When an APP starts to start designing, the first step should be to set the design style of the whole APP with the main page, and then the other pages will be designed and beautified according to the unified design style. A unified design style can give users an overall consistent visual experience, which is conducive to conveying the overall brand image of the product; it is also convenient for the design team to formulate design specifications and reduce the communication costs associated with inconsistent design styles.
The APP design style conveys at least two messages to the user from the visual effect: one is the overall tone of the APP. The second is the target audience of the APP.
Take WeChat and QQ as an example: WeChat is black, green and white with three main colors, the layout of the middle rule presents to the user a stable, trustworthy feeling, more like an adult communication tool. QQ default skin is light blue, light grey, white with three main colors, the flexible layout of the interaction presents to the user a lively, interesting feeling, more inclined to play, love novelty of the young users.
Why is there such a big difference in design styles between instant messaging social apps? This is precisely because of the positioning of the product and the target users. WeChat slogan is "WeChat, is a lifestyle", this large and comprehensive positioning, doomed to WeChat design style to be more cautious and neutralized; on the other hand, according to Tencent official statistics 86% of WeChat users age concentration in the 18-35 years old, 90% of the user's occupation for the enterprise employees, students, the target users also decided WeChat design style On the other hand, according to Tencent's official statistics, 86% of WeChat users are aged 18-35, and 90% of them are corporate employees and students. QQ, on the other hand, is compatible with a wider range of people, and is younger and more lively than WeChat. For example, primary and secondary school students are still loyal to QQ as a communication tool.
In principle, the product manager should not interfere to limit the designer's creativity and inspiration, but what is the product positioning, product target population is who. These two points product managers must be clearly conveyed to the designer before the design requirements.
So the designer out of the draft, how to determine whether it is in line with the design style of our products? Here the product manager must understand the common sense and basic principles of design, read relevant design books, and consciously to experience and compare the design of various App products to improve product appreciation.
The design of mobile app products should first follow the industry's mainstream design style: flat design. Flat design has several obvious benefits:
1, the interface is beautiful, simple and generous, clear organization
2, the design elements emphasize the abstract, minimalist, symbolic, removing redundant decorative effects highlighting the App's text, pictures and other information content.
3, perfectly compatible with pc website, Android, ios and other platforms with different systems and different screen resolutions, adaptable.
APP product design is set as flat, and then the test is the designer interface color matching professional skills. In the design style performance, color occupies more than 80% of the visual experience. Therefore, to do a good job of design style, the main good interface color matching and distribution. In addition, color is emotional, different colors can give users different impressions and feelings, and different people have different color preferences. So when color matching for APP design, we need to consider different users' preferences and experience the visual feeling that color matching brings to users.
From the chart, both men and women like green and blue, which also explains why WeChat and QQ use green and blue as one of the important color schemes for APP respectively; both men and women hate orange and brown. The difference is that men prefer black, women prefer purple; men hate purple, women hate gray. Chart for reference only, in my product experience inspection, in the female color preference has an unshakeable position is red, pink. If you use red as the main design style of women's apps:
Overall, the design style is the first step in the design process, and only after the design style is set can the design work continue to be organized. It is important to make sure that the design style matches the preferences of the user population, is in line with the positioning of the app, and conveys a positive and favorable image of the app to the users. It is also worthwhile for product managers and designers to spend more time and effort in determining the design style stage.
After determining the design style, we can continue to organize the next article "Planning 007 - App interface interaction design specifications".