{"id":43563,"date":"2018-01-11T04:49:46","date_gmt":"2018-01-11T11:49:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/2018\/01\/the-importance-of-mobile-ui-design\/"},"modified":"2018-01-11T04:49:46","modified_gmt":"2018-01-11T11:49:46","slug":"the-importance-of-mobile-ui-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/2018\/01\/the-importance-of-mobile-ui-design\/","title":{"rendered":"The Importance of Mobile UI Design"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Nitin Goyal, MD<\/a>, Orthopaedic Surgeon, Founder & CEO at Pulse Platform. Originally published<\/a> on\u00a0Quora<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ignoring the impact of user interface design is one of the biggest mistakes you can\u00a0make.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve seen so many apps that don\u2019t focus on UI the way they should. The designs don\u2019t consider problems from the consumer\u2019s point of view or reflect the purpose of the\u00a0apps.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re static. They aren\u2019t evolving with the user or modifying as users\u00a0change.<\/p>\n

At Pulse, we focus heavily on UI\u00a0design.<\/p>\n

Recently, our mobile app and web dashboard won a Muse Creative Award<\/a> and a Davey Award<\/a> for design. We\u2019ve also had positive user feedback, which encourages us to constantly update and improve the experience. That being said, here\u2019s why UI is essential to the success of any digital health platform.<\/p>\n

1. It Highlights Value<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The interface is your initial pitch to the user. You want to show your app holds value for them. A poor design immediately tells the user it has little value, no matter how useful it may actually\u00a0be.<\/p>\n

Many of the apps we use today are overly complicated. I\u2019m a young guy who runs a tech company (I\u2019d like to consider myself reasonably \u2018tech-savvy\u2019), and I occasionally get confused when I open some of them. I wind up looking at the interface wondering, \u201cWait, what do I do\u00a0now?\u201d<\/p>\n

That can\u2019t be your patient\u2019s reaction. UI is so important because the platform has to present itself to the user and make the next steps very clear. The design has to be intuitive, and the interface has to walk the user through those\u00a0steps.<\/p>\n

Think of it this way: Your interface has to cater to the most difficult person to reach, without alienating everyone else. It has to appeal to the broadest possible level of the population and show a clear value to nearly everyone who opens the\u00a0app.<\/p>\n

2. It\u2019s Your Connection With\u00a0Users<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The interface is how you truly connect with users. Ignoring it means you\u2019re ignoring that connection. Instead, focus on who will use your app?\u2014?and how they\u2019ll use it. Build the interface with those ideal users in\u00a0mind.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an\u00a0example:<\/p>\n

Our application, Pulse<\/a>, is for people who are having a joint replacement surgery. The average age of that person is about 63 years old. So, to connect with these people, we had to ask some questions about\u00a0them.<\/p>\n

Where are they going to be using the app?\u2014?in the hospital or at home on a recliner?<\/p>\n

Are they using their phone or a tablet? Will they have the device in front of them? Will they have space to do the exercises we\u2019re recommending?<\/p>\n

Then, we created a UI design that reflected those\u00a0answers.<\/p>\n

We had to think about all of those questions (and many more) when we were designing the interface, because we wanted users to like interacting with the platform.<\/p>\n

A lot of our patients wear reading glasses or have a larger text size on their phone. It\u2019s part of getting older, right? So, we made sure to use larger buttons and text to make the app easier to interact\u00a0with.<\/p>\n

But remember, your users aren\u2019t static?\u2014?and your design shouldn\u2019t be either. When we started designing the app three years ago, our current patients were a few years younger. We always have to keep that in mind, because as different generations enter our demographic, they\u2019re going to be more entrenched in technology. Someone who\u2019s 50 right now is probably more tech-savvy than someone who\u2019s\u00a063.<\/p>\n

Our average patient is going to change over time. Our goal is to change with them and keep that connection in\u00a0place.<\/p>\n

3. It Simplifies Processes<\/strong><\/h4>\n

One fault I\u2019ve seen with other digital health apps is that they\u2019re too complex. They require a massive effort on the provider\u2019s part to integrate them into the workflow of the hospital or practice. Processes have to be changed, and complexity actually increases.<\/p>\n

One thing that we really focused on with our Pulse platform was designing it for both patients and providers. We knew that to be successful, it wasn\u2019t enough for just the patients to love it. We needed doctors, hospitals, and allied health professionals to understand the value and decide to use it with their patients.<\/p>\n

We thought, \u201cHey, why not make this easier? Let\u2019s fit into the current workflow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Truthfully, it\u2019s difficult to get buy-in when you\u2019re trying to tell someone that they\u2019re doing something wrong. That they need to change and do it your way. Why would they change everything just for your platform? Instead, just make it\u00a0simpler.<\/p>\n

The goal is to make your platform so easy and so powerful that every interaction is useful. When I present to any group or hospital system, I always hear the same responses.<\/p>\n

\u201cWow, that looks so cool. I understand it. It makes sense. I want to interact with\u00a0that.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what having a great UI design will do for you. It lets people look at your platform and immediately see something they want to work with. It tells them that this app is just as valuable as you\u2019re promising.<\/p>\n

By Nitin Goyal, MD<\/a>, Orthopaedic Surgeon, Founder & CEO at Pulse Platform. Originally published<\/a> on\u00a0Quora<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For more trending tech answers from Quora<\/a>, visit HackerNoon.com\/quora<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

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The Importance of Mobile UI Design<\/a> was originally published in Hacker Noon<\/a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.<\/p>\n

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By Nitin Goyal, MD, Orthopaedic Surgeon, Founder & CEO at Pulse Platform. Originally published on\u00a0Quora. Ignoring the impact of user interface design is one of the biggest mistakes you can\u00a0make. I\u2019ve seen so many apps that don\u2019t focus on UI the way they should. The designs don\u2019t consider problems from the consumer\u2019s point of view… Read the full article…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":43564,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-info"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t