10 UI design skills for enhancing the visual effect of Android applications

In Android Application Development, style and design may not be the most critical elements, but they do play an important role in determining whether the android application is successful or not. The following are the UI design skills for 10 Android apps and additional skills that can provide visual appeal for your Android apps.

1. Use an appropriate size image

In terms of images, many Android app developers adopt a single size approach. Although this makes resource management easier, it is a wrong practice for the visual appeal of applications. To make the application display the best visual effect, you should design different images for specific device screens. The most appropriate images can be used to build the best user experience.

2. Use images in the appropriate format

We have seen some applications pause when trying to load some large images, not only because of the image size deviation, but also because the image adopts an unideal format. The Android platform supports many media formats, such as PNG, JPEG, GIF, BMP, and webp (Note: only supported by Android 4.0 + ). PNG is an ideal lossless image format, and the quality of JPEG Rendering is unstable.

Android also supports elastic images with nine-patch. If feasible, you can consider using webp to replace JPEG, because this format has a higher storage and download efficiency. That is to say, if you use it as an independent image in the same format as the old one, the overall application scale will increase, which reduces the advantage of using the new format.

3. Use subtle animations and colors to present state changes

You can use a subtle animation and UI to control color changes during the screen transition to present application state changes, which will make your application more professional. For example, the fade-in and fade-out between activities make the screen more natural. changing the color of the pressed buttons will highlight the ongoing user actions and clearly show what the user is doing.

You can enable hardware acceleration for Android 3.x and later versions to make the animation run smoothly. However, tests are required because not all functions of the application are compatible with hardware acceleration.

4. soften the UI with the rounded Corner Effect

Buttons, pageview, and other user interface control buttons are displayed in the pixel shape of the rectangle on the screen, but this requires processing. On the control interface, the rounded corner effect is used to soften the appearance of the user interface, which looks like a web style, but is really popular with users.

5. Use consistent "light" in 3D Effects"

The latest Android platform uses holographic styles and 3D icons. If you use projection and other such styles in the control buttons of the application, make sure to use consistent "illumination ". In other words, make sure that the orientation of the shadow is consistent on the screen. Use the same value in the image editor to create the same slope and texture.

6. Use a high-contrast color scheme

When a family member (Note: often the older generation of people) finds for the first time that they can use color-colored fonts and backgrounds in their emails, so I sent you an email with a white background and a yellow lemon font, which is quite difficult to read. Some people may make it difficult for gamers to read or navigate the content on the screen when designing the app screen. Using appropriate high-contrast colors makes the screen easier to view and relieve eye pressure. Color schemes should be used as part of system resources to carry out other work on this basis.

7. Use large and easy-to-read Fonts

Like the above poor color scheme, we will also receive texts with odd fonts and hard to read from family members. Compared with other fonts, Some fonts are easier to read.

Font size is also an important factor, while maintaining a balance with other screen functions, try to make the font large enough. It is like using a fax machine with a font smaller than 12 lbs.

Android 4.0 designers have introduced a new font that only applies to the platform. It is easy to read on mobile devices and is called Roboto.

8. Do not deviate from the platform standards too much

Many successful mobile apps use familiar user interfaces. They have simple and mainstream user interfaces, and their control methods are also familiar to users. In User Interface Control and screen design, do not behave too differently. Make it as simple as possible to maintain the same performance as other applications on the platform. Use the Platform as a clue to determine application performance and behavior.

If the UI you are making is different, make sure that you use objective methods such as AB testing to compare the new UI with the traditional UI, so as to determine whether the new design scheme is more optimized, for example, it is more effective, easier to use, or more comfortable to use.

9. Follow the UI guidelines

There are many UI guidelines that can be integrated into applications in the android program manual. These guiding principles vary with the Android version used by applications. In this case, you need to create multiple assets to cope with multiple guiding principles. The Guiding Principles cover icons, widgets, menus, and activities.

10. Test the user interface

Developers are often not good QA or testers. After an application can run stably, It is very valuable for users who are completely unfamiliar with the application design and intent to perform tests. Application designers often think that users will think that their application UI is very intuitive, but this may not be the case. Only by allowing users to test the application can you discover many unexpected problems before publishing the application.

Additional skills: hire a professional art or image designer

Now, users expect to see beautifully designed applications. Just as you don't wear any clothes to attend the interview, you should invest enough resources to polish the application appearance before releasing it. In most cases, programmers are often not skilled artists, so you can consider hiring professional artists to do the job, just to ensure that you have a clear understanding of the design results.

When you develop Android applications, it is easy to forget the user interface design. After your application is relatively stable, browse this list to polish the application. Generally, it is better to leave these tasks in the later stages of development because the screen content is relatively fixed at this time.