You can code, so why is UX that important for your app?
We speak to a lot of talented developers in any given week as part of our work with Kolossus Digital. We want to share our typical experience with those technically minded individuals who want to have an app created.
Often when we first meet them, they have sketched the process, all the wireframes have been created and the individual has usually put a lot of thought into their idea. But what we see lacking time and time again is solid UX or UI consideration. When we ask about design and how it should look we often don’t get the level of clarity required to build a user-friendly app.
This is understandable, we all have our strengths, but we feel we need to acknowledge this and act accordingly. Most of the time, a developer will see it from their point of view, how it should function, etc. A designer will typically focus more on how it looks. That’s ok, let’s acknowledge this and move on.
When it comes to apps, in our experience the first impression is the best impression of worth. The moment your app doesn’t appeal aesthetically to the consumer, they tend to discontinue interacting with it. The moment it looks neat and clean, is more interactive and more consumer friendly, you give your app a chance of succeeding. This doesn’t mean that the consumer will love it; it just means you have more chance of them loving it.
So what if the UI/UX isn’t all that great?
Well, you’ll fail to get traction. When developing an app, some people will just download some pre-designed templates and tweak them. The problem when you’re designing something from a template is that you have so many restrictions on what you can do and how you can customise it.
And if you think UI/UX isn’t important to acquire investment. Think again.
If the concept is strong and your app is working, you are on your way to attracting the attention of a Venture Capitalist/Angel Investor, but if there are flaws in your initial design, the investor will assume that a lot of capital is going to need to go in.
A developer may think the app is fine and he/she only requires 100K to improve his/her app, but according to the investor, if they aren’t sold on the design, they may conclude that you need 150k-200k. This hurts credibility and makes it difficult to keep the percentage you were aiming to keep during funding rounds if the investor believes you are asking for the wrong amount of money.
We believe the investor has every right to feel like this. If an app is half-done or not done well, they are taking more risk and have to negate that risk by negotiating for a higher percentage. This can become a large problem for the founder in the latest stages of investment series if they run out of equity to give away.
How we do UX design:
When we do a UX report before starting an app design or any development, we make sure we start with the fonts, colours, icons, and the page layouts. We play with all permutations and combinations of a few frames, and then before accepting the project, we will ask the customer what sort of target market they are targeting and we present those particular frames to people who we know in that market.
As mentioned in a previous email, we often talk to student networks to get their feedback.
And when it comes to B2B customers we talk to business owners. If it’s retail then in retail, we do it retail. Being an agency, we have quite good networks of whom to talk to, and get feedback from.
If you need need help with UX design and implementation, please don’t hesitate to get in contact with us.
