Mobile UX: A Review of 4 Apps
Today, we shall be taking a look at 4 mobile applications that we had the chance to use recently. From our experience, some of them had really good usability design, while some of the others did not. As many companies and developers continue to put out innovative apps and services, we feel that one must not forget the importance of good UX design. By reviewing these 4 apps, we hope that future developers can benefit from the lessons learnt to further their app development endeavours.
1. SG Weather
SG Weather is a mobile application that provides weather information in Singapore using a radar map display. It has a PSI alert and 24hrs Raining Alert and Rain Stop Alert for any location within Singapore.
This particular mobile app seems promising, in that it provides great breadth of useful features and functionalities. It comprises of more than 15 functions including: showing wind direction, cloud map animation, sharing to social media, etc. However, the app has been designed in such a way that everything is displayed onto one main page. Yet, every function appears to be represented only with icons, and the app doesn’t provide any information about each function, or how to use them.
Our suggestion, is to hence provide greater affordances by labelling certain features and buttons, to reduce the learning curve. Additionally, there appears to be too much clutter and information overload on a small mobile device screen. The developers should consider restructuring the navigation of their app, to perhaps hide uncommonly used features, make use of menus where appropriate, and overall just aim to provide a clean and simple to use mobile interface.
2. SG BusLeh
SG BusLeh is a mobile application that shows bus arrival time, bus route, and seat availability for both SBS and SMRT bus in Singapore. It has been touted as an award winning app, and has been featured on Yahoo, Vulcanpost and Buyfromwhere.
In order to truly test the effectiveness of this app, we handed it to one of our friends who is not a local Singaporean. She commented that after opening the app, it automatically shows all the bus stops nearby, which was very helpful. However, she noted that there were no help or instructions provided when she installed the app, making it difficult to understand how the app works, where to click, and how to check the individual bus information. Additionally, it was seen that the app contains a lot of advertisements and promotions which were not related to bus information.
Thus, we can see that while an app does provide useful information, and has a generally clean and minimalist UI, it may not necessarily mean that its design very usable. In this instance, while we understand the general intent of the UI design, and the need to hide certain details to prevent information overload, concessions must be made to help the user learn the interface. We suggest perhaps incorporating a short tutorial screen upon first launch, to acquaint the user with the key features and how to access the different functionalities and use the application.
3. Duolingo
Duolingo is an app that is designed to cater to both children and adults and allows for interested parties to pick up a second language. It distinguishes itself by its intensive use of gamification techniques to aid learning, and its overall clean design language.
Duolingo operates primarily in portrait orientation, suggesting that it has been optimized to target smartphone users. The UI is also minimalistic in nature, with large touch targets and buttons for easy navigation. The appropriate use of colors against a clear background, allows for a clean interface that is easy to navigate. Duolingo also employs extensive use of Gamification, providing frequent messages of positive re-enforcement in order to establish an affective relationship with the learner.
Duolingo has a very clear and structured lesson pedagogy. Lessons have been organized into different categories by interest topics and cater to learners of varying skill level backgrounds. Through the use of game mechanics and aesthetics, Duolingo is able to create an engaging environment where there is clear recognition of efforts, and learners feel compelled to learn more. Overall we feel that Duolingo is a very solid example of how companies can design apps that are simple yet compelling to use.
4. Uber
By now, Uber probably needs no introduction. It has become so ubiquitous that perhaps even your parents have used it before. What is interesting, is how the company is constantly updating and innovating its design in reaction to customer feedback and complaints. This ability for constant change and innovation is the hallmark of a successful startup company.
For example, their design team frequently conduct ethnographic studies to learn about what their users truly need, both the riders and the drivers. One of their major findings, was that many people drive Uber at night for long durations. And the default light theme can cause significant glare and affect the vision of the drivers, who’s eyes need to adapt to the darker environment that they are driving in. This presents not only a usability issue, but more importantly a possible safety issue for drivers driving Uber at night.
So what Uber did was to bring their designers into a dark room, to tune their designs and color palettes, until they could come up with a suitable design that they were comfortable with. This level of attention to detail, and willingness to invest into such design efforts, is what sets it apart from its competition. We believe, that if Uber continues to pay attention to customer needs, and relentlessly continues to innovate in this space, that it should remain as one of the leaders in the ride sharing economy.
Conclusion
In conclusion, today we have provided a quick review of 4 distinct mobile applications with very different approaches to UX design. Our review of these applications presents us with some useful insights for app designers.
- Reduce onscreen clutter when designing for mobile
- Provide affordances to help users learn to use your app
- Gamification can be leveraged to engage your users
- Design is not a constant, continual innovation is key
Above all, as many organizations and developers continue to design and build innovative apps and services, we feel that we must not forget the importance of good UX design. This short review, while not exhaustive, has provided us with useful lessons that designers can use. So, we urge you to do some similar reviews of your own, and leave us a comment to share with us your findings and insights on how Mobile UX can be taken further.
Thank you for reading. :)
