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A Comprehensive Guide To Mobile App Design | Kodework, India

Kodework's best guide to mobile app will discuss mobile app development, mobile design tips, mobile app process and mobile design inspiration

Preface

Another day, another guidepost from Kodework. Today’s post will cover some of the most commonly asked questions about mobile app design. We, at Kodework truly believe in educating our readers, so that you understand the basics of mobile app development, through this mobile app design guide.

We are able to post a mobile app guide like this because we work with reputable clients around the world. Whether you are a beginner or an expert, this guide benefits everyone.

Looking for a smart re-branded website design to attract more leads? What about user-friendly mobile app design? Call [phone] or write to [email protected], to get in touch with our team of experienced web developers.

1. Introduction

Mobile app design involves the interaction between the user and a mobile device. Being a mobile development company, we are obliged to cover topics ranging from mobile UI design, basic steps when designing a mobile app, best practices for mobile app design and a look at different mobile screens.

This post won’t cover queries such as,

“What does a mobile app design agency do?”

“What are the types of mobile app design templates?”

“Which is the best mobile app design tool?”

“What is the meaning of motion UI design?”,

We will cover all the above-mentioned questions on Kodework’s subsequent posts.

We would love to gain some feedback from you as to how we can make this post even better.

Feel free to communicate with us in the comment box below. We are a bunch of passionate mobile and software professionals who build interactive and compelling mobile apps. We want to learn and teach.

2. What is the meaning of mobile UI design?

When you swipe through your smartphone, checking out apps that you probably can’t interact without, you are technically paying homage to a UI UX designer somewhere who visualized you doing just that.

Mobile UI design focuses on how a user can interact with a smartphone or tablet’s mobile applications. It tries to lay in order all the content, features and functions. Mobile UI design is different from web UI design. To better understand web UI design, check out this guide to web UI design.

Mobile UI design is bounded to touch screen controls and smaller screen sizes. This means that every mobile UI designer needs to work under these constraints to ensure consistency, readability, and usability.

Controls are usually hidden until acted upon to be revealed. Symbols are used more as there is not enough space to display text labels. Mobile UI design

Even if your mobile UI is great, an abysmal UX can reduce a mobile application to a decent one. Mobile users nowadays expect a mobile app with quick-loading, easy usage, and smooth interaction.

3. What are the best practices for mobile UI design?

Adopting the best practices for effective mobile designs is every mobile app designer’s objective. Some practices that work best are:

Ensure the content window size is maximized. The user interface should not dominate the small screen size. Remember, that content and apps need to be facilitated foremost.

The mobile app layout, its commands, content should all be suited to the mobile operating system’s colours, composition, and placement. Consistency is key, as the user should not be wasting time in understanding the interface.

Commands or controls within the design should not overwhelm the user. The content displayed on the app must be clear for viewing or interacting. Likewise, click points cannot be too narrow or small. This can lead to unwanted clicking of neighbouring elements.

Mobile UI Design Tutorial by Tuts+

4. What are some tips to keep in mind when designing a mobile app?

A question that gets asked repeatedly. Designing a mobile application involves more than simply deciding what colours or font go into the app.

Here are some general steps that UI and UX designers need to follow are:

Mobile app developers need to understand who will be using the app. Understanding users is the first step. This research will include studying the target audience.

Is the app solving any problems? Is the mobile app improving the user’s lifestyle in any way? What are the app’s technical capabilities?

Next, look at the app features. Which features would suit a particular set of users? The app must be a useful tool instead of an application that promises but doesn’t deliver.

“If it’s not an iOS app, then Android app design works best”. Don’t think like that. Find out if there are enough users within your target user base with Android smartphones.

Understand the different operating system versions. Understand the app specifics and device types.

A mobile app that does not abide by strong mobile app design principles will fail. The competition is fierce for any product app. Avoid any UI feature surprises. Ensure the UI is user-friendly, responsive and intuitive.

