Application Design 1 - Mobile Application Proposal
23.09.2024 - 14.10.2024 (Week1 - Week4)
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When I'm preparing the slides for the Task 1 I came across a problem when I'm
going through the task mentioning that the app tends to consume a lot of battery
power and data, which leads me thinking does UI (User interface) affects or even
consumes battery life and data that diminishes the overall experiences of the
users.
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Michael Chan Henn Loong / 0363611
Application Design 1 / BDCM
Project 1 / Mobile Application Proposal
Application Design 1 / BDCM
Project 1 / Mobile Application Proposal
LECTURES
Week 1
In week 1 I've learned the basics of mobile application design, as well as
why it is so important these days. While there were many takeaways from
that, I think the one that hit me the hardest was how important good design
is to help the user experience. A well designed app isn’t just more
engaging, it also causes users to feel like they had a good experience. I
was impressed by the fact how upfront quality design saved us both time and
money during the development process, which I didn't really understand until
now. The second point was to understand usability – you need to make sure
that users can easily navigate the app and are able to perform what they are
supposed to do in a quick and efficient way. I learned that even through
applying usability principles such as making sure your app is intuitive/
easy to use. Even testing usability early is really important to prevent big
problems in the future.
Another thing that really stood out to me was how mobile apps have evolved and
how many people use them worldwide (Over 6 billion). The reason this all makes
so much sense is that the mobile first approach is focused most on mobile
users. This is why it was eye opening to learn how important it is to develop
an app that remains responsive and works well across various platforms;
something I hadn’t thought too much about is the mobile app design challenges,
like facing limited screen space and different device capabilities. One thing
I found really useful was the user centered design (UCD) process. The things I
learned is that it is more about creating ideas and actual doing research on
what the users are needing and then iterating on these ideas when tested and
improved based on the feedback you get from users.
Additionally, I picked up some skills like making layouts compact and clean to
fit mobile screens, and use primitive gestures (such as taps and swipes) to
make it easier to use. Reducing load times and making sure it works on old
devices is crucial performance smart; especially considering our set is quite
small. I like the idea of starting with low fidelity prototypes and testing
them, and then refining them to get feedback from user sounds to be a sensible
one now. Overall, I think that this lesson definitely solidified in my mind
how important it is to consider usability, performance, and the needs of the
users when designing a mobile app, and I think I’m at a good place with regard
to how to approach mobile design.
Week 2
In this week’s lessons have helped me understand better the fundamental
principles of User Centered Design (UCD), User Experience (UX) and User
Interface (UI) Design. I have really gained knowledge from this which has
changed my design view point that design isn’t just all about the look but
making these functional and usable.
User-Centered Design (UCD)
From this I learned that UCD is a design philosophy that places users at the
core of the design process from beginning to the end. User needs guide
everything from the first concept to the final product , it is an iterative
process. Which has really taught me that we need to design for the things
that look good and not for what works for the user — we need to make sure
the product doesn’t just work but also play. I found the idea of empathy UCD
the most interesting as I believe users needs and struggles should be
understood from the user’s own point of view while designing.
User Experience Design (UX)
It taught me the lessons on UX, how it is about the wider picture of the way
user interact with products. It’s not just about designing beautiful
interfaces visually, but about building a smooth, functional and emotionally
satisfactory journey. The whole thing about user journey mapping, where each
touch point from the product is investigated from the user’s perspective,
stood out the most. What I learned was, UX is not about my assumptions and
creating the design, but it’s creating the design towards serving the users
goals, not my goals.
Part 2
Usability
I also learned about usability, which means how easy and convenient is a
product to use(Week 2, 2). This is something I often overlooked in past
designs but now I see that the products need to be intuitive and intuitive
to navigate. The key take away being that simplicity is key, and a design
with few steps with clear feedback will be less frustrating to the user. I
also covered what common usability pitfalls like bad navigation or unclear
calls to action (CTAs) mean for the user’s experience(Week 2 (2))
Key Takeaways:
User-Centered Approach: A better design is not about me as the designer,
it’s about the user. I have to think like them, need to understand their
needs and then design accordingly.
