Keeping your app fresh and functional is as important as developing the app in the first place. App development has always been a continuous process, which means you are committed to maintaining the app – and keeping it fresh – once it is launched.
Maintenance and updates also include updates to the way the app looks. As design trends come and go, only a handful of apps can remain fresh in the eyes of their users. If you are prepping for an app refresh as we get closer to 2020, here are the design tips and tricks to keep in mind.
Go with Gestures
Until very recently, action buttons and menu items are important. They represent the app’s usability and allows users to navigate through its panes without a problem. Today, however, buttons and menus are elements that can be safely removed or made optional.
There is a simple reason for that: users are more used to gestures. By freeing your app UI from unnecessary buttons, you are introducing a fresh new look and altering the user experience at the same time.
Take advantage of swipes and other gestures to bring your apps to life. You’ll be surprised by how much more enjoyable navigating through the app can be when you integrate gestures that users are already familiar with.
Make It Personal
One last trend you cannot afford to miss is personalisation. Apps are highly personalised in order to make users feel special. With the help of strings and codes, it is incredibly easy to add personal touches to the user interface of your app.
You can start by displaying the name of the user; this is the easiest way to add personalisation to your app. You can customise colours, allow users to personalise their buttons and menus, and even create a tailored homepage for the app for greater customisation.
You can take app UI personalisation to the next level with technologies like Machine Learning. Appetiser app development team, a leading name in the industry, is known for their use of advanced technology to take personalised apps to a whole new level.
The rest of the design process remains the same. Take into account the market segment you want to target and learn more about your audience (your users) before you begin refreshing your app for 2020. Keep these tips in mind and you will end up with a fresh, beautiful, and functional app.
Tactile Animations
Another reason to integrate gestures into your app is today’s best tactile animations making apps more engaging. Animations are not only more fluid, but also more interactive. More importantly, you don’t need many animations to make users happy.
Devices today are made for animations. We’re seeing an increase in high refresh rate screens being used in mobile devices. Animations are beautiful on devices with 60Hz or higher screen refresh rate. The hardware also supports better animation through physics and other frameworks.
The real reason to use animations, however, is the tactile feel they produce. When an app element bounces, users feel delighted. It creates the sensation of true interactivity in the app space. Animations give your app a boost in user engagement as well.
Limited Colours
Gradations and bright colours helped shape the trend in 2018 and 2019, but bright colours aren’t always the way to go if you are refreshing your app for 2020. In fact, you should shy away from utilising too many colours in your designs.
What you want is a simple user interface where your app content can shine. Instead of using bright colours and fancy elements, you can keep users engaged more with the help of pastel colours – a limited number of them – and flat designs.
It may seem like we are going back to the trends from several years ago. Pay attention to how you combine fine lines, simple design elements, and graphics that blend well with the colours you use; these are the elements that can help make your app shine.
Graphics with Moderation
That brings us to our next design tip: use graphics with care. As tempting as it may be to add visuals to your app, you still have to make sure that the app is functional enough for most users. Graphics should only be used when they add real value to your contents.
As mentioned before, blending graphics with the rest of the app creates a seamless user experience in general. You cannot expect to direct the attention of users to a particular part of the app (or content) if there are too many visual elements competing for that attention.
One last tip to keep in mind when it comes to graphics: be mindful of their numbers. An app that feels cluttered isn’t going to appeal to the majority of users in 2020. Instead, you want to go back to leaving enough white space around your visuals to produce that roomy feel.