How To Create The Perfect UI For Next-Generation Phones

Dotsquares Ltd has published a new blog post on our App developers blog called How To Create The Perfect UI For Next-Generation Phones

Ultra-wide screens with super high definition resolution are, hands down, the future of smartphones. They provide users with more display area, allowing them to interact with their devices in a more visual manner, all the while making phones appear more elegant and visually appealing.

Whether it is the range of bezel-less phones or screens with imperceptible pixels, it is clear that these major hardware modifications are calling for revolutionary changes in the interface of mobile apps. Here are some guiding tips to get any aspirant UI designer get started with the UI/UX development of the next-generation smartphones.

Placement of important elements

Owing to the convenience of easy reach, many of the important elements in most apps are placed into the screen corners, a prime example being the send button in most messaging apps. Such apps may create some serious UX concerns in phones with curved screens and screens with rounded corners. One solution using the tools we already have is to add components like Google’s floating buttons.

Other important elements that need adjusting in accordance with the latest devices’ screen composition are the ones that are placed on top of the screens, like search bars. These elements not only become difficult to reach because of the raised length of the screens (most advanced devices now have a 18:9 aspect ratio) but may even create UI bugs like letterboxing, content overflow, and misalignment of elements due to the notch on the top like the iPhone X. Evidently, it has become crucial for mobile app UX specialists to reconsider the placement of important elements.

Image Description: Prominent devices with different aspect ratios and resolutions

If these elements are about certain actions, one alternative is to replace them entirely with other inputs like gestures or voice commands.

Input Mode

Presence of smart home devices like Google Home, Echo, and Alexa are making voice-run-tech a living reality for a larger part of the population. Voice commands are easy-to-use and appeal to people from all demographics, making them an ideal alternative for action-elements that are hard to place anywhere else on the screen.

What’s more interesting is that these voice-enabled interfaces not only solve said issue effectively but also add to the overall UX score of the app. In fact, it would be considered a complete waste of resource if an app with the potential of including voice commands would not make use of these celebrated features.

Other forms of input that can be used by mobile apps to improve their UX score include gestures, fingerprints, and interactive graphics. Interactive graphics may involve certain texts, icons and even animated images. More guidance on such elements can be found in the book “Microinteractions: Designing with Details” written by a renown UI/UX expert Dan Saffer, which also is the first place these elements were ever discussed.

Visual Prominence

Having more visual prominence on an app sounds almost like a cliché now, with innumerable specialists having favouring this for a long time. However, the number of apps that actually put this knowledge into practice is surprisingly low. This could be accounted to the lack of innovative thinking. Most app developers are unable to understand the intricacies that can bring added value to the app by including more visual content and choose to disregard the idea completely.

It is to be understood, that adding more visual content doesn’t always entail the use of more graphics. Doing so, as a matter of fact, would be counterproductive. Instead, one may use a variety of color gradients and textures. Vivid and carefully chosen visual elements are able to give an entirely fresh outlook to an app, increasing the user experience multifold.

Image Source: Bright Vibe Calendar

In fact, adding striking visuals in a synchronised manner can give personality to the app itself. The app interface can be enriched with simple elements like illustrations and simple font types. When used with a proper strategy in mind, it can give a completely new semblance to an app, allowing it to resemble its parent business.

KISS

Keep It Simple Stupid is a design principle as applicable to the UI of a mobile app as it is to the designing of Navy systems. This is yet another important tip for UX developers who are designing apps for the next generation phones. As opposed to designing misconceptions, complex interfaces do not make an app more engaging. Users are now surrounded by technologies that are providing instant assistance to them. Their expectations with technology are increasing exponentially, so keeping them fiddling with the interface to reach their desired location would definitely not be the best idea.

While adding striking graphical elements may sound like a great idea in order to improve the visual appeal of an app, too much of a glitter might actually ruin the user’s experience.

Balance, therefore, is the key. Making an app with too much of white space may make it look dull and unimaginative while filling it up will make it look too complex.

Use Edges

Image Description: BlackBerry Priv

As mentioned above, curved edges are becoming more and more popular with users, and with the expectations for foldable display getting more prevalent, it is really doubtful that this trend will, in the near future, if ever, go away. Therefore, it is rather advisable for UI developers to take this change as an opportunity to make their apps look more sophisticated and innovative, rather than looking at it as an issue that needs resolution.

Phones with no crosswise bezels look elegant and are great for animated interfaces. Animations that start from the edges look great on them, making the whole viewing experience more enchanting. Furthermore, if an app can have such functionality, it also has the potential of becoming the core strength of the app’s user engagement abilities. Another way through which, edges can be used for better user engagement is by adding edge gestures to the app.

Wrapping Up

Major hardware changes always precede the changes in user interfaces. Earlier, when the aspect ratio of mobile screens changed from 4:3 to 16:9, many changes were implemented to make the app look more fitting for the screen sizes. But now that aspect ratio is not the only facet in which devices are changing, it is important for UI developers to measure their opportunities and create more befitting solutions in interfaces.

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Originally published at www.appfutura.com.