DESIGN PRICIPLES:App design is a combination of UI and UX design to build out a usable piece of

software. Modern users don’t have patience for apps that are confusing to use. Ideal mobile app design is
good-looking, functional, and straightforward all at the same time.
A good app is measured by good UX.
Users should be able to navigate your application without needing to think. If they can instinctively figure
out the design, they’ll continue to use your application again and again.
In this article, we’re going to look at the 9 principles of mobile app design and how you can incorporate
them into your design work.
Here at UXPin, we use these principles on a regular basis. If you’re looking to boost your design skills, get
on to the UXPin free trial and start prototyping now.
Principle 1: Make it Easy

Prove your app’s value by giving users what they want right away.
Normally, when someone downloads an app, he or she wants to use it for performing a specific task. Try to
make a great first impression once they open your app. Don’t interrupt them while they’re using your app –
or at least don’t interrupt them immediately.
Let users do what they want to do. Users are there to find specific information, perform an action or
consume some kind of content. If they can’t do what they want easily, they might close your app and never
come back.
Break down big tasks into really easy steps
Cognitive load measures the mental effort needed to complete a task. Minimize the cognitive load of using
your app so that users can navigate step-by-step. They shouldn’t view it as a chore that needs to be done.
Let’s take a checkout process as an example: you could ask users for information all at once, but they’ll
find it easier to fill in information over multiple steps: their shipping address, billing information, credit
card information, etc.
Your design should make it clear what the user needs to do. If you suspect that an integral part of your
layout may confuse your users, use visual aids to explain what needs to be done. For instance, you can use
a tooltip or a caption to provide instructions.
Don’t hide important information
If you want the user to use your application effectively, turn their attention to the most important elements
of your app. You can do so by increasing the font size, adding whitespace, and making sure that the
element’s color contrasts well with the background color.
Navigation elements should always be visible and they should facilitate the completion of high-value
tasks.
Principle 2: Make the navigation of your app predictable

People get used to the design patterns they encounter every day. For instance, they will expect to be able to
swipe through pictures. Make sure you adhere to the typical navigation methods of the Internet.
Your users have an expectation of how to navigate the app
Your users’ past experiences of using other apps will inform their expectations for using all applications,
including yours. Incorporate these common patterns into your design to allow them to easily navigate your
app.
Take inspiration from UX design trends and most common patterns used today, but don’t blindly
implement them without considering their fit with your application. If necessary, slightly modify these
patterns to fit the overall context of your design.
Make sure to follow the commonly accepted navigational principles for the structure of your app.
Sometimes users will instantly understand the purpose of a certain feature or a page. For instance, people
will recognize the purpose of the “what’s new” page, or “search” field. Use these universally recognized
concepts to simplify your app’s design.
Make sure to check out the design guidelines published by developers of iOS and Android operating
systems. These documents describe proven design patterns used in excellent layouts today.
Follow the 3-click rule

Users should be able to access any part of your app in less than three clicks. Keep the hierarchy of your
navigation bar simple.
Doing so will make sure it’s easy for your users to keep a mental map of what’s going on in your app. Also,
make sure your app shows the name of the page.
Whenever there’s an error, let people return to the homepage or try to redirect them to other pages that
might interest them.
Save users’ progress
Users today are busy and easily distracted. They might close your app to respond to an email or watch a
new episode of their favorite TV show. Save their progress so that they can come back and finish their task
without having to start over.
If you want to learn what your users do on your website or app, perform task analysis. Here’s a guide for
that: Task Analysis – How to Find UX Flaws.
Make it accessible across multiple devices

If you have a desktop website and a smartphone app, both channels should automatically save the activities
and progress of logged-in users. People should be able to use the app and the website interchangeably. For
instance, online shoppers might browse products on their phones, but place an order on a desktop
computer.
Principle 3: Follow the basic laws of app navigation
Don’t make up your own language
In some cases, it’s better to rely on basic principles of app design. People easily understand the design
frameworks they encounter every day. Your layout should fall in line with those expectations.

