3 Strategies for Simplifying User Interface Design with an Application

Tue 1 Dec 2020

Use Live Briefs To Practice Implementing Intuitive Interaction In Your Apps
Use One-On-One Tutor Support to Identify Core App Features during Your Online MA in Application Development
Broaden Your Thinking through the Application Development Degree's Co-Creative Design Component

Applications, or apps, are programs that are developed to provide or enhance a type of service for users, and can be found on many platforms including mobile phones and devices, and personal computers. Many of the most popular applications available today are both functional and attractive, with interfaces that are easy to navigate.

Enrolling in an app development degree programme will help you develop the skills you need to build this kind of well-designed application. Through a combination of online class work, lectures, and portfolio projects, you will gain the grounding in app development concepts and techniques that will allow you to succeed in a career in app development.

Here are a few strategies you can employ during this training to simplify the interfaces of your apps.

Use Live Briefs to Practice Implementing Intuitive Interaction in Your Apps

Though apps on different devices may provide a similar service, they should all use interfaces designed to work well on the platform on which they are being used. For example, swipes and taps for mobile devices, and drag-and-drop and clicking for PCs, are very common interfacing options because they feel natural on their respective devices.

During your application development programme, you will complete many project briefs as part of your training. Some of these will require that you develop interfaces for apps meant for different kinds of devices. When completing these exercises, pay careful attention to the type of device you are designing for, and try to ensure the navigation reflects the way users will naturally want to use your app on that specific platform. In time you will master the art of creating apps that can be navigated simply and naturally, no matter which device they are designed for.

All project briefs you’ll complete while earning Falmouth’s MA in Creative App Development are based on content from a cutting-edge curriculum that addresses the needs of modern professionals.

Use One-On-One Tutor Support to Identify Core App Features during Your Online MA in Application Development

One current trend in the app design space encourages developers to include fewer features in their applications. This leads to simpler menus and a clearer focus for the application, which helps users to better understand how an app should be used.

When completing briefs, group work, and portfolio projects during your application development degree, you can take advantage of the access you’ll have to one-on-one tutoring for support in identifying the features that should form the core of your apps. Tutors can also offer thoughts on which extra features might still be worth including, and which should be cut.

Enlisting the help of an experienced tutor can help you look at your project with experienced eyes, and use that perspective to simplify your interface better than you might have done alone.

MA in creative app development

Falmouth’s online tutorial service can help you identify the core features of your apps

Broaden Your Thinking through the Application Development Degree's Co-Creative Design Component

Some of the work you’ll complete in an online MA in application development programme will be done in a co-creative context, and working in a group will let you compare notes and ideas all through the development of a project. Your peers will come from a variety of backgrounds, as Falmouth’s Creative App Development programme attracts professionals working in a wide range of industries, from computing and software development, to art and design, and beyond.

Students on Falmouth's Creative App Development Programme can complete group projects using a beautifully designed digital learning platform.

Particularly when working with a partner with different expertise than your own, take the opportunity to learn from their strengths when it comes time to design the interface for applications in your group work. You will be able to see new angles on how to approach visual and functional design for a simple, intuitive interface. This can help you better design interfaces going forward.

By taking advantage of course work tutorial services, and group work projects, students can develop their ability to simplify app interfaces. They will be able to create attractive products that people will want to use.

Are you interested in pursuing an online master's in application development?

Contact Falmouth to learn more about our Flexible MA programme.

Creative App Development

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