Why startups should invest in mobile UI/UX in 2019?

The transfer from browsing the Internet on personal computers and laptops to smartphones has been fairly quick. By the latest forecast from Statista, the number of mobile users would pass the mark of 5 billion by the end of 2019, which would make 67% of all web users worldwide. Another prediction tells, that mobile traffic is about to create around $188.9 billion of income to businesses and startups.

Mobile applications are becoming a sort of culture. They have to be practical, simple and intuitive in use, and moreover, aesthetic. Basically, the usability of your app has a direct impact on your brand trustworthiness and income.

This year is expected to bring great changes to mobile app development. Most probably we are about to experience brand new trends and a massive upgrade of already existing features. The boldest predictions rely on 5G network implementation, integrated powering chips and a general leap in smartphones production technologies. These changes are said to bring more room to play for developers, thus we might witness something really impressive, and that’s very soon.

App Store and Google Play are already coming apart at the seams, the amount of mobile applications available is close to incredible. Some are a huge success, whilst others fail from the very beginning. The app market became highly competitive, so it might be hard to win your place among hundreds of similar services. Still, there is one simple secret that defines a successful app. It has to be of a good look and feel for your user.

Modern users would most likely install your application if they like your service or find it needed. Still, if your application is not good enough, it would be removed within a couple of hours. What do we mean by ‘good enough’ here? Well, the application has to be engaging, useful, easy to find, install and use. All these characteristics are the result of decent work on User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX). If the first one is more or less known among business owners, the second one still leaves loads of questions open. In this guide, we’ll make an attempt to define the differences between those two essential parameters and see how both can be implemented in a mobile application for your business.

To start off, why is UI/UX design important?

Whatever you have, a successfully running business or a small startup, you have to remember what your final goal is. And that is not the income, as you might think. It is all about your audience. With a happy and satisfied client, you’ll gain not only high rates and income but also a trustworthy brand and a high retention rate. Those things would help you keep the power even in the toughest times of economic crisis.

How’s it all related to the UI/UX mobile design? Well, if you have to keep your user satisfied, and most users prefer smartphones over laptops nowadays, it becomes obvious, that your mobile application is your way to success.

Perfect User Interface is the thing that keeps your users’ attention and attracts them to use the service. User Experience is how people feel when they are using your app. It is something that impacts their mind and leaves a long-lasting pleasant effect. It is essential to work on both of them as hard as you can.

The difference between UI and UX

What is the User Interface (UI)?

The first and only thing to remember here. User Interface is how your application looks like. It embraces parameters like:

An effective User Interface has to be attractive. People should want to interact with the application because it is simple, convenient, comfortable and easy.

What is User Experience (UX)

Here things turn to be a bit more complicated. User Experience is all about how people feel about your application. To reach a high satisfaction rate you need to take care of your users’

• emotions
• feelings
• perception
• preferences.

Before you start working on it, you should perform a thorough research of your target audience, learn what they need, like and prefer.

What are the key components of the UI/UX design?

Even though the trends are always shifting, there are several must-have components for every mobile application.

1. Simple journey. Do not make your user browse the application for half an hour to understand how it works. Make things intuitive.

2. Top-notch Content. Include essential information only. Nobody wants long reads on the main page of the mobile application. Leave all the extras for your blog.

3. Personalization. Yes, your user has to feel special, one of a kind and the only for you. Let your users create their personal accounts and feel like they change your business. Make them a part of a process.

4. Humanization. The digital experience has to be equal to interpersonal, or even better. There is no other way to grab your users’ attention.

5. Biometric Authentication. Do not make your user create another dozen of the password and remember those when there is no need for that. Biometric authentication is a great way out, especially now, when practically any smartphone supports the feature.

6. Variety of Content. Take care of your users’ entertainment, if there’s enough room for that and it feels like an appropriate thing to do. Video/audio content hit the tops here.

7. Voice-Based Interaction. This feature was highly effective in major technologies, so why don’t you try using it, too?

UI/UX design in 2019: reasons to use and benefits

Even though the trends are always shifting, there are several must-have components for every mobile application.

