{"id":1786,"date":"2015-05-08T03:59:54","date_gmt":"2015-05-08T10:59:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wiebe-elsinga.com\/blog\/?p=1786"},"modified":"2015-05-08T04:15:27","modified_gmt":"2015-05-08T11:15:27","slug":"improve-your-android-ux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wiebe-elsinga.com\/blog\/improve-your-android-ux\/","title":{"rendered":"Tips on how to improve your \u202aAndroid\u202c \u202aUX"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpsso-pinterest-pin-it-image\" style=\"display:none !important;\">\n<\/div><!-- .wpsso-pinterest-pin-it-image -->\n\n<p>During recent Android app clinics I hosted and\/or attended, I started noticing developers\/designers implement some common UX flaws and found myself questioning if they know how to do proper UX.<br \/>\nSome of those Android applications I&#8217;ve seen are really well thought out from a technical point of view, but lack good UX.<\/p>\n<p>So maybe I should share some techniques\/tips on how to improve the UX.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\n<center><img width=\"320\" src=\"http:\/\/i.giphy.com\/rV4guAJUoU6Vq.gif\"\/><\/center><\/p>\n<h3>1) Analyze<\/h3>\n<p>Do some analysis on your current (or future) UX design. As designer and\/or developer we tend to think we know everything, but we don&#8217;t. Your application may be used differently than you might think.<br \/>\nKnowing how users are using or will use your application is valid information in making a good UX design, as the focus is, and always should be, the user.  <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Do usability tests<\/strong> to discover problems or bottle-necks in your design. This can be done by actually sitting down with a user and observe his\/her behavior while he\/she is using your application or prototype. <\/li>\n<li><strong>Use analyzing tools<\/strong> like Google analytics to find how user are using your application, so you know the user focus (or lack of) inside your application.<\/li>\n<li>Or just <strong>look around<\/strong> how people are using there device to know basic human-device interaction. A good example might be when you application is using the camera as feature. You&#8217;ve probably seen that &#8220;selfiesticks&#8221; are becoming more populair, so your application might be needing front-camera support as well.<\/li>\n<li>And finally have a <strong>look at user reviews<\/strong> in Google Play. They might supply you with vital information on how to make your users happy (and getting good ratings at the same time).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/p>\n<h3>2) (Re)Think<\/h3>\n<p>It might be a good idea to have a second (or third) look at your current UX design and re-think.<br \/>\nTry to look for these bad UX omens:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Additional texts<\/em> to explain how it elements work. You can&#8217;t document your way out of confusing UX.<\/li>\n<li><em>Novel paradigms<\/em>. Stick to known patterns, so users feel quickly at ease.<\/li>\n<li><em>FAQ section<\/em>. The information presented to the user should be obvious and clear.<\/li>\n<li><em>&#8220;Pop-ups&#8221;<\/em>, like a confirm dialog. Don&#8217;t block the UX. Don&#8217;t say that something is dangerous if you can&#8217;t fix the danger. Do support &#8220;undo&#8221;.<\/li>\n<li><em>Too much information<\/em>. Keep it simple (is always the hardest to do).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\nSo how can you test if your new UX is wel thought out you may ask, well:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You might want to <strong>prototype<\/strong> your new UX design first in stead of rewriting your app. This is quick and easy to do and can test if your redesign has been improved. <\/li>\n<li>Try doing <strong>A\/B testing<\/strong> so you can compare the new design against your current one. Testing eliminates guesswork and turns &#8220;I think&#8221; into &#8220;I know&#8221;.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/p>\n<h3>3) Adapt<\/h3>\n<p>As described in the previous section it&#8217;s important to stick to known patterns, so the user can quickly become acquainted with your application features.<br \/>\nAdapting platform standards is the way to go. And Google has done a great job with the introduction of Material Design, by suppling us with well thought out UX design patterns.<br \/>\nLearn these pattern and apply them to your UX design.<br \/>\nOne question I get asked a lot is when an application is adapting Material design will it still contain its uniqueness and will my branding survive. My answer is yes.<br \/>\n<center><img width=\"320\" src=\"http:\/\/i.giphy.com\/12nuDeDV4xU3yE.gif\"\/><\/center><br \/>\nBranding can by maintained by: <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The application or product icon.<\/li>\n<li>Use of colors. <\/li>\n<li>And the actual application itself, meaning your brand should be reflected in the application. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\nLet me explain this by giving you an example giving to me by <a href=\"https:\/\/plus.google.com\/+MarieSchweiz\" target=\"_blank\">Marie Schweiz<\/a> about her redesign of the Top Gear application.<br \/>\nThe succes of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.topgear.com\/\">Top Gear<\/a> (brand) is not the cars, but the three guys hosting it and the fun they have with cars. This should be reflected in the UX design, so make if playful.<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<h3>4) Add<\/h3>\n<p>It might sounds strange, adding features to transform UX design, but it&#8217;s not. Let me be clear, I&#8217;m not talking about adding more content but adding features like feedback, value and user aid.