requires a lot of planning.

Well- planned Information Architecture is the secret sauce here that can be the difference between a website that is high on bounce rates and a website that has visitors staying on it for a long time.

By now youâ€™re are probably thinking â€“ But isnâ€™t Information Architecture just another fancy word for UX and UI design?

The answer is No. Information Architecture is the scientific process of structuring the content that needs to be displayed on a website. IA helps to create a blueprint that will outline the hierarchy of information on your website and also tell you about what to highlight or how much to display.

IA helps to organize a websiteâ€™s content in such a way that it helps a user to easily find it and use it.

UX on the other hand has a much broader umbrella under which IA is also included.Â

Thus to sum up, Information Architecture is responsible for ensuring that there a good user interface in place and it is the starting point for UX design.

Here are five innovative tips that will help you integrate Information Architecture into UX design.

Keep the goals of your products in mind

Before you start constructing your information architecture you need to be clear about the expectations of your users from your website or app. This means that you should be able to see the bigger picture of what is the end goal of whatever is being offered on the website. There should be a clearly outlined product objective and product strategy that is understood by all the members of the creative team. Understanding of objectives means that there is a clear understanding of what to do and where to begin. When goals are clearly outlined, it helps to get all the teams on the same page and designers can get started without the possibility of wasted man hours due to clarity of targets to achieve.

Consider Gestalt principles of Psychology

Cognitive Psychology involves the study of the mind and mental processes which help people to acquire, process and store information in the brain.

Familiarity with psychological principles can help designers create designs that will facilitate users performing those actions that are desired of them. For example â€“ making a purchase.

There are psychological principles known as the Gestalt principles that can help designers come up with effective designs.

These principles are

Similarity: Objects that look somewhat similar are going to be perceived as part of the same group. This similarity could on the basis of shape, colour, size, texture or value. This similarity helps users to see unity between the design features. The different circular tabs on the website which talk about the different areas that the WWF works on is are examples of the principle of similarity.

Continuation: This principle talks about the flow of the human eye from one object to another. Elements that are arranged in a continuous line are considered by the brain as grouped together. In UI design, the continuity principle helps draw attention to grouped information that will create smoothness on a page and help a reader to move from one content slice to another. Amazon uses the principle of continuity to communicate that each of the products below are similar and related to each other.

Closure:Â The principle of closure works on the human eyeâ€™s ability to close a shape or perceive a shape as complete even though the image or shape might not be complete by mentally filling in the missing pieces of the shape. Artists have long recognized the ability of the human mind to complete an incomplete image and used this in their art. The logo of the World Wildlife Fund www.worldwildlife.orgÂ isÂ Â an example of the closure principle.

Proximity:Â The principle of proximity says that when objects are placed next to each other, the human eye sees them together as a group even though the elements might not be related to each other. Lines or shapes can be used in UI to surround elements and create proximity. For e.g. putting words and a picture in a box can give the message to the brain that both are in proximity to each other and hence related. Pinterest uses the principle of proximity to great effect to group images together and create the impression that all the images are related to each other although they are not.

Figure/Ground: This principle concludes that the human eye will separate an object from its background and thus highlight the correlation between an object and the space surrounding it.Â AngelList does a very good job with the figure-ground principle and tells us that the focus should be on the white on top of the black background.

Using the principles above designers have created powerful content that draws in visitors from the word go.

Plot the navigation system

Navigation can be defined as a number of steps and procedures that guides users through an app or website to explore the various parts of the website or app and complete a successful interaction on the site where their goals are fulfilled.Â When it comes to Information Architecture, users should be able to move seamlessly through content on the website or app.

So, navigation is inherently dependent on good IA.

Create Personas

Different people with different personalities will visit your website or app. Creating personalities or personasâ€™ which are hypothetical representations of the people who will visit your website or app is also a good way to find out how to best position the content on the site.

Based on your research you can create these personas of different users who will visit your website or app for their different needs. These personas will help you understand the needs, aspirations, behaviour and targets of your real customers. The personas will help broaden your horizons about the different kinds of consumers that are out there and help you relate to them. Using personas will ease the process of designing and also help create a good UX for your target users.

Integrate Principles of Visual Hierarchy

The main agenda of visual hierarchy is to ensure that content on a website or an app is designed in such a way that the user on the site understands the amount of importance that needs to be assigned to each block of content on their own.

This technique takes advantage of the fact that the brain differentiates between objects based on things such as size, colour, alignment and contrast.

Visual hierarchy is of utmost importance in interpreting the content on a website or app and also enhancing the visual performance on the site.

One of the core aspects of visual hierarchy that designers should keep in mind while working on the web pages is the scanning patterns of people as studies have shown that people first scan a web page before reading it.

Designers who familiarize themselves with the principles of visual hierarchy can create an information architecture that will integrate vital elements of content on the areas that are most scanned and thus drive users towards taking the desired actions.

Conclusion

It is important for you to understand the people donâ€™t want to wade through a maze of ambiguous content to finally reach what they need and this means that they should easily get access to whatever it is that they have come for in the first place. Here, information architecture is key to building an interface that will give your users exactly the kind of value that they are looking for. Remember, good information architecture and good UX design are mutually inclusive.