1. Increased Customer Satisfaction
Interesting and useful content, easy navigation, creative design – all those things make users want to use your application. Satisfied customers mean great ratings and more downloads. The more people come to use the app, the more use your service. Moreover, satisfied customers always return, which is also great for your retention rate and income.

2. Understanding Your Audience
Each successful app starts with thorough research of customers’ needs and preferences. Thus you are able to focus all your resources on the target audience, gain a profound understanding of what is needed from your business and how to deliver the best service to your customer. Understanding and covering the needs of your audience helps convert it into loyal customers and increase sales.

3. Brand Recognition
You most probably want your brand to be recognized and remembered by your customers. A bright UI/UX design would perfectly deal with it. People tend to remember and return to services, that make them happy. What makes a modern user satisfied? Apart from service, that deals with the problem, you need to be the service, that cares about how your users feel. Constantly improve and upgrade your app, listen to your customers and meet their expectations.

4. Saves Time and Money
Any generous investing in mobile UI/UX design won’t go unnoticed. The more you work on it, the less is the chance users would find any issues or flaws. A well-designed working app won’t need numerous improvements and a constant waste of time on fixing the non-working components. That saves not only the time of the developers’ team but your money.

Why mobile apps might fail, or 5 most frequent mistakes

Due to the high expectations of users nowadays, loads of startups along with UX/UI design companies try their best to make a perfect application. Still, despite all the investments and hard work, some apps fail to win customers’ loyalty. Why does it happen?

Your app is not original.
In other words, it has nothing special to offer, thus it gets lost among numerous similar apps and services.

Lacks on essential features.
If the app doesn’t cover everything your website does – it is no good.

No obvious target audience.
Before creating your app you need to perform thorough research. Never skip this step, for otherwise it would lead to a complete fail in understanding your user, and therefore, the inability to cover the needs of your customer.

Development failures.
Do not be greedy to invest in your app. The better it works, the higher is the chance your customers would use it. Remember, no failure in app work, design or functionality is ever forgotten or forgiven.

Usability issues.
If your app is not easy and intuitive, be sure nobody would want to use it.

What are the UI/UX design trends in 2019?

Full-Screen Background Images

The latest and hottest trend you absolutely have to include in your UI design is the full-screen background image. It is said to create a sense of realism and authenticity, which encourages users to browse more.

Seamless interface

Rendering a perfect picture is the best thing to keep your users occupied with the application and thus boost user engagement. Seamless interface means the load of the page without any need for transition, thus making the content available right from the homepage.

Buttonless UI

Absolute favorite of this year is the pursuit of buttonless UI. How’s it possible, you might be asking. Well, think of Instagram, f.e. There is hardly any button, swipes do most of work. Same thing with online stores, they just add direct dragging to the cart. If similar options are somehow possible in your app, do not hesitate to implement them as soon as possible.

Storytelling & Custom illustrations

Storytelling has been a hit of copywriting lately. People love stories. They love telling, reading and hearing them. Creating a story behind your brand won’t only increase customer’s loyalty, but would also differentiate you from dozens of similar services. It would work even better if you add some crafted unique illustrations.

Voice-Activated Interfaces

The already mentioned voice interaction is becoming highly popular. People tend to use devices on the go, thus voice commands are prefered over typing. Think of the ways to implement this in own app, you won’t regret it.

How can Qubstudio help?

Qubstudio is a design-driven technology company. We think of creativity as of our passion, but we do not let the passion go solo. Our aim is to create a perfect and simple product, that would work for your business.

We value your time above everything, therefore we stick to several pretty simple principles:

• Efficiency above all
• Always improve
• Keep it simple
• Wear clients’ shoes

Bottom Line

The upcoming year is about to bring a huge leap in technology and mobile industry. No matter whether you are a huge business or a small startup, you’d better keep a close eye on the hottest trends in mobile UX/UI. Catching those vibes might be vital for your business to survive, as customers get more and more picky. They don’t want a solution of their problems solely, they want emotions, interaction and personalization.

We hope our blog post would serve as a guiding light of the pioneering strategies in the mobile application UX/UI design for 2019. We tried to cover each essential pitfall awaiting you on the road to your perfect mobile app.

Still, if you have any questions or specific requests left, do not hesitate to contact our Experts Team. We are always happy to help you out!