<br \/>\nSo you can add:<\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"vertical-align:middle\">\n\t\t\t<video src=\"http:\/\/wiebe-elsinga.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/shamuLMY47DWiebe05082015095543.mp4\" id=\"id0\" width=\"200\" onMouseOver=\"id0.play()\" onMouseOut=\"id0.pause()\" onclick=\"window.location='http:\/\/wiebe-elsinga.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/shamuLMY47DWiebe05082015095543.mp4';id0.pause()\" loop><\/video>\n\t\t<\/td>\n<td style=\"vertical-align:middle\">\n\t\t\t<strong>Interaction feedback<\/strong>, which gives the user confidence that he\/she is using the content correctly\n\t\t<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"vertical-align:middle\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/wiebe-elsinga.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/shamuLMY47DWiebe05082015102326.png\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<img src=\"http:\/\/wiebe-elsinga.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/shamuLMY47DWiebe05082015102326.png\" width=\"300\" class=\"aligncenter\" \/><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/td>\n<td style=\"vertical-align:middle\">\n\t\t\t<strong>Error feedback<\/strong>, which warns the user and a possible solution. But be careful not to block the user while giving this type of feedback.\n\t\t<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"vertical-align:middle\">\n\t\t\t<video src=\"http:\/\/wiebe-elsinga.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/shamuLMY47DWiebe05082015102824.mp4\" id=\"id3\" width=\"200\" onMouseOver=\"id3.play()\" onMouseOut=\"id3.pause()\" onclick=\"window.location='http:\/\/wiebe-elsinga.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/shamuLMY47DWiebe05082015102824.mp4';id3.pause()\" loop><\/video>\n\t\t<\/td>\n<td style=\"vertical-align:middle\">\n\t\t\t<strong>Loading feedback<\/strong>, which gives the user options, should I wait or just continue. Again don&#8217;t block the user.\n\t\t<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"vertical-align:middle\">\n\t\t\t<video src=\"http:\/\/wiebe-elsinga.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/shamuLMY47DWiebe05082015104350.mp4\" id=\"id4\" width=\"200\" onMouseOver=\"id4.play()\" onMouseOut=\"id4.pause()\" onclick=\"window.location='http:\/\/wiebe-elsinga.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/shamuLMY47DWiebe05082015104350.mp4';id4.pause()\" loop><\/video>\n\t\t<\/td>\n<td style=\"vertical-align:middle\">\n\t\t\t<strong>Action aid<\/strong>, which gives the the user the option to &#8220;undo stupidity&#8221;\n\t\t<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p>If you want to know more, you may want to visit:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/design\/spec\/material-design\/introduction.html\" target=\"_blank\">Google Material design introduction<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thenextweb.com\/creativity\/2015\/04\/27\/user-testing-explained\/\" target=\"_blank\">User testing explained, part 1<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thenextweb.com\/dd\/2015\/04\/28\/user-testing-explained-part-two\/\" target=\"_blank\">User testing explained, part 2<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/androiduiux.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Android UI\/UX<\/a> website by <a href=\"https:\/\/plus.google.com\/+TaylorLing\" target=\"_blank\">Taylor Ling<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.androiduipatterns.com\/ http:\/\/www.androiduipatterns.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Android UI patterns<\/a> website by <a href=\"https:\/\/plus.google.com\/+JuhaniLehtim\u00e4ki\" target=\"_blank\">Juhani Lehtim\u00e4ki<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Udacity course: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.udacity.com\/wiki\/ud849\" target=\"_blank\">UX Design for Mobile Developers<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UClKO7be7O9cUGL94PHnAeOA\" target=\"_blank\">Google design Youtube channel<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\nI really want to thank my friend and colleague <a href=\"https:\/\/plus.google.com\/+AliDerbane\" target=\"_blank\">Ali Derbane<\/a> for reviewing this post <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>During recent Android app clinics I hosted and\/or attended, I started noticing developers\/designers implement some common UX flaws and found myself questioning if they know how to do proper UX. Some of those Android applications I&#8217;ve seen are really well thought out from a technical point of view, but lack good UX. So maybe I should share some techniques\/tips on how to improve the UX.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1788,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[151,7],"tags":[154,65,138],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wiebe-elsinga.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1786"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wiebe-elsinga.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wiebe-elsinga.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wiebe-elsinga.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wiebe-elsinga.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/wiebe-elsinga.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wiebe-elsinga.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wiebe-elsinga.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wiebe-elsinga.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wiebe-elsinga.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}