X in the top right-hand corner

A lot of applications feature X in the top right corner. Users instinctively know that clicking it will close the
application.
Avoid dramatically changing the function of common symbols. For instance, the user expects X to close
the window. Don’t use X as a symbol for any other action.
Save Button
Your app should also have a “Save” button at the bottom of a page.
Light coloured text field for inputs
Normally, input field lines are light-colored. Ideally, they should match the color that the users associate
with your brand. It is rare to see input fields with black borders.
Principle 4: Have a great, clear, and prioritized page design

Label products descriptively

Make sure the names you choose for products are descriptive and appealing. For instance, a customer
might find it hard to see the difference between “standard shipping” and “regular shipping”. Pick labels that
showcase the differences between the two options.
You can use techniques like Card Sorting to get the feel of customers’ mental models.
Showcase the most important menu items
Your navigation should facilitate the completion of the most important and high-value tasks. Show the most
important features in the primary menu and leave everything else for the secondary menu. Use Visual
Weight techniques to divert users’ attention to where it matters.
Changing font size, background contrast, and surrounding whitespace can help you divert users’ attention
to the most important features of your application.
F pattern vs. Z pattern

Most users aren’t going to read text from start to finish. They are more likely to scan multiple paragraphs
of text. The first few words of the opening paragraphs get the most attention. That’s where you should
place your most important messages to ensure that users don’t miss them. This scanning behavior is
described as an F pattern.
Users scan visual content in a Z-shaped pattern. Place your most important visuals in the areas where they
are most likely to be seen by the users, following the Z-shape pattern on your webpages.
Principle 5: Have brand image consistency

The buttons, input fields, and other elements of your application should be based on your brand image, so
you need to have it consistent.
Have navigation consistency
If your application is based on an existing website, make sure its navigation works similarly to that of a
website. Don’t change the color palette or other basic functionality to avoid confusion.
Make sure your users can predict most of the time how your app will work and look.
Mobile users don’t have the advantage of hovering and having a cursor to help them guess the outcome of
their actions. Carefully design the elements to help users recognize their purpose.
Principle 6: Minimize input and commitment from the user

Don’t ask for set-up information up front

Users see your app as a solution. Most people are focused on solving their problems. Don’t bother them
with questions, account registrations, or signup forms right away.
Let users use your app freely until it’s absolutely critical to login, give a credit card, or whatever the action
may be.
For example, Medium allows its users to enjoy a limited number of high-quality articles before asking
them to create an account and subscribe.
Minimize the need for typing
Users find it hard to precisely type on their smartphones. Try to get the desired information without asking
them for text input.
If you can’t think of an alternative, provide input masks as a formatting guideline.
Prefill as much data as possible

Instead of asking users to write down their location, ask them to share their location and use a smart tool to
fill in their address based on GPS data.
Provide optional inputs
Don’t ask users for unnecessary information. If you’d like to collect the data, give users the option to fill
out the form or leave it empty if they wish.
Autofill wherever possible
In some cases, you can use the phone’s features to automatically fill in the fields. For instance, some apps
allow their users to provide payment information by holding their credit cards in front of the camera.
Principle 7: Loading should be fast and well communicated
Users are impatient when it comes to waiting for the app to load. Make sure your app loads fast to
minimize any friction.
Show something

If you’re loading, make sure your user knows it’s loading and not broken.
Seeing a blank loading screen might lead your users to think that your app doesn’t work. People are used to
seeing some sort of loading indicator – a progress bar or a loading spinner.
Load parts of the content gradually to display something as soon as possible. This way, users can start
using the app right away, even if their Internet connection is unstable.
Offer a visual distraction during loading
You can use simple loops or progress bars to display loading progress, but users are more likely to keep
waiting if you create a simple, but entertaining loading animation.
Principle 8: Optimize your app for mobile, and diverse mobile users
If your app is going to include a lot of text, make sure that it scales well on all types of screens. Text is
much easier to read when each line contains no more than 40 characters. You should also adjust the line
spacing.
If your app involves visual content like images and videos, make sure your app can be viewed in both –
portrait and landscape modes.
Make sure your pages are built for mobile
When building a layout for your app, design easily clickable and properly spaced-out buttons. Users
shouldn’t accidentally click something they’re not supposed to. For instance, put enough space between the
Back and Next buttons to avoid accidental clicks.
Make sure your pages are built for different kinds of devices
Your app will be viewed on smartphones with 4-inch screens as well as 12+ inch tablets. Make sure your
content properly scales to fill available space on larger screens. Make sure pages don’t look crowded on
small screens.
Principle 9: Do app design for humans
Font Size

