FW. Analysis of software startup screen design-[design resources]

ArticleDirectory

• What is the startup screen?
• Why do I need to start the screen?
• Environment where the startup screen of a mobile application exists
• Postscript

Recently, I am very interested in the user experience. I have browsed some articles and gained some valuable insights. I also need to repeat this article to my favorites.

What is the startup screen?

When a user starts an operating system, software, or applicationProgramThe graphic interface that carries the product ID and related information first appears. For example, the launch screen of the office software program contains the product identifier, distribution company, and some possible operations.

Why do I need to start the screen?

FollowExperience design rules-allows users to quickly start tasksThe startup screen seems to be an obstacle before the user starts the task. In fact, it takes a little time to start the program. Sometimes it takes a long time, such as the start of the operating system, the start of large-scale drawing or office software. During this period, it is obviously inappropriate to display a black screen.CodeToo mechanical (we should be impressed with the early DOS operating system ).

It takes time to start, which brings about some user experience problems:

1. the user does not know what the machine is doing, and may suspect that the machine is slow and inefficient.

2. the user will get bored while waiting, directly affecting the machine's emotions

In order to solve these experience problems, people use a screen to replace the code running in the background, in exchange for people's liking for the machine. In order to achieve this, many companies have made great efforts to make animations more delicate and more forms. I will not go into details here. I will mainly talk about the startup screen of the mobile app client (taking the iOS platform as an example ).

Environment where the startup screen of a mobile application exists

The environment for mobile applications is poor, which is relative to PC. Even if the product design expenditure does a lot of subtraction on functions, even if engineers are doing performance optimization day and night, it still takes some time to start the application. The necessity for starting the screen to exist in mobile client products is unknown.

Design Rule 1 for mobile app startup screens-avoid displaying irrelevant content, including a beautiful image, and try your best to make the startup screen meaningful. For users, they want to immediately experience your applications rather than appreciate useless information. The following example shows how to understand this rule and how to use it. You can also download and experience these applications to learn more about the startup screen secrets. Feel free to contact us.

• Scenario 1 brand meaning extension

If the start time is not as short as one or two seconds, we can use this time to display the brand of the application. But it is not just about displaying the brand. It is best to combine the services provided by the application to extend the meaning of the brand to the screen, bring a kind of intimacy to the user, or let the user understand the product culture, or other stories you want users to know.

Case 1Only the logo design. Many applications are designed in this way. Put your ID in the middle and tell the user that I am me. Then, no emotion is entered into the content interface. Sometimes, the logo has a texture, so that the screen is still visually expected. If it is like Bing, it is a bit ......

Case 2 graphic design is awesome. For example, the Sina news application has embodied this sense of technology and product texture. One Earth is also in line with people's understanding of the globalization and timeliness of news. The startup screen of Adobe Photoshop reflects its professional insights on color and light. It will surely resonate with Adobe fans on its technology. (Lack of human touch, but increased sense of technology .)

Case 3 tells a story. The startup screen can tell a story for the logo. Maybe it's Paul's journey to the moon. In short, it's not just a logo, but also a story that makes you happy. Of course, if this kind of picture is not updated frequently, it will make your application too biased towards an event or a certain group of people, which may cause some users' dislike.

Case 4 provides targeted logo supplements. It can reflect the role of the application to the user, not fancy. The following example is worth learning. The weekend pictorial is to see the newspaper through drinking coffee, with an emotional resonance. A network disk is a repository of large volumes of files, images, and media information.

• Scenario 2: Go to the main application interface

Some applications on the iPhone use the default Interface framework as the startup screen. The user will feel that the application responds quickly-this is very useful on the Mobile End, and most applications do not. If the loading time is too long, the user will think it is a network problem or the program crashes. The interface framework can be used as the startup interface to ease users' fatigue in response to application latency. (Generally, this interface is composed of a graph rather than a real widget .)

Case 1 after the Google application is started, a simple interface is displayed, including the navigation bar and label bar. A few seconds later, the search box appears, indicating you can use the application. It is worth noting that because it is a false image, do not make available functions or operable modules on this startup screen, misleading the user program to use.

