Top 5 Best Practices for Mobile App Navigation Design
Being lost in an unfamiliar place is one of those bad experiences that we don’t want to happen to us. This is why navigation skills are essential. And if you don’t have innate navigation skills, navigation apps are here to save you.
But how does this relate to the design of navigation in mobile apps? When users navigate to a certain application, the scenario is similar to what we mentioned above. They need easy and appropriate instructions to avoid feeling lost or in trouble.
A study shows that a poorly designed mobile app will cause 38% of users to abandon it. Therefore, it is vital for businesses to develop good mobile app design while ensuring that navigation does not fall behind. This is why some companies hire mobile app designers because they are specialists in this field of work.
A bad mobile experience, according to 65% of users, has a negative influence on their business view. The first step to ensuring users have a positive mobile experience is to create a clean and simple navigation design. People don’t have time for complicated things, so they will choose a simple and easy to use app.
In this article, we will discuss 5 best practices for designing navigation in mobile apps. So, if you want to be guided, keep reading this post.
Carefully select the elements you want to integrate
The navigation design should be neat and clean. This improves the readability of the content you have on the app. One way to achieve this is to carefully choose icons, backgrounds, labels, and even fonts.
To ensure smooth navigation for users, try to choose an icon or label that matches its purpose. This way users will get an idea of what the icon or label is.
Choose a background that doesn’t overshadow the content. Negative space is essential, that’s why the background should have enough negative space. The fonts should also respect the concept of the application and at the same time they should be readable and not burden the eyes of the users.
Consider the Golden Rule
Users can access their cell phones in different ways; they can use them while walking, standing, sitting, riding in a vehicle, or doing almost anything else. As a result, they hold the device in such a way that they are comfortable while performing a certain task.
According to a study, 49% of people only use one thumb to operate their smartphone. This finding matters when we design navigation in mobile apps. We need to consider how our users use their devices so that we can create a navigation system that meets everyone’s needs.
Try to create thumb-accessible navigation and consider placing commonly used actions on the side or below so users can easily access them with two or one hand.
Readability of content is important
When creating successful navigation, the importance of text readability is usually overlooked. Content remains at the heart of how people use a mobile app, regardless of how it’s configured for navigation.
If users have problems understanding the content you give, whether it’s instructions or just written material, their engagement with the app will decrease.
The search bar is essential!
When users search for something but are unable to locate it, they often get frustrated. In this case, users can simply quit the application.
Sometimes icons and labels are not enough for your users to guide them. They want the freedom to search for themselves. It’s important to us to provide a personal experience to our users, that’s why adding a search bar is a must!
Organize screen space
The goal of good navigation design is to facilitate communication between users and the application. A smart navigation structure goes beyond just using icons, bars, and layouts. The heart of navigation weakens when design components are overemphasized.
Users might be overwhelmed by flashing bars, outlandish symbols, and misaligned text. Therefore, keeping it organized is the best thing you can do to make the app design attractive and easy to navigate.
Wrap
The needs of our users should always come first. They start their relationship with our brand as soon as they download our app. They must therefore have a satisfying experience from start to finish to ensure their loyalty.
The first factor affecting how users interact with your mobile app when going from place to place is its navigation design.
It can be difficult to provide a good browsing experience in mobile apps. Yet it is undeniably possible and doable. It just requires having a strong conceptual knowledge, not only of the navigation design itself, but also of the user needs.
The success of your mobile application will surely be influenced by its smooth navigation.