A sizable portion of Internet users today have impaired vision. Use a font size of at least 16px so that your
text is legible to everyone.
Color blindness
You shouldn’t rely solely on colors to communicate with your users. You should also use symbols so that
color-blind people can understand the message.
Deafness
Your app should be adapted for the deaf and hard of hearing, especially if it contains sound components.
Video and audio content should be captioned and subtitled.

Disabilities
HTML has built-in features to communicate the meaning of the content. For instance, you can use alt
attributes to describe the visual images for people who can’t see. Read more about accessibility standards
in UX.
Gender selections
Unless the core functionality of your app revolves around the user’s gender, don’t ask them to specify their
gender. If you run a simple business like a car rental service, there’s no need to know the customer’s
gender. It also pertains having inclusivity by default in your visual and content design.
Design interfaces in UXPin
Designing an app from scratch is a lot of work. Thankfully, you can use UXPin and its built-in accessibility
features to design an app that is accessible to everyone. You can start creating beautiful code-based designs
right away by signing up for a 14-day free trial.
Development Mobile APP: Mobile application development is the process of creating software
applications designed to run on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, often leveraging native device
features and requiring a focus on user experience and resource efficiency.
Here's a more detailed breakdown:
1) Mobile app development involves writing code, designing the user interface, and testing the
application to ensure it functions correctly and efficiently on mobile devices.
 Key Aspects:
 Target Platforms: Primarily focuses on iOS (Apple) and Android (Google) operating
systems.
 Native vs. Cross-Platform: Native apps are built specifically for a platform (e.g., using
Swift for iOS or Kotlin for Android), while cross-platform apps use a single codebase to
target multiple platforms.
 User Experience: Mobile apps must be easy to navigate and use, with a focus on touch-
based interactions and efficient data input.
 Resource Efficiency: Mobile apps must be optimized for battery life and device
performance, as they run on devices with limited resources.
 Leveraging Device Features: Mobile apps can utilize device features like GPS, cameras,
microphones, and sensors.
 Development Process:
 Planning and Strategy: Defining the app's purpose, target audience, and key features.
 Design: Creating the user interface and user experience.
 Development: Writing the code and implementing the app's functionality.
 Testing: Ensuring the app functions correctly and performs as expected.
 Deployment: Publishing the app to app stores (e.g., App Store or Google Play Store).
 Maintenance and Updates: Addressing bugs, adding new features, and keeping the app up-
to-date.
 Programming Languages:
  Native Development: Swift (iOS), Objective-C (iOS), Kotlin (Android), Java (Android).
 Cross-Platform Development: React Native, Flutter, Xamarin.
 Mobile App Development Platforms:
 Native Development: Xcode (iOS), Android Studio (Android).
 Cross-Platform Development: React Native, Flutter, Xamarin.
 Mobile App Development Lifecycle:
 Planning and Design: Defining the app's purpose, target audience, and key features.
 Development: Writing the code and implementing the app's functionality.
 Testing: Ensuring the app functions correctly and performs as expected.
 Deployment: Publishing the app to app stores (e.g., App Store or Google Play Store).
 Maintenance and Updates: Addressing bugs, adding new features, and keeping the app up-
to-date.
Users download billions of apps every year, and according to forecasts, the number of downloads across all
mobile app categories will continue to increase within the next three years. The bad news is that over half
of all downloaded apps get uninstalled within 30 days. The reasons vary:
 App not in use: 39.9%
 Limited storage: 18.7%
 Excessive notifications: 12.6%
 Confusion: 5.4%
 Technical issues: 5.4%
What these numbers represent is crystal clear. Because mobile devices have inherently low storage
capacity, it’s bound to get uninstalled if your app is no longer relevant to the user. Similarly, if your app
introduces technical difficulties—it doesn’t mattesr if it’s just a slight inconvenience—users are likely to
uninstall it to look for a more user-friendly alternative.
Mobile Application Testing: Mobile app testing is a strict testing process to ensure mobile apps meet and
exceed quality, usability, and user expectations. It involves evaluating and validating mobile applications
across various devices, platforms, and operating systems to uncover defects, optimize performance, and
deliver a seamless user experience.