UX is Holistic: It doesn’t stop at individual feature, or pages; it covers
the whole user experience. At every element of the product, it’s supposed to
work together to create a seamless journey.
UI is Functional: It’s not about aesthetic, it’s about usability. It is
fundamental to follow consistency, simplicity and visibility.
Usability is Key: That is why how easy and how satisfying to use a product
will determine its success. The feedback can make or break the user’s
experience, getting it wrong can lead to, reduction in errors.
Finally, I would say that these lessons have widened my horizon on the
design — it’s not only to make something good looking, but to create an
experience that is functional, fun, and address user needs. Now this week
has taught me that good design doesn’t just happen, it takes time, research,
empathy, and constant iteration to get it right.
Week 3
Looking back on what I’ve learned about usability heuristics and UI design,
I learned with a greater sense of the common intellectual foundation that
such a great design of apps and web must stem from. Jakob Nielsen’s 10
Usability Heuristics are a set of guidelines that help us create more user
friendly, efficient and intuitive interfaces.
There are several takeaways; however the main one is Visibility of System
Status. Users like to feel in control, and that means getting feedback as
often as they can, whether that’s a progress bar or a confirmation message.
This is something that helps users really believe, believe in, really get
into a system because they know what’s going on.
Another idea that also gained notice was the idea of designing interfaces
that are the Real World's equivalent. The system is intuitive by analogy to
familiar metaphors, for example a trash can for deleting files. This
approach eases learning and con fusions of users by tying the design to how
they use the real life.
I learned how important User Control and Freedom really is. So users need to
have the flexibility to undo or redo actions to feel empowered during their
interaction with a system. Imagine if users are determined to be trapped, or
forced to commit mistakes that can’t be reversed, and now you’re about to
click submit. I’ve seen this myself too, the time when I couldn't reverse a
step in an app, and now I know how that is bad design.
Consistency and Standards is another important fact. We keep design elements
like buttons, icons, and actions predictable, so that users have a smoother
experience. It prevents users from making unnecessary mistakes and makes
navigation easier on a system.
I also liked Error Prevention and Recognition rather than Recall because
they are ways of making interface less error prone and requiring less mental
effort of user. It improves the experience when users can just see the
options instead of remembering from memory.
Overall, I’ve learned that good design isn’t about the how of an interface,
but the how it feels and works for the user. Minimizing friction, giving
clear feedback, tugging them gently, rather than pushing them away and
overwhelming. I’ve gained a strong concept to start thinking more critically
about UI design and usability not just as a future designer, but a user as
well.
INSTRUCTIONS
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https://www.linkedin.com/advice/3/how-can-you-optimize-mobile-ui-design-different-7h1ec
So I went and looked up something from google and came across this article on
linkedin by Sir Saravanakumar K. It's mention in the article how batteries are
consumed and how does UI complexity affects the battery life also how to
manage the resources and states of the UI. He also mentioned on how to measure
and test the mobile UI design for different device battery tests so that we
know how the application performs and behaves on different devices and battery
levels and also how it affects the user satisfaction and retention.
Overall this article helped me in getting deeper knowledge and understanding
on how UI affects the device and also the application itself before reading
this article in my POV User Interfaces are just something that is designed to
please the eyes but now I know how important it is in the whole design
principles and how it can directly affect the experiences and retention of the
application.
Requirements
Students are required to create a proposal documentation for their mobile
application project. You are required to redesign an existing app that you
find unsatisfactory in terms of the user experience or interface design and
its subject to preliminary approval by the module coordinator. Students need
to do surveys, interviews, market studies and research on the selected
topic. The document should also include key features of their mobile
application and provide clear flowchart of the app. The document will
determine whether the mobile application idea is good to continue to the
next development phase. This task is an iterative process whereby during the
assignment period, students are free to get feedback from their peers and
module coordinator to further refine their idea.
There are 3 apps that I find unsatisfied in terms of the user experience and
also the interface design.
