User-Centered Design for Mobile and Web Apps

Consumer experiences collectively determine “brand” of any product or service. If more and more customers are gaining a pleasant experience, it equally strengthens your brand name and again brings in more customers. And when it comes to digital products; such as, smart business mobile app development and web apps, customer satisfaction is the greatest and most effective tool for sustained customer growth. But do you really understand what your users need? Or do you think from their perspective keeping your own versions of usability in mind? Well, this is where the actual art of a user centered design works wonders. Thus, designing and developing digital products with a user centered approach is vital and a much needed step towards enhanced online business presence and goodwill. Principles governing User centered design (UCD) approachIdentifying user needs and purpose:  Designers may opt and sum up the best of components and programming languages, and create an efficient software. However, will the users find it useful enough? Well, this is something that the designers should have thought much before then coming up with the particular product. Knowing what and why your users are looking for a particular mobile app or a mobile site is the foremost thing in UCD principles. A particular combination could yield numerous results; however, we are interested in outcomes that can prove to have ultimate usability at the other end and thus generate business profit. Again, identifying what your users will love and incorporating their behavioral patterns in your interactive design to motivate users is the key to a successful digital product. Too much innovation may turn out costly:  One mantra in creating user friendly digital products is to remain consistent in terms of look, and feel of the interface. The product as a whole needs to perform in an expected and familiar manner. Too many and too frequent changes may force users to stop using your product entirely. The easy way out (though it may consume some time), again is to talk to prospects or users and understand their needs. This will not only help in directing your focus to perfect requirements, but it will also save time and help deployment of your product fast. Keep your navigation bars easy to handle by allowing them to perform similar functions throughout. Ultimately, you do not want your users to wreck their brains to use something that you have created with an intention to ease their task. Present something that is enjoyable and easy for all:  The popularity that some brand names have gained is not because of the brilliance that their designers and engineers have shown in creating all of their products. It is simply because they can assemble their products in a manner that can be perceived as something very easy to use by anybody and everybody. The product could be successful only because, the team had spoken to real users to understand their needs. Always aim at taking your users through an enjoyable journey whenever they are using any of your products. And this is possible only when they will find the use extremely simple, easy, familiar and fast. Create a system that can communicate: The only thing you need to keep in mind is that any product you design needs to give essential instructions and feedbacks whenever necessary. This helps users to be sure about their action. As for example, a CRM application that helps sales team create and manage deals, should populate messages to help user navigate within the app with ease. A message like “Email id is required” for missing information, and help text like “Adding associates will help you communicate internally with ease.” can always improve the app user experience. Be error free:  Last but not the least, try to design products with no bugs whatsoever. In the competitive market, one bug may drag you far behind in the competition. Implementing UCD principles Once you know all UCD principles, putting them in an action becomes easier with the below mentioned four steps:

• Identify your target audience and analyze the mobile apps they count on.
• Then define the exact goal of your UCD product, mandatory specifications and techniques to achieve the same.
• Take your first step and develop first modules following every predefined detail.
• Lastly, be ready for making modifications or doing the same from scratch.

Well, it is easier said then done. The above mentioned steps although brief are definitely difficult to practice at all levels of business. So what's the solution? Call for a product designer Developing a digital product and keeping it in line with every user requirement is definitely not a one-man task. A team headed by a product designer is essentially important. Moreover, with a team you get more minds and behaviors which again proves beneficial. This professional or a team of professionals is beyond coding and technicalities. They rather function as a bridge and perform to relate core technical specifications to UCD principles. For those who are still not convinced on opting for design strategies based on UCD principles; this is what you need to know: Benefits of UCD for your business:

• Customer satisfaction accelerates sales and profit
• Strong brand name drives in new users everyday
• Enhanced product quality meeting consumer needs
• Lesser failures in new ventures that may arise due to lesser need among consumers

So, if you intend to hire an experienced team of professionals that can help in developing a user-centric design for mobile apps, web apps or any desired digital product or a platform, then connect with us at hello@rapidops.com