7 blunders that mobile app designers should Avoid

Ever had an app idea that felt like a stroke of genius but turned out to be a complete disaster? It’s easy to see why there are so many bad apps floating around: designers have different expectations, developers lack clarity about what their role is, and most importantly, app users often don’t appreciate their designer for the effort he or she put in.

So, why does the design sector so often get it wrong? This article – which we hope will serve as a helpful guide for those just starting in the industry – takes you through seven blunders that could have been avoided if the designer had done a better job at the beginning planning stages.

Whether you’re just getting started with your ideas or want to avoid making the same mistakes others have made before you – here are 7 blunders developers should avoid.

1. Lethargic Impression

Most designers come from a design background. And while it’s important to have a good understanding of how the design process works and what you are currently creating, it is also vital to understand exactly what your app is for.

Prepare for a rough ride if your fantastic idea turns out to be an abject failure. You might decide against releasing the app in its current form because you realized it wasn’t right for the market or – even worse – that you didn’t know why exactly the project even started.

2. An app with no purpose

If you’re brainstorming your brilliant idea, you might be thinking of a mobile app that does not have any real purpose. It’s easy to get carried away by the idea of designing an app with no obvious use or purpose because who doesn’t want to make a millionaire overnight? But before you even go any further and begin to develop it, ask yourself this question: “does the app need to exist?”

You should be asking yourself this before you start developing certain apps. There are some brilliant examples of businesses that prototype ideas without any real goal in mind – such as Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

3. Cramming Aesthetics

The first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word “app” is its aesthetics. Of course, having a beautifully designed app is important, but it won’t necessarily help your app stand out from the rest of them in the market.

While you might want to make sure that your app has a design and aesthetic that will speak to users visually, aesthetics alone will not be enough. You need an interactive element that users can interact with – even if it’s just playing a game or moving through an animation – to engage them and make them feel special.

4. Missing app goals

Mobile apps aren’t well-defined ideas such as Facebook or Instagram, where design and functionality are pretty much the same things. While it’s important to keep this in mind, you should also understand what your app does before you begin to plan out its visual representation. Otherwise, you might end up with something that doesn’t do what it is supposed to do properly.

Some people will just create an app for the sake of making an app; others will try to make an app that matches their company’s culture more effectively through naming, visuals, and interface design. And some simply build their idea based on how the graphic designer designed them – which can lead to failure if they don’t understand what they want from the start.

5. Notifications Abuse

You can’t just make an app that users can ignore by simply tapping on the notification that pops up now and then. Users will always want to know what’s happening in your app, whether they’re active or not. Let your mobile app be useful to your users, even if they haven’t chosen to use it yet.

6. Too complicated app design

Maybe you’ve heard the phrase “keep it simple” a thousand times, but how do you do it? A lot of designers get this far and then give up on the idea because they don’t know how to create a complex app that isn’t cluttered.

The answer is quite simple: try to keep each screen as simple as possible; and if you can’t, try to line up your screens from one end of the app to the other based on priority. The most important things should be at the beginning and the end. The result will be an app that contains all of the information that users need – with only those items that are highly relevant to them.

7. Insufficient beta testing

You might be quite proud of your work – and rightly so. But if you created an app that simply doesn’t work properly, you’ll need to hire someone to test it out before the official launch date.

And if you think about it, who knows your app better than yourself? If you don’t think it’s that important for your users to sign up with Facebook, maybe they will want to log in through Twitter or Instagram instead. You just won’t know unless you test it out with a few beta testers first.

7 blunders that mobile app designers should never make

Ever had an app idea that felt like a stroke of genius but turned out to be a complete disaster? It’s easy to see why there are so many bad apps floating around: designers have different expectations, developers lack clarity about what their role is, and most importantly, app users often don’t appreciate their designer for the effort he or she put in.

So, why does the design sector so often get it wrong? This article – which we hope will serve as a helpful guide for those just starting in the industry – takes you through seven blunders that could have been avoided if the designer had done a better job at the beginning planning stages.

Whether you’re just getting started with your ideas or want to avoid making the same mistakes others have made before you – here are 7 blunders developers should avoid.

1. Lethargic Impression

Most designers come from a design background. And while it’s important to have a good understanding of how the design process works and what you are currently creating, it is also vital to understand exactly what your app is for.

Prepare for a rough ride if your fantastic idea turns out to be an abject failure. You might decide against releasing the app in its current form because you realized it wasn’t right for the market or – even worse – that you didn’t know why exactly the project even started.

2. An app with no purpose

If you’re brainstorming your brilliant idea, you might be thinking of a mobile app that does not have any real purpose. It’s easy to get carried away by the idea of designing an app with no obvious use or purpose because who doesn’t want to make a millionaire overnight? But before you even go any further and begin to develop it, ask yourself this question: “does the app need to exist?”

You should be asking yourself this before you start developing certain apps. There are some brilliant examples of businesses that prototype ideas without any real goal in mind – such as Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

3. Cramming Aesthetics

The first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word “app” is its aesthetics. Of course, having a beautifully designed app is important, but it won’t necessarily help your app stand out from the rest of them in the market.

While you might want to make sure that your app has a design and aesthetic that will speak to users visually, aesthetics alone will not be enough. You need an interactive element that users can interact with – even if it’s just playing a game or moving through an animation – to engage them and make them feel special.

4. Missing app goals

Mobile apps aren’t well-defined ideas such as Facebook or Instagram, where design and functionality are pretty much the same things. While it’s important to keep this in mind, you should also understand what your app does before you begin to plan out its visual representation. Otherwise, you might end up with something that doesn’t do what it is supposed to do properly.

Some people will just create an app for the sake of making an app; others will try to make an app that matches their company’s culture more effectively through naming, visuals, and interface design. And some simply build their idea based on how the graphic designer designed them – which can lead to failure if they don’t understand what they want from the start.

5. Notifications Abuse

You can’t just make an app that users can ignore by simply tapping on the notification that pops up now and then. Users will always want to know what’s happening in your app, whether they’re active or not. Let your mobile app be useful to your users, even if they haven’t chosen to use it yet.

6. Too complicated app design

Maybe you’ve heard the phrase “keep it simple” a thousand times, but how do you do it? A lot of designers get this far and then give up on the idea because they don’t know how to create a complex app that isn’t cluttered.

The answer is quite simple: try to keep each screen as simple as possible; and if you can’t, try to line up your screens from one end of the app to the other based on priority. The most important things should be at the beginning and the end. The result will be an app that contains all of the information that users need – with only those items that are highly relevant to them.

7. Insufficient beta testing

You might be quite proud of your work – and rightly so. But if you created an app that simply doesn’t work properly, you’ll need to hire someone to test it out before the official launch date.

And if you think about it, who knows your app better than yourself? If you don’t think it’s that important for your users to sign up with Facebook, maybe they will want to log in through Twitter or Instagram instead. You just won’t know unless you test it out with a few beta testers first.