Mobile App UI Design

An app interface is judged against the platform, not against your last design

Mobile app UI design is the work of building an interface that behaves the way users already expect on their operating system, which is a constraint rather than a limitation.

Every person opening your app has spent years learning iOS or Android conventions. An app that reinvents navigation, gestures or controls asks them to unlearn something for no benefit.

Wink creates intuitive, visually appealing, user centerd mobile experiences that increase engagement and satisfaction.

What Wink designs

Wink covers the interface layer of a mobile product.

• iOS and Android app interfaces
• Onboarding experiences
• Dashboards
• Mobile design systems
• App components
• Interactive screens
• User flows

Platform guidelines are conventions your users already know

Wink follows Apple and Google platform guidelines, because they describe the behaviors users have already learned.

Navigation patterns, control placement, gestures and system behaviors differ between the platforms, and users notice when an app feels imported from the other one.

Following the guidelines is not a lack of originality. It is the reason an app can feel obvious on first open, which is the only impression an app gets to make once.

Onboarding is the screen everyone sees

Onboarding is the only part of an app every single user encounters, and it is where a large share of them decide whether to continue.

The best onboarding asks for as little as possible before demonstrating value. Every permission request, form field and explanation screen placed before the first useful moment costs users.

Wink designs onboarding around the shortest credible path to the thing the app is actually for.

Components are designed once and used everywhere

App components and mobile design systems are what make an app consistent as it grows.

Buttons, inputs, cards, lists and navigation elements defined once behave identically wherever they appear, which is what lets users learn the app rather than each screen.

It also makes development faster, since a component built once is reused rather than rebuilt slightly differently on every screen.

Designing for thumbs, glances and interruptions

Mobile interfaces are used one handed, in short bursts, and while something else is happening, which changes what a good layout is.

Primary actions belong where a thumb reaches. Critical information belongs where it is visible without scrolling. Any task longer than a few steps needs to survive being interrupted and resumed.

This is why a mobile interface cannot be a scaled down desktop layout, regardless of how well that layout works on a larger screen.

Redesigning an app that already has users

Wink redesigns existing applications, and the constraint is that users have already learned the current interface.

Changing everything at once forces relearning on people who were previously comfortable, which produces complaints and lost usage even when the new design is better.

Sequencing the change is therefore part of the design work, not an afterthought.

Who mobile app UI design is for

• Startups building a first application
• Businesses whose app has low retention after install
• Companies with an app that feels dated against current platform conventions
• Teams needing a design system before an app grows further
• Enterprises building internal apps that staff use daily

What mobile app UI design connects to

Mobile UI sits inside UI and UX design, and the interfaces it produces are built through mobile app development.

Structure comes from wireframing and prototyping, and consistency is maintained through design systems and UI optimization.

Where to start

Send us your app and the one screen users complain about. That screen usually explains the retention number.