How Mobile App Designs Are Leveraging The Web Designs

2015-01-12T09:49:00+00:00

By observing the current design trends, it can be said that the mobile designs are certainly influencing the web designs.

The UI design for the mobile applications as well as the web applications is converging to efficiently cater to the growing needs of technology and its consumers. The usage of advanced mobile devices like Smartphones and tablets for accessing the Internet is substantially rising. And, it thus can be anticipated that in the coming future, the mobile traffic will pass the desktop traffic.

Therefore, it has become more than imperative for businesses to ensure a trendy and updated presence to reach both mobile users and desktop users. And, as the mobile and web both continue to unite together, designers are making strives to improve user experience by making them more relevant with better and common designing strategies. This will help users consistently and seamlessly access the mobile apps and web apps via a mobile device.

The improved web UI design is also influenced by responsive design and touchscreen devices that are used for accessing the web. This also represents how the proliferating mobile usage has contributed to the current design trend.

Let's ponder into the factors that are greatly contributing to the convergence of web app designs and mobile app designs.

1. A Plethora of Touchscreen Devices
Truckloads of touchscreen devices are available out there, including Smartphones, tablets, hybrids, etc. The larger touchscreen devices demand somehow a different design approach than the smaller touchscreen devices, since there are certain key differences between them. Thus, in order to effectively and efficiently design the apps to target the larger touch screens, you will need to keep the latest UI conventions in mind. Some of the conventions are -

Offer multiple hand support, but it should be operable via a single hand as well: Although, the screen will be larger, but it's better to let the user enjoy the view on a bigger screen. Thus, the users must be provided with an option to access the app via one hand or dual hand. That is, multi-hand input must be supported but only as an optional way, not as an only way to access the app.
Simple UI by facilitating users to move the UI elements in a desired fashion: Allow the users to insert or remove a preferred UI element as and when desired. This feature will help the users keep the interface clutter-free and well-organized. However, it is advisable to offer a limited number of modes and ensure the simplicity of the UI.
Don't make the interface appear overloaded with numerous options: It is better to display only the limited and feasible options, instead of representing all the options and graying some as they won't be accessible. By doing so you can efficiently streamline the look and feel of your User Interface. This will allow users to access the app with a flair.

2. Going Responsive
The responsive design is not only considered as an ongoing trend, but it is the future of the mobile and web. It is due to the rise in the usage of mobile devices for the past few years. Responsiveness have become an imperative attribute for the majority of the websites, thus it is essential to understand the term “responsive” precisely before diving into the way to design it.

Responsive design is not all about resizing the layout to fit on the targeted device's screen, rather it has a deeper meaning. This approach is basically aimed to deliver a design that best respond to the user's environment and behavior while considering other aspects like platform, screen size, and more.

However, it has been observed that the adaptive mobile web design approach is better able to cater to user's need in certain situations. Thus, to make this process more proficient and convenient, the web and mobile apps are preferably designed and developed in the same fashion. This further facilitates designers and developers to implement a change in an expedient way as and when desired.

3. Unified Digital Experience
The usage of touchscreen devices and responsive design is rapidly flourishing in web apps and websites. As, the application designs need to separately consider the attributes of targeted devices, it is striding towards a unified user experience. There are several digital devices that are more focused over the user behavior like the Internet of Things (Smart home appliances, wearable, etc.).

Therefore to conclude this, it can be said that as users have rapidly adopted the mobile devices for accessing web (due to its utile offerings), designers are more focusing over mobile and web design convergence.

The Terrain From Desktops To Mobile Is A Rough One

2015-01-08T12:59:00+00:00

Why the Terrain from Desktops to Mobile Is Typical For Web Designers
Mobile platforms are ruling the roost and it is hardly a surprise that more and businesses are taking the mobile route to connect to a wider band of audience. While there are those that successfully take the leap from a desktop-centric website to a seamlessly mobile-friendly one, more often than not, the challenges prove to be too insurmountable.

Creating websites for mobiles is still an endeavour approached with uncertainty since there are way too many dynamics to take into account:

The Restraints
With Smartphones and the devices of the same likes, there are a truckload of restraints to contend with. And the smaller screen sizes is just one of them. To begin with, these devices have far lesser memory than their desktop counterparts, not to mention their comparatively smaller processing speed and power. You also have to take into account that the navigational links that seem seamless on desktops are a pain to switch from one page to the other via a mobile device.

Also, it has been observed that despite the mobile connections being relatively weaker, the patience of the mobile web users runs thinner than that of the desktop web users. So, you need to be sure you aren't uploading massively sized images on your website that will eventually take painfully long time to load, especially on the smaller devices.

Tricky Navigational Flow
As iterated before, building a navigational structure for mobiles is abundantly different from building the one for desktops. The mobile environment again throws a lot of constraints at us in this respect and we need to respect those. The designing techniques employed for desktops are not really applicable for Smartphones or tablets and sooner you realise it, better it would serve you.

