7 Things To Keep In Mind When Designing Web Apps
When building web apps, it is easy to become engrossed in code and forget some of the more basic principles of creating a successful application. Today we are looking at seven things that you should pay attention to include:
- Make Your Interface As Clean as Possible
- Whitespace Matters
- Emphasize Efficiency
- Colors Matter
- Tie In Your Brand Design
- Code For Scalability
- Code For Security
Make Your Interface As Clean as Possible
Customers will lose interest in your app if the interface is cluttered and difficult to navigate. No matter how great your web app is - or how many problems it can solve - if there is another similar app available that does the same thing as yours but is less cluttered – you can bet that the customer will go to them instead!
Just how much can a cluttered interface affect your business?
"Better UI could raise your website’s conversion rate by 200%, and better UX design could yield conversion rates of up to 400%." - Source
"70% of online businesses that fail do so because of bad usability." - Source
"As many as 88% of online customers declare that they don’t really return to websites that were not usable / user-friendly." - Source
Whitespace Matters
The percentage of whitespace displayed on your app is as crucial as the copy you use on your app interface. Whitespace ensures balance in your app layout and keeps users from feeling overwhelmed by a barrage of information and a cluttered interface.
Just how much can whitespace affect your business?
"54% of marketing experts cited ad clutter as the biggest obstacle to good user experience." - Source
"94% of a user’s first impressions are design-related." - Source
"52% of users say the main reason why they won’t return to a website is aesthetics." - Source
Emphasize Efficiency
App efficiency is crucial from a company viewpoint, but it is just as important to app users! Apps should make client-side interactions faster, easier, and more convenient. Recently, this includes adding functions like voice-based functions, push notifications and an easily navigable interface.
Just how much can app efficiency affect your business?
"In 2020, more than 50% of all web searches will be voice-based." - Source
"Apps that send push notifications from the start get 18% higher day-one retention. By day 14, retention can go as high as 62%." - Source
Colors Matter
Colors impact the overall user experience - for example, fonts that are hard to read because of color or the contrast of text color over background increase user frustration and dissatisfaction.
Just how much can app colors affect your business?
"According to KISS metrics blue, green, red, and purple attract more than 75% of the population and they are the as best color for mobile apps." - Source
"Color contrast reduces eyestrain and focuses user attention by clearly dividing elements on a screen." - Source
"The W3C recommends the following contrast ratios for body text and image text: Small text should have a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 against its background. Large text (at 14 pt bold/18 pt regular and up) should have a contrast ratio of at least 3:1 against its background." - Source
Tie In Your Brand Design
While it is necessary to make your app appealing to clients and easy to navigate, brand recognition is crucial. Design your app interface so that it unmistakeably represents your brand identity.
Just how much can brand design tie-in affect your business?
"UX stats show that every $1 invested in UX design results in a $100 return. That means that the ROI on UX investments is 9,900%, which is definitely something to bear in mind, especially if you’re building a brand website." - Source
"66 percent of responding smartphone users had a brand-specific shopping app on their phone." - Source
"51% of smartphone users are more likely to use a company or brand’s mobile app when browsing or shopping on a smartphone because they can get rewards or points." - Source
Code For Scalability
No matter the size of your business, there is a good chance that you will need to scale your app to accommodate increased users and user activity. Failure to account for the need to scale will cause slowed app performance and may even drive clients to use competing apps.
Just how much can app scalability affect your business?
"The more data stored or simultaneous users the software collects, the more strain is put on the software’s architecture." - Source
"Google found that 61% of users won’t give an app a second chance if they had a bad first experience. 40% go straight to a competitor’s product instead." - Source
"Scalability is easier and less resource-intensive when considered from the beginning." - Source
Code For Security
It is no secret that even big company names fall victim to data breaches and security issues. This fact is more than evident in recent security statistics revealed by the Security Magazine studies quoted below.
It is crucial to develop a secure app due to the high potential for security vulnerability and statistics that legitimize that vulnerability. It is also vital to ensure that users know that the application is secure by implementing additional security measures like two-factor authentication.
Just how much can app security affect your business?
"Half of internal-facing web application vulnerabilities are considered high risk." - Source
"The oldest vulnerability discovered in 2020 was 21 years old." - Source
"Data analysis found as more industries pivot to become online-first, the Window of Exposure continues to remain abnormally high, leading to increased vulnerability." - Source
Conclusion
Designing web apps is not just about developing an app that functions or fits a hole in the market - it is also about creating an app that is profitable to your brand and functional to the user. You must design an app that is aesthetically pleasing, easily navigable, scalable, secure, bug-free, and efficient.