Application Design I / Project 1: Mobile Application Proposal

25/04/2024 - 19/05/2024 / Week 1 - Week 4
Iman binti Kamarudin / 0364014
Application Design I / Bachelors of Design (Hons) in Creative Media

Project 1: Mobile Application Proposal

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LECTURES

Importance of Application Design

Well designed apps provide;

- Seamless user experience

- Boosting user engagement and retention

- Customer satisfaction

Usability: how effectively and efficiently a user can accomplish their goals when interacting with a product.

- Applying usability principles ensures that the design of an application fits the needs of the target audience.

- Usability testing allows you gather feedback and helps in solving issues on the design and user experience.

Designing for Mobile Applications

The use of mobiles have increased over the years and people rely on them to do almost everything. Having a convenient, well designed app is advantageous to businesses.

Limited Screen Real Estate

- Designers have to prioritise content and interactions to prevent a cluttered UI

Diverse Device Capabilities

- Applications have to be designed to a variety of different dimensions and should maintain consistency through all of them.

Contextual Awareness

- Designers have to consider locations, connectivity and user mobility.

User Centered Design

- UCD (user-centered design) puts users at the forefront of the entire development process. 

- Consider the needs of the users and build a foundation based on it. 

1. Research

In depth research into user needs and behaviours.

2. Design

Based on the research gathered, designers can start prototyping based on the identified user needs.

3. Evaluation

Usability testing helps identify areas of improvement

Benefits

- Increased user satisfaction

- Improved product adoption

- Reduced development costs

- Enhanced brand reputation

Design Process

1. Understand User Needs

2. Prioritise Key Features

3. Optimise for Mobile

4. Validate and Iterate

Prototyping and Testing

1. Lo-fi Prototypes

2. Interactive Prototypes

3. Iterative Testing

Optimising Performance

Key strategies include;

- Minimizing app size

Compressing assets and using vector graphics where possible.

- Leveraging caching and lazy loading techniques

Only load content when needed

- Optimizing network requests and data transmission

Batching, compressing, and only fetching the data required for each screen.

The Art of User Centered Design

UX design focuses of the functionality (layout, hierarchy etc.) and ensures a smooth and functional interaction

UI design deals with the aesthetic and visual perception. Brings the user experience to life visually.

UCD PROCESS

Discover

- Business requirements

- User personas

Define

- Ideation

- Experience mapping

Design

- UX & UI

Validate

- Usability testing

- Prototype validation

-Minimum viable product

Develop

- Production coding

Fig 1.1 - ROI of User Centered Design

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INSTRUCTIONS

TASK

1. Select three applications to do an analysis on

2. Investigate the UI/UX design weaknesses of each application

3. Select one app to create your proposal on

During week 1, we were briefed on the module and assignments. We also were instructed to begin research for our application redesign and find what can be improved upon for each one. 

I chose to research common applications that I've used before and knew could be better. The apps I selected were Wattpad, Gong Cha and Tumblr as these are applications that I've used before (aside from Gong Cha) and know could be improved.

Fig 2.1 - Wattpad Current Design

Fig 2.2 - Gong Cha Current Design

Fig 2.3 - Tumblr Current Design

I went through each app and screenshotted all the pages. Then, I analysed and thought about what design elements bothered me.

Fig 2.4 - Application Analysis PDF

 I found that I had more things to talk about for Wattpad and the application design also felt more 'chaotic' to me, so I decided to go forward and select it to be redesigned.

FINAL PROPOSAL TASK

1. Create a proposal on your selected application

- Introduction

- Background and context

- Goals and objectives

- User research

- References

2. Gather data and research reviews

3. Analyse the application's design

- Pinpoint weaknesses and come up with solutions for them

I started looking through reviews on the App Store to see if there were any complaints about the UI/UX design of the application. It was difficult since a lot of the reviews weren't specifically about the design but mainly about ads or crashes. Nonetheless, I just added whatever reviews I could that had some helpful information on how to approach my redesign.

Fig 3.1 - App Store Reviews

Then, I proceeded to find data on the user demographics which was also difficult. In the end, I just used the information from SimilarWeb since the information wasn't really accessible from anywhere else.

Fig 3.2 - Wattpad User Demographics

Most of the competitors of Wattpad are browser based only so I chose 'Inkitt', an app that wasn't as well known but was the most recommended based on Reddit and the App Store. I analysed both the strengths and weaknesses of the application.

Fig 3.3 - Inkitt App Design

Fig 3.4 - Ver. 1 Final Proposal Slides PDF

After the presentation, I reworked and refined my slides based on the feedback I was given. I added more reviews from the Google Play Store and highlighted the main points of each review.

Fig 4.1 - Final Application Design Proposal

Canva Link: https://www.canva.com/design/DAGFE2f6ndo/DJcrPHxI2Ei2eySAc__rrg/edit?utm_content=DAGFE2f6ndo&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

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FEEDBACK

Week 2

Specific Feedback - Add basic information about the application before the analysis. Go ahead with Wattpad and try to complete the final proposal.

Week 4

Specific Feedback - Create a side by side comparison of the UI design for competitor analysis. Add a summary of the reviews. 

General Feedback - Highlight important points in the reviews screenshots. Draw over the app design and add a slide for design strategy. Try to use SimilarWeb as a last resort.

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REFLECTION

My experience with this task was...interesting. I wouldn't want to be dishonest and say that I particularly enjoyed scrolling through a lot of user reviews that all were complaining about bugs and crashing however researching isn't the worst thing in the world to do. It was difficult trying to articulate my thoughts and feelings into a somewhat complex analysis, especially when writing is my weakness, but I feel as if I've learned a lot about user experiences through it.

I've observed that there is so much to learn about UI/UX design and I hope that I'll be able to grasp everything. I also found that I need to work on improving my researching and writing skills.