Make sure the app takes advantage of the complete screen space. Position the elements within a natural hierarchy. Keep in mind user navigation and place only relevant elements. Think how would a right-handed user operate? Are the elements within reach of their respective thumbs?

Make sure you take in to account usability and readability when deciding on colours, styles, icons, buttons, and fonts. Are the fonts visible over different resolutions? Keep colours contrasting to differentiate one element from another. Avoid clutter, always.

Most users are already familiar with how mobile apps function. Avoid confronting them with UI elements that don’t behave the way they expect it to. Whenever possible, make use of built-in devices and standard controls.

Also remember device constraints such as screen size, memory, storage, processor speed, battery life. Not all handsets possess the same specs. For enterprise mobile apps, data is the priority. Understand how push notifications work. Allow users to rate the app.

The content should be user-focused and clear. If an element is not intuitive, provide simple instructions.

Consider data management within the app carefully. Will user data be made available as an online service? How will the app connect to WiFi? How will it react to a lack of connectivity?

What steps are being taken to safeguard the user’s data? How will the app address security issues such as authorization and authentication? Turn to virtual private networks, TLS and SSL encryption, to ensure security mechanisms are in place.

Test your app well. Appreciate user feedback and work on it to improve your application’s flaws.

Kodework tip 1: Keep market needs in mind

5. Which are the different types of mobile screens?

A top mobile app development service must be willing to deep dive into understanding the practicality of the mobile app design. The 7 essential mobile app screens are:

1. Splash Screen

A mobile app splash screen is the mobile app’s first impression of a new user. It is an app screen that loads the moment a user opens the mobile app. As a result, the mobile app design needs to be minimalistic for a splash screen.

The name of the app, the mobile app logo, and the app slogan are what one sees over the splash screen. To ensure that the splash screen does what it does best, any top mobile app design agency will place the elements in the middle of the screen.

The screen appears for a maximum of 8 seconds. The app loading progress bar keeps impatient users informed of the impending app launch happening soon.

2. Home Screen

The mobile app home screen is an important part of any mobile application. It is the user interaction screen usually containing the most options of the handy mobile app.

They are designed based on the type of product and purpose. Sometimes mobile apps are built with the main screen wherein a search field is provided. This allows users to easily search, and navigate towards the content they want to reach.

Home screens are generally the starting point to a user’s journey, as a result, navigation elements are placed here.

3. Onboarding Screen

The app onboarding tutorial screens are a set of screens that help users learn about the mobile app’s navigation system, benefits, and features. First-time launchers of the app are oriented with features that could be unfamiliar to them.

The structure of every app is different, but despite this, there are common mobile UI design elements among various onboarding screens. One familiar feature is that of custom illustrations.

These illustrations portray a specific benefit in an easy-to-understand way. A mascot (for setting an emotional bond with users) is quite common among different mobile banking apps.

4. Login Screen

Almost every mobile app allows users to create their personal accounts. This means every app design agency in India or anywhere, must know how to work with login screens. These login screens are minimalistic and to the point.

Two fields – Name and Password, are provided with a singular ‘Confirmation’ button. For first time users of the app, there must also be a sign-up option.

5. Stats Screen

Mobile apps with user engagement involving competitions or contests are provided with a stats screen. The mobile app template can get complex if there’s a high amount of data present on the app.

Therefore, good mobile app testing helps compress as much key data on the screen, while not making it look too cluttered. Stats screen requires clean typography so that the data can be read clearly.

6. Ecommerce App Screens

Ecommerce mobile apps are built with a ‘catalogue screen’. Mobile UI design for Ecommerce apps must focus on selling a product. A catalogue screen is created based on grabbing the user/consumer’s attention, encouraging him/her to buy the product.

A vertical scroll allows the user to view the product categories. The width of the screen determines the number of products to be placed in a row. High-quality images let the user see what he/she is buying. A CTA (call-to-action) button, allows users to add products to their cart.