It requires a comprehensive approach that combines and iterates on multiple types of testing
In the past, mobile app testing primarily focused on functional testing, verifying if apps met their intended
purpose. However, this process has come a long way and mobile application testing approaches now
include many different types of testing.
Knowing the different mobile app testing types and how they uniquely contribute to delivering an
exceptional end-user experience is an excellent place to start.
Mobile App Testing is Important:
Mobile app testing plays a vital role in the app development process. It ensures the application delivers a
seamless user experience and meets high standards.
With today’s high demand for fast, reliable, and user-friendly apps, testing is essential. It helps developers
catch and fix potential issues before launch.
As a result, it minimizes negative user feedback and poor app store ratings.
Ensuring Device Compatibility
One of the main reasons for mobile app testing is to ensure compatibility across different devices. Mobile
devices vary widely in hardware, software, and screen sizes.
Without testing, an app may work well on one device but fail on another. Compatibility testing helps
prevent alienating users who may face device-specific issues. This testing is crucial to deliver a consistent
experience for everyone.
Optimizing Performance
Performance testing focuses on an app’s speed, responsiveness, and resource usage. Users expect apps to
load quickly and operate smoothly.
Even slight delays or lags can frustrate users and lead to app abandonment. Testing ensures that an app is
efficient, responsive, and stable under various conditions.
It checks for performance even when there’s low battery, limited network connectivity, or high usage.
Strengthening Security
Security testing protects user data from unauthorized access and breaches. Many mobile apps handle
sensitive information, such as personal and financial data.
By identifying vulnerabilities, security testing helps prevent exploitation by malicious parties. Ensuring
data security builds user trust and enhances an app’s credibility.
Building User Trust and App Reputation
Ultimately, mobile app testing guarantees a smoother user experience, builds user trust, and strengthens an
app’s reputation. It is essential for success in a competitive app marketplace.
Mobile App Testing Methodologies given below:
1. Functional Testing
Functional testing involves evaluating an application’s features and functions to ensure they work as
expected. Testers assess core functionalities throughout all the user flows to identify and eliminate
functional bugs that are inadvertently introduced during the software development process.
Examples of functional testing include validating whether:
 The application installs and launches correctly
 Users can sign up and log in
  Text boxes and buttons function properly
 Push notifications render correctly
Explore our ultimate guide to Functional Testing
2. Compatibility Testing
Compatibility testing checks if an application functions as intended across various platforms (e.g., a
combination of different devices, operating systems, browsers, databases, and network environments). The
goal is to identify and resolve any performance issues to prevent users from running into navigation, screen
size adaptation, button placement, and other compatibility-related problems.
For example, cross-browser compatibility testing ensures that an application functions correctly and
consistently across different web browsers, while database compatibility testing verifies that the application
works seamlessly with different databases or database management systems (DBMS).
3. Localization Testing
From language translations to currency conversions to cultural preferences, ensuring the app delivers a
consistently delightful experience across all markets is crucial. That’s when localization testing comes into
play, check out our guide on localization testing.
Today’s consumers will boycott applications that fail to consistently translate graphical and text elements
in a way that is highly inclusive of local languages and cultures. According to research conducted by
Data.ai (formerly AppAnnie) on the global mobile gaming market, fully localizing the application
experience is how brands can get a leg up on the competition.
Localization testing relies on native language speakers and focuses on uncovering a range of issues,
including:
 Unnatural translations
 Cultural relevance and accuracy
 Currency, symbols, and pricing
 Overlapping UI elements
4. Interruption Testing
Interruption testing evaluates how well an application can recover from unexpected interruptions. Although
interruption testing applies to any type of application (web, mobile, standalone, etc.), it’s more common in
mobile applications because of mobile’s unique characteristics: diverse hardware, various connectivity