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Fig 1.0, Chosen Application
The reason I chose Xbox mobile pass to redesign is that with an incredible
library of games available on the mobile app versions of the Xbox Game Pass at
your fingertips, a way to better navigate and discover games would make the
app even better. Search for new games or quickly accessing important features
like cloud gaming is tough for many users. Redesigning these processes could
make the process easier with a more intuitive UI, clearer categorization and
the ability to customize the user and so for to save what they are used to.
Visual updates that keep in line with Xbox’s current advertising and branding
are also a possibility that could help solidify the service as the cutting
edge gaming option on the mobile scene, and in turn, help reaffirm the
perception that Xbox is a premium, next generation brand of choice.
As for steam mobile, it's literally a very bad designed app that is only
used due to the importance of the steam guard function it provides, no users
uses it for the navigating part or even the purchase part. One of the most
knows problem it has is the vertical and horizontal view when the devices
and apps are turned into other views the app gets cut into half providing no
use to users and greatly diminish the experiences of the steam mobile users.
Lastly for the PlayStation app, it is a useful connection tool that allows
players to interact with their PlayStation network, messages and games but
fails miserably with intuitive design. This undercuts the value of the
interface with its simplicity: the interface can feel far too simplistic to
offer real value, with every switching of which functionality we want to use
— game purchases, social interaction, and remote play setup — requiring the
visit to a separate, simple page. A redesign could be to improve the
navigation, integrating social aspects more, and making user interaction
more personalized. Improving this app would tie this app deeper to a players
Playstation ecosystem increasing satisfaction and engagement.
So on top is the the proposal I did for choosing out which app I would like
to work with. I showed the slides to Mr. Zeon through email as we didn't
really have time to go through in the class due to the numbers of the
students and I decided to go with Steam Mobile, Mr. Zeon gave me some
advices on where to improve for the slides too.
After deciding on which application I'm working on I started with my proposal presentation slides for Week 4. This slide is the final version of my presentation slides, I added in a slide summarizing the users review, provided some solutions for the weaknesses and how to address them, added in redesign strategy, added a page of references and also rearranged the visual aids so that its easier and more pleasant for users to read and watch.
FEEDBACK
Week 2-
-Please double-check your reviews. I noticed reviews and comments from a year ago for Steam, while most of the Xbox comments date back 3 to 4 years. Kindly find recent comments specifically related to user experience and user interface issues.
-Great effort on the weakness analysis. However, instead of just providing text, please include screenshots of the app to support each point.
-Have you decided which app you'll choose for the final submission of Assignment 1?
Week 3-
Absent
Week 4 (Presentation) -
Explain on how Steam Mobile App stands out from the two competitive
application and also put in more information and images to support the
weaknesses and also add in more detailed weaknesses and include the solution
and the weaknesses in one slides.
REFLECTIONS
As a gamer, it’s interesting to see how platforms adapt to user demand. There is one particular platform, Steam, which has been pretty popular over the PC gaming world for years. But when it comes to the Steam Mobile App, the potential and actual performance is pretty bad. This assignment let me notice that no matter how good a brand is or how good the app is there is always room for improvement and also I've noticed that mostly the bad applications are the ones that are useful like what my classmates shown in class the bus app, flight app and etc. All these are useful and important but why aren't they treated carefully and why aren't they improving?
Problems with Steam Mobile Experience
The Steam Mobile App is a nice little app for keeping track of game libraries, keeping in touch with friends, and even keeping Steam Guard required to provide a layer of security, but it's far from perfect. I’ve encountered several persistent issues:
Performance problems: The app doesn't always deliver where it says: slow load times and frequent crashes ruin that convenience on the go. And that’s especially frustrating when you’re in the middle of buying a game or looking through your wishlist.
Limited functionality: The mobile app is a much more stripped down version than its desktop counterpart. Missing or not implemented are features such as advanced search options, great chat functions and easy community navigation.
User interface challenges: Broken image layouts, poorly sized fonts, and navigation problems break up the experience. A jarring user experience which fails to live up to the Steam desktop standard, to put it simply.
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