Managing the space in the mobile interface is a demanding task, and one where there is a minimum margin for error. Also, you need to make it certain that the users reach from point A to point B with minimum number of clicks. As for the CTA buttons, placing them at the top or at the most visible area of the screen in question is another tricky part.

The Sheer Diversity in Platforms
There is not just one mobile platform! Contrary to the desktop platforms where MAC, Windows more or less respond to different designs in a similar fashion, the suite of operating system for mobile phones end up making the situation all the more messier.

Android in its own right tosses at you an array of screen resolutions and densities and it is extremely hard to keep up with. And then you have iOS, BlackBerry, Windows and a bunch others to deal with.

You might create a design for an Android phone, expecting it would work much the same way on other platforms, and you might as well be in for a rude surprise. What looks most sleek on Android may appear incoherent on iOS. And this pretty much runs throughout the range of devices you can stumble upon in the market. It won't be an overstatement to suggest that the diversity in platforms is the biggest challenge for any designer or developer.

The Designing Trends are Too Unsteady
The designing trends dictate which direction a company should take while charting out a designing plan or creating a roadmap. And this is where the unpredictability sneaks in. this unpredictability further elevates when it comes to mobiles. Because the trends on the more conventional platforms are already going through a rapid transformation, it becomes all the more difficult to keep up when you are designing for the mobiles.

While the average practice would suggest that you stay with the current flavour of the season, which is flat designs. Not only are the flat designs in vogue, they are most perfectly suited to the mobile environment since they are characterised by small page sizes and straightforward designing elements. There are lesser chances of incompatibility across the different mobile platforms.

All said, we also have websites these days that are taking the leap to have flashy designs, and yet retain compatibility with different mobile OS platforms. These websites are also making a lot of impact and inviting many footfalls. So, which way should you go? The answer to the question is surely not an easy one.

So, with all things considered, it would be safe to say that one is in a bit of quandary when it comes to this transition. Lately, there have also been questions raised on whether one should opt for responsive websites, or instead go for separate mobile versions. The logic behind opting for mobile websites instead is that the responsive websites have a lot of script that is not needed when accessing the site on mobile phones. So, they only end up increasing the load time. With questions galore, the best approach to moving forward and taking a conclusive decision is to consult the experts.

Have you encountered such challenges yourself. Do enlighten us in the comment sections below.

Subsequent costing.

2014-06-12T13:11:00+00:00

I think that every Freelancer or Web Design Company experienced the following story. The story is what happened to me and since than I provide my potential new clients with a custom made checklist.

A potential new client calls me and we made an appointment to meet. With my up-to-date portfolio I went to the client and the meeting went great, I asked the right questions and if needed explained my questions to them.

Back at the office it was time to write my quotation, I always start writhing my quotation the same day while I don’t like to keep a client waiting too longs. It took me two days, it’s a big assignment and all needed to be perfect.

Next the design. A complex website, member section, payment options and so on. It took me 5 days to finish 3 Photoshop pages of the new website. I always design 3 pages and include it in the quotation, if they sign the quotation I’ll design the rest.

Quotation and design where handed over within the agreed timeframe, 2 weeks, and we walked through the quote and design. The Client loved it, the quote was okay, within their budget and they ask if it was possible to respond within 2 weeks, of course I agreed. Especially while it was a big project, the quote was over $20.000. After the 2 weeks we met again, they had some changes to the website and I re-wrote the quote. This continued several times, ending up with a quote of $25.000 and ready to roll.

“I remember it clearly, it was on a sunny Wednesday morning, the day my potential new client would become my client and sign. So I went over as promised and than it hit me.”

Client: “Well, we’re sorry to tell you but we found an other company that could do the same for just $1.000”

I was speechless!

Whatever I tried, lowering my quotation to $1.000 was absolutely not reasonable or possible, the client made his decision. So after several weeks, maybe months, hard work for this potential new client ended in loosing the client.

6+ months later I spoke with the client just to see how everything was going, I knew when their deadline was. Website was still not done and won’t be, “Why” Was my question? Well, the company, that took my new client, didn’t mention that the $1.000 was a kind of start fee and that all other work would be Subsequent costing. $50.000 later the website was half finished and absolutely not ready for any, near future, launch.

Final words of the, lost, client where: “We had to go with you, than we would never had this problem”, he was right…

The point I want to make with this story.

As client: always ask if the total price is a fixed price, without Subsequent costing. (Until some point of course, while some non calculated extra adjustments will have their price. Use an extra quote for that to be safe.)

Attached to this blog, a checklist for clients who are ready for a new website or website re-design. What information do you need to know and have before talking to a web designer / company / freelancer.