Case 2 when starting the Facebook application, you need to determine whether the application is connected to the Internet and whether the account is bound. First, a fake image is displayed. Only the navigation bar is displayed. If no account is bound, the logon interface is displayed. If an account is bound, the information center interface is displayed.

Case 3: the Google Earth application starts with a panoramic view of the Earth. Therefore, the startup screen is a static frame earth, which is almost the same as the screen after the application starts, allowing users to feel quick situational feedback.

Most iPhone applications use this kind of startup screen (Address Book, SMS, iTunes, appstore settings, weather, etc.), so that users do not have to wait, directly contact the operation interface. Of course, this requires that the application itself do not need much time to start. Some people may think that the startup screen without a brand logo does not feel like the brand is not promoted. According to Apple's official explanation, when users download and open your application, they will already know your brand. Whether your brand can impress users is the user experience of subsequent tasks, including allowing users to enjoy your services immediately without waiting.

• Scenario 3 transition to useful modules

If your application requires the necessary operations before use, you can combine them with the startup screen instead of displaying them separately. This is also a way to improve efficiency.

Case 1 combines the logon registration process. When the application is determined to be connected to the Internet and requires user login, the startup screen automatically transits to the logon link. Yahoo Messenger and MSN are both very natural. This will make your users feel very careful about the design quality and improve their preference for the application. (Generally, when a user uses this type of application for the first time-an account is not bound to, a logon window appears. If an account has been bound and the account is logged on by default, the startup screen will adopt the scenario 2 solution .)

Case 2: refresh useful information through local network

The official Twitter client directly opens the "Search module" interface at the first startup, just cut out a region at the top of the navigation bar to the Registration button. At this time, the content area at the bottom of the interface begins to refresh, showing instant and simple information.

• Scenario 4: Appropriate Animation

The use of appropriate animation can make the application startup more shocking. Make sure that you do not always want to enjoy a short film when starting the application unless it is wonderful and necessary.

Case 1: When the pictorial application was started, it was a gradually clear image. As the image is displayed one by one, the program starts and the content list page is displayed. This solution uses the application content as the startup element, allowing users to enjoy the services provided by the application from the moment they start.

Case 2 the startup time of the daily is generally long. A static frame image is displayed, followed by a video ID, followed by a simulated display of the sky interface. Data is still being loaded. The experience cannot be good. It takes at least one minute to view the content of this application.

Therefore, exercise caution when using a video for your application. That is, the user download time is increased, and the user startup time is delayed.

Rule 2 of the mobile app startup screen design-the appearance of the startup screen, subconsciously telling the user to select the correct hand-held direction.

• On the iPhone, most people use portrait screens to get more content. Therefore, the iPhone desktop does not provide landscape screens. If your application only supports landscape screens, you should display the screen in Landscape mode when displaying the startup screen. In this way, you can directly tell the user to reverse the screen, instead of entering the task and notifying the user.

• On the iPad, most people use a horizontal screen because of the larger screen size, so that more content can be seen (on the iPad, the horizontal screen mode can display more operations or hidden content ). In this way, the user will frequently switch in the horizontal and vertical directions, so your application is best to support all directions. If your application only supports one direction, for example, landscape screen, you should display the screen in Landscape mode when displaying the startup screen, so that you can directly tell the user to reverse the screen, instead of entering the task and notifying the user.

On the iPad, if your application supports both horizontal and vertical screens, you need to display the correct startup screen, which is consistent with the user's current usage direction.

Postscript

There are a lot of exquisite startup pictures ~. Many people think that visual work like starting pictures is the work of visual designers. I do not know that any part of the product requires a smart strategy, so users can experience it through visual view or interaction alone, it is never enough and impossible. Only by understanding the comprehensive knowledge requirements of the user experience can we truly improve the user experience and products.

I hope this article will help you design your products. Please leave a message to discuss it and help me continue to improve the article.

Original article: http://mux.baidu.com/2011/03/779/