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Markus Mönch
16,383 PointsApp design questions - Colors, Layout etc.
Hello,
I am part of a team that is creating an app but we dont have a designer yet so I am doing the design but I didnt study design. I have photoshop skills but I am bot perfect with it. The most experienced guy of the team was not satisfied with the UI Design that I did in Photoshop.
Do you have any tipps how an app can be designed? I think it is less my skills with Photoshop that are a problem but that the colors and fonts that I am using are not so good. Are there any sites that help to choose colors and fonts and any sites that help to get inspiration for great UX for mobile apps (preferably with many examples)?
Also i watched a course where it is said that the one hand one thumb scenario of holding a phone is the least flexible and apps should be optimized for this scenario. That means for me that the navigation bar should also be at the bottom. Why is Google suggesting to put this at the top? I have a 5,5 smartphone and apps that dont have stuff at the top are more comfortable for me.
For developers: The app is being developed using Xamarin. Is it possible with Xamarin to have the navigation bar at the bottom instead of the top for Android?
Best Regards Markus
4 Answers
Martin Wildfeuer
Courses Plus Student 11,071 PointsHey there, just a few starting points for app UX/UI inspiration:
There are definitely more resources out there, these are just the few that came to my mind.
Android design
With Android you should not put tab bars/navigation bars at the bottom, this concept is iOS and not Android. Have a look at the Android interface design guidelines.
Why is that?
Unlike on iOS, where you only have a single hardware button at the bottom, Android phones do have the system back/home/menu buttons there. These days, those buttons are mostly integrated in the screen. It turns out that they are often touched accidentally if other buttons are also located at the bottom, which makes up for a very poor user experience.
Moreover, the so-called action bar is a very flexible and extendable part of the Android UX/UI concept, which will make your life a lot easier. Your developer will thank you ;) Adjust your design to take advantage of this instead of trying to replicate iOS UX/UI concepts.
Having said that: when you know the rules you can always break them if you think its better for the user experience.
Hope that helps :)
micram1001
33,833 PointsThe truth is, I can't comment on the design, until I see it. For advice, I need to understand the purpose of your Android app. What audience is the app designed for?
Search "Color Theory" and "Easy to read fonts" on google. Your group needs to focus on the layout tools in Java / your IDE for the layout and fonts. You should use Adobe Illustrator for the Vector graphics (maybe laying out the fonts).
Some urls:
(http://speckyboy.com/2013/10/25/ux-design-for-htmlcss-mobile-web-apps/) (http://mobileappeurope.com/mobile-ux-mobile-ui-guidelines/) (http://www.androiduipatterns.com/2013/06/donts-of-android-design.html)
Markus Mönch
16,383 Pointsok thanks. i will check these pages. i heard from some of them.
you should means you dont have to put it at the top right?
Are u sure the phones mostly have these buttons in the screen. When i was in the shop and looked all the phones the majority of the android phones i saw had the buttons not in the screen. only LG phones had them in the screen.
Martin Wildfeuer
Courses Plus Student 11,071 PointsIt's not that much about them being hardware or software buttons, but them being visually integrated in the screen. On iPhones, the home button is clearly separated from the screen. That's different on Android phones, though.
Markus Mönch
16,383 Pointsah now i understand. ok i never had problems with that with all the android phones I had. i prefer nav at bottom. i use the chinese whatsapp which is wechat and think its much better than whatsapp. wechat has nav at the bottom.
maybe many people dont know that they can swype left and right when the menu is at the top like in whatsapp for android.