scenarios, battery life, etc.
Examples of interruptions to test include:
 Incoming phone calls when an application is running
 Incoming messages or SMS when an application is running
 Battery life when an application is running
  The device is plugged in or out of charging when an application is running
 The device shuts down when an application is running
 OS upgrade occurs when an application is running
 Loss and restoration of the network while an application is running
5. Performance Testing
Delivering a world-class digital experience to your users requires a consistently performant application
across an ever-evolving range of end-user traffic patterns, network access locations, and device
configurations. A slow or unreliable user experience – no matter how functionally complete or elegantly
designed – is a bad user experience.
Consider research from digital marketing agency Portent that determined e-commerce website transaction
conversion rates dropped from 3.05% to 0.67% as page load times increased from 1 second to 4 seconds.
Types of performance testing include:
 Load testing: Assess whether the application can handle the expected maximum number of users or
transactions
 Endurance testing: Evaluate application performance and stability over an extended period
 Stress testing: Evaluate the application’s behavior under extreme conditions to determine failure
thresholds or breaking points
 Spike testing: Assess whether the application can handle sudden increases in user activity
6. Security Testing
Security testing is another crucial type of mobile app testing that focuses on identifying and addressing
application weaknesses and vulnerabilities. The goal is to make sure the app can withstand various forms of
attacks and any unforeseen failures.
There are several types of security testing, including:
 Vulnerability scanning: Identify known vulnerabilities that attackers can exploit, such as
misconfigurations or outdated software versions
 Penetration testing: Simulate real-world attacks to pinpoint potential security flaws
 Security code review: Check for security vulnerabilities in the source code
 Ethical hacking: Employ skilled security professionals to mimic the actions of a hacker and identify
vulnerabilities
7. Payments Testing
If your application processes financial transactions, payments testing is a critical testing type. Payments
testing validates the security and reliability of financial transactions conducted by end users within a
mobile app. Not only is this area of testing critical for ensuring a positive end-user experience, but it is also
paramount from a compliance and regulatory perspective.
Gaining confidence in the integrity of financial transactions involves a range of test cases, from ensuring
that end users are presented with the appropriate set of payment options to accurately executing a range of
different financial transactions. This type of testing is further complicated by the myriad of third-party
payment processes that mobile application owners depend on to support a high-quality end-user
experience.
Additional examples of payments testing test cases include:
 Know-your-customer and payment flows
 On-location payment terminal systems
 Currency-specific credit cards
 Cryptocurrency and alternative payment methods
8. Usability Testing
Usability testing is a mobile app test that evaluates the ease of use and intuitiveness of a mobile
application. Some of the most functionally sound applications still fail to gain adoption because the
experience does not match user expectations. Through hands-on, highly interactive sessions with
representative groups of real end users, usability testing informs how users feel about the application
experience.
Led by trained UX researchers, usability testing studies uncover a range of insights that inform how well an
application experience delivers against end users’ expectations. Usability testing projects include:
 Preference testing
 Design testing
 Moderated usability testing
 Unmoderated usability testing
 Competitive experience testing
9. API Testing
API (Application Programming Interface) testing evaluates whether an app can securely, consistently, and
efficiently communicate with externalized services. It tests the functionality, performance, reliability, and
security of the APIs that mobile apps rely upon to deliver a seamless end-user experience.
API testing serves as a complement to functional testing by decoupling testing from the user interface of
the application. This form of testing seeks to uncover if API calls return the appropriate data, in the
appropriate form, within a given time SLA. Product teams can gain quality assurance efficiencies through
API testing because it removes a dependency on the release frequency of the application front end.
API testing enables organizations to achieve several key benefits, including:
 Functional validation: Ensure that API endpoints provide the right outcomes and perform the
expected functions
  Data accuracy and integrity: Ensure that the data returned by API responses is accurate and
consistent with what’s stored in the database
 Error handling: Test how well the API handles different error scenarios
 Performance and scalability: Evaluate the response time of API calls under varying loads to ensure
the API meets performance and scalability requirements
10. Build Testing
Build testing is a pre-release mobile app testing test that serves as a checkpoint to catch critical issues
associated with an updated mobile app build. Build testing is often implemented as a precursor to rolling
out a mobile app to the App Store or Google Play. Various testing techniques are applied to conduct build
testing, including smoke testing, scripted testing, and exploratory testing solutions.
Regardless of scope, build testing is a tightly integrated part of a CI/CD pipeline process because it must
keep pace with the demands for a speedy and highly interactive software delivery process.
11. Role Testing
Role testing verifies if different application users can access the experiences and data entitled by their
credentials. In some cases, roles such as administrators exist to ensure data access security. In contrast, in
other cases, a role may grant a subscriber access to premium features after an upgrade to a paid version of
the application.
Role testing should not only validate application access level but also seek to validate if a change to a
user’s role or status results in the correct level of increased or decreased entitlements across the application
experience.
12. Stream Testing
Stream testing ensures the reliable delivery of audio and video as an interactive part of a mobile app
experience. It tests for issues related to live streams and on-demand playbacks, including performance
under certain network conditions and intermittent content quality issues that can negatively impact user
satisfaction and engagement.
Stream testing also offers insights into:
 Diagnostics of stream health
 Drops in user impressions
 Content personalization and ad delivery
 Live event monitoring
13. Device Testing
Mobile apps are taking over the world, but they can’t exist without the hardware and operating systems
upon which they run. iOS enjoys over 50% market share in the US, but worldwide, Android holds a
considerable market share lead at 72.37% vs iOS’s 26.98%.
Mobile device testing ensures a high-quality application experience across the vast array of devices,
configurations, and OS versions in your end-user population’s hands and pockets. The continuous
expansion of mobile device types (e.g., wearables vs mobile phones) and versions makes this form of
testing incredibly challenging.
Mobile device testing seeks to uncover device, OS, and configuration-based shortcomings in the end-user
experience. These include:
 Are your Android and iOS apps swiping and dragging as expected?
 Does the mobile app switch seamlessly between experiences?
 How well does the screen render across different physical form factors?
 Is the location and biometric-based functionality working correctly?
When testing mobile applications, it’s worth noting that reliance on emulators and simulators alone isn’t
enough. While they’re faster and more efficient, they can’t replicate all the diverse real-world and real-time
scenarios your app must handle. For this reason, it’s essential to use actual mobile devices to get more
accurate testing results.

Related: Top Mobile App Testing Devices and Operating Systems

Automating Testing of Mobile Applications
Successful QA software testing services and teams incorporate test automation into their mobile app testing
strategies to improve coverage, enhance release velocity, and free up internal capacity for other strategic
priorities. Automated testing helps verify repeated tasks and solid code (e.g., verifying the throughput of an
API or scale testing).
As a best practice, QA teams should use manual testing to conduct exploratory testing that requires
human-led insights to identify more nuanced shortcomings of the application experience. Manual testing is
also well suited for testing that benefits from real transactions, real data, and real users.
However, as apps become more complex, test automation is critical to testing faster and extending test
coverage on several devices and across test scenarios. Mobile app automation is notoriously complex, so
it’s best to avoid automating testing for simple feature releases or updates. In those scenarios, merging
manual testing with automation can be helpful. Blending the two together unlocks enhanced optimization
and better testing outcomes.
Ready to take your mobile app testing strategy to the next level? Schedule a demo with a member of our
team today to experience our mobile app testing services!