The ‘product card screen’ allows users to know what they are buying. The card screen displays key information about the product, thus helping the user to make a decision. The product image is placed at the centre, under which, the product description is mentioned.

The checkout screen lets users make purchases in-app via smartphones. As a result, mobile UI designing needs to make this process convenient.

The final step is checkout. Visual elements must be cleverly added here to let the user know that his/her shared information (such as name, contact number, card details, etc.) is secure.

7. Feed Screen

The ‘feed screen’ is a constantly updating list of news that is followed by users. Users usually scan through the list quickly, preferring to open only those links which they want to read.

As a result, mobile UI design is paramount. The overloading of visual details is a big no. A great tip would be to partially show the next piece of news.

Kodework tip 2: Be Visual

6. What’s the difference between web apps and native apps?

You can differentiate a good app from a bad one is through its user experience (UX). A good UX can separate the good ones from the excellent ones.

Mobile users expect a lot from an app. Faster load time, easy usage, and engaging interaction elements; all make for a successful mobile app.

This doesn’t mean that a web app needs to be less intuitive. Web apps are different from websites. A website usually offers more information. Web apps condense website content to improve the app’s functionality.

A web app loads in browsers such as Safari, Firefox, and Chrome. They need not be downloaded from native mobile app stores. Web apps also don’t take up too much storage space on the user’s device.

A web app lets you offer mobile-friendly content to wider user audiences. Web applications are cost-effective. Users nowadays expect a high-level of functionality standards and user-experience.

Web apps fall short in this regard. Slow load times, tiny images and network un-availability can hinder web app performance.

6.1. How can we build a web app?

Web apps are built in HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS within a web browser. There is no software development kit that developers use here. Web app templates are developed, that is straightforward. A native app trumps in features and functionality, compared to a web app.

6.2. What are the advantages of web apps?

Web apps are easy to maintain. They use a base of common code that works across multiple mobile platforms. Web apps are built for all platforms, as long as they run in the appropriate web browser. Web apps are inexpensive to build, as compared to native apps.

Web apps don’t adhere to operating system protocols. They also, don’t need any app marketplace approval. They can be released at any time, in any format. Updates to web applications don’t go through an app store. This means a user doesn’t need to manage updates manually. A newer version always loads when a user opens a web app.

6.3. What are the disadvantages of web apps?

Web apps are restricted by the smaller scope for leveraging device hardware. A browser is needed to run a web app. Users interact with multiple web browsers, and hence, performance metrics are hard to collate. A user needs to go through more steps to search a page or access a URL. This complicates the UX.

Web apps are slower and less responsive, as compared to native apps.

They are less interactive and less intuitive.

Web apps allow fewer branding opportunities.

6.4. What are native mobile apps?

Native mobile apps are the commonly used ones. They are developed for specific platforms and written in platform-specific languages. If its Objective-C for native iOS apps, then it is Kotlin and Java for Android mobile apps. Native apps are built for the Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for select operating systems.

Both Google and Apple provide native app developers with their custom development kit. This kit also includes a custom SDK and tools. The benefits offered by native apps far supersede those of other app types.

6.5. What are the advantages of native apps?

Native apps deliver great performance in all three development approaches. This is because:

Native apps receive strong support from app stores marketplaces

Native apps are interactive and run smoothly

They allow developers access to a full feature set

The UX of native apps is superior to hybrid or web apps

6.6. What are the disadvantages of native apps?

The biggest disadvantage is the cost of developing native mobile apps. Although, they offer a personalized product, higher conversion rates, and longer customer loyalty; their cost balloons.

Native apps make use of complex programming languages

Their expenses are costly and upfront as compared to web apps

They are not the best option for simpler applications

6.7. What is a progressive web app?

A Progressive Web App (PWA) is a hybrid between a native app and a web app. Web apps do not come with native app functionalities such as offline mode or push notifications.

PWAs leverages the features of native apps and allow web apps to send push notifications, engage using touch gestures and access device hardware.

Surprisingly, PWAs are only compatible with Google Chrome. iOS users can’t avail the benefits of PWAs.

7. Which are some of the most popular mobile apps in India?

Tata Sky Mobile App

SBI Mobile App

My Mobile App

Shareit Mobile App

Mobile Tracker App

Axis Bank App

IRCTC Rail Connect App

Voter Helpline App

All-in-one Recharge App

ICICI Bank i-mobile App

Canara Bank CANDI App

HDFC Banking App

PUBG App

Hotstar App

BHIM UPI App

About

Kodework

Kodework is India’s top UI UX design company. Our team of experienced UI/UX designers work with clients all over the world to simplify human-screen interactions. We pride ourselves on delivering seamless user interface design, user experience design, mobile UI design, dashboard design and web design.

When it comes to employing the best UI UX designers in the country, Kodework leads the way. We are the top company for career growth. For our clients, we deliver business growth & brand building via UX UI prototyping tools, design techniques, adopting the latest UI/UX trends and turning UI/UX needs to successful case studies.

The Kodework UI UX blog covers topics, such as UI UX prototyping, usability, architecture, interaction, process, research, styles, news, trends, tips, strategies, successful case studies etc.

Kodework works with Nordic Intent, Creometric, Ninestack and Fathamster Studio to serve B2B, B2C and B2E customers’ needs.

Tags

Mobile App

Mobile App Builder

Mobile App Developer

Mobile App Development

Mobile App Icon

Mobile App Template

Mobile App Testing

Mobile Recharge App

Mobile Tracker App

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A Comprehensive Guide to UI UX Design | Kodework, India

This popular guide to UI UX design answers all your questions about user interface and user experience design. Compiled by India's best website agency.

Preface

Welcome to probably the best guide to UI UX design on the internet. This carefully crafted piece will answer all your queries with regards to user interface design, and user experience design.

We can educate our readers about UI UX design because this is what we do. We work with reputable clients, across the world, providing them with seamless UI UX design solutions. Whether you are a beginner or an expert, this guide benefits everyone.

Looking for a smart re-branded website design to attract more leads? What about user-friendly mobile app design? Call [phone] or write to [email protected], for getting in touch with our team of experienced web developers.

Let’s get down to it!

1. Introduction

Readers who search for a guide to UI UX design, don’t even know what separates the two. We hope to keep these UI UX definitions, processes and principles, concise.

This post won’t cover questions such as,

“What does colour purity mean  in UI design?”

“How does a UI developer work?”

“What does motion UI design mean?”

“Why is schedule UI design mean?”

We will cover all the above-mentioned questions on Kodework’s subsequent posts.

In case, you wish to pursue UI/UX designing as a profession, this UI UX blog post will come in handy. We would love to gain some feedback from you as to how we can make this post better.

Feel free to communicate with us in the comments below. We are a bunch of passionate, UI/UX professionals who build interactive and compelling UI/UX designs.

So, let’s get started.

2. What is ‘User Interface’ or ‘UI’ design?

An ‘interface’ is an interaction between two systems. So, a ‘user interface’ is an interaction between a system and a user.

Two common types of UIs or user interfaces exist:

One is a Command Line Interface (CLI) – that contains only text, which is mostly worked upon by programmers.

The other is a Graphical User Interface (GUI), which includes menus, icons, windows, and engaging imagery. As this is a UI/UX design blog post, we will stick primarily to GUI and its principles.

‘User Interface Design’ is a method or discipline wherein user interfaces are designed for software and machines. This UI software designed could be for mobile devices, home appliances, electronics and of course, computers.

UI design focuses on fostering excellent user experience, through aesthetics, responsiveness, and usability. Typography and colours are the essential pillars of UI design. UI design combines visual design (look and feel) and interaction design (usability).

“A user interface is like a joke. If you have to explain it, it’s not that good”

– Martin LeBlanc

2.1 What does a UI designer do?

A UI designer takes care of the interface and how it reflects your brand’s identity. This reflection is visible on any of Kodework’s website designs. The look-and-feel, the style quotient and the use of colours will be according to your company’s brand guidelines.

These are then converted to UI elements. There can be instances when a UI designer and a UX designer are the same people.

A UI designer’s job is to break down hard-to-understand design structures to a format that is convenient to the end-user. Both UX and UI designers work together in providing the user with a flawless web experience. UI designers must first understand the goal and objectives of the design. Making use of their skills, they need to then create engaging mobile UI or web applications for the user. Translating user objectives to functionalities is what a UI designer does best.

A top UI design agency employs a dedicated team of UI designers who apply their analytical minds. From product development until the design goes live, every process is catered to systematically. Take, for example, the design process at Kodework, which is probably the best UI design agency in India. Why do we call ourselves the best? It’s because we work on multiple projects in parallel, wherein each project is carefully attended to by a dedicated UI/UX team.

Our UI design specialists engage with our clients to gather essential project information. Our UI design experts then get a high-level understanding of the requirement. This is then used to create a UI design plan. This final UI/UX design solution is provided to a satisfied client.

2.2 What are the primary UI design components?

To keep things simple, we are only focusing on the five key UI design components.

1. Visual Design

In simple words, visual design makes the design more appealing and engaging. This is accomplished by engaging your website or app’s audience with conceptual art or web-based design.

Again, simplifying further, visual design makes the UX better with the help of layouts, space management, photography, and illustrations.

2. Colours

Colours are quintessential in UI design. Why? Because we are receptive to colours. We have a mental association with meanings and emotions.

Branding is heavily benefited when choosing colours. Colours help associate a UI design to your brand.

3. Graphic Design

User interface design benefits greatly from graphic design. This is because graphic design is majorly responsible for combining motion graphics, images, and text.

Graphic design hinges on brand guidelines. A graphic designer produces great visuals, keeping in mind what the user would find appealing.

4. Mockup

A mockup is a full-size model of your UI design. It is an excellent design element because it allows the design to be promoted and evaluated. Mockups are based heavily on visual details.

5. Typography

It’s the driving force in all aspects of communication art. Typography is a science that aims to deliver an easily readable copy for your readers. Excellent typography should:

Be structured in an understandable hierarchy

Work in various sizes

Be compatible with different letter-forms

Kodework UI Tip: Avoid excessive scrolling. A user has other things to do.

2.3 What are the different UI prototypes?

The interaction between a user and an interface is simulated via software prototyping. Discussing UI software prototypes are important because they come with a list of digital tools.

We will get into a list of the best UI prototyping tools in another blog post. For now, all you need to know are the most important UI software prototypes.

1. Paper UI prototyping

Paper prototyping involves sketches that are made on paper, during the ideation stage of UI design. The design team communicates with each other and all possible ideas are sketched on a paper.

2. Low-fidelity UI prototyping

Unlike high-fidelity prototyping, this one is a much rawer representation of ideas. They are rough representations of concepts that are perceived during early design processes.

Design teams use this prototyping software to validate early concepts in the design process.

3. High-fidelity UI prototyping

Also called Interactive Prototyping, it is a computer-based prototyping process that requires specialized resources and skills. It provides the closest resemblance to the final version in terms of detailing.

4. Rapid UI prototyping

This prototyping process must slot in-between Low and High-fidelity prototyping. It is based on user research, with UI designers quickly iterating solutions to solve a problem.

The high number of digital prototyping tools for user research allows it to solve problems rapidly.

5. HTML UI prototyping

This prototype is developed using HTML (Hyper-text Markup Language). It is minimal in appearance, with no style choices.

As it is already code-written, it enters into the UI design coding stage faster.

2.4 What are some key UI principles?

Most UI design tutorials won’t cover this important UI aspect. A good UI designer will always follow the following 6 key user interface design principles:

1. Structured

Every UI design model must be recognