Guide to UI/UX design process - SouthIndus Labs

What is UI/UX design process? Everything about UI/UX.

Do you feel unhappy when you open a screen and see bold colors and text? How many times have you opened an application and see the buttons floating? What do you do when you are face issue related to design? The outcome is almost always app uninstall.

What really is UI Design?

The abbreviation UI stands for User Interface. It is the process through which the users can interact with digital solutions. It aims towards easy, enjoyable and effective interactions between apps and users. It enables users to interact with different devices. The primary goal is to provide the best interaction possible.

What really is UX Design?

The abbreviation UX stands for User experience. The whole idea of UX is to provide a complete system to provide the best experience for the user. The user experience is the most important step that determines the platform success and user’s point of view.

Importance of UI/UX Design for Mobile Apps

• User needs fast results

What user wants is fast results with less effort. Their needs are unique and a well-designed UX brings exactly that. This can be achieved by minimal content, easy navigation and by ensuring continuity and consistency.

• Ensures smooth usability

The user should have easy navigation and smooth functioning. It not only improves application workflow but also the visual representation.

• Attract users

A good design grabs the user attention and ensure they spend more time on it.

• Increased traffic

A good UI/UX makes the user stay for longer. It helps in explore the pre-decided target and transform the users into valuable customers.

Best UI / UX Practices for App development

• Color Palette

Your app color scheme plays a significant role in making it lucrative. It is important to make it simple and sophisticated to give that rich appeal.

• Loading speed 

More loading time means increasing bounce rate. The design should be light and easy to use.

• Content 

The designers make sure that the content should be valuable and conveys the message. It is important to keep uniformity of icons shapes, size and width.

• Interactivity 

An engaging and responsive platform offers smooth navigation.

• Typography 

Minimalist approach using one consistent typeface is important for your app. Using different and multiple typography can ruin the app.

• Screen size 

It is important to consider the varying screen size of the app.

• Navigation 

Focus should be on simple navigation design for the app. Reducing the search efforts of the user to find the content more quickly is satisfactory for users which can lead to high conversion rates.

Top 5 Steps of UI/UX Design Process

The UI / UX design process is a methodology that guides you to create the best possible user interface for your business. The entire UI/UX design process can be divided into 5 phases as described below:

1. Product Definition

This is the first phase involved in the user design process. It is important to enlighten the UI / UX designers about the requirements of the app development. The team members involved in this phase are design team, business manager and product manager. This leads to creation of following:

• User Stories
• User Personas
• Use case diagrams

2. Research

Researching is the most critical element for the designer. There are three main functions involved in this phase:

• Understanding the competition
• Thoroughly studying the existing domain
• Understanding design principles and latest UI/UX trends

3. Analysis

With the help of research data, the designer creates:

• Hypothetical personas: It allows to depict the realistic representation of the ultimate product. The team can figure out how will it look finally.
• Experience maps: It shows the user flows within your final product. It is done through interactions with client in the product definition phase.

4. Design

In this process, the ideas are finally given life. The significant outcomes of this particular phase are:

• Sketching: In this process, the designers usually make handmade sketches to visualize the concepts in simple terms.
• Wireframes:This is usually a page hierarchy and the elements of the product. It is called the skeleton of the design.
• Prototypes: Prototypes are similar to simulator. They give the feel of the design.
• Design Specifications: This includes the user flow and task flow diagrams and processes to create amazing user experience.

5. Validation or Testing

The main objective of usability testing is to determine the following factors:

• To find out how users can interact with your product.
• To save money and time by fixing the issues later.
• To improve usability and boost conversions.
• To discover how and where users get confused.

Conclusion

For creating amazing UX/UI interfaces, one requires to follow a systematic and organized approach. A UI/UX design process strategy will help you in achieving the same.

The entire design team will be playing their part in the process. This is one of the best ways to retain your existing customers and attract new ones in this highly competitive world.

Contact us for your next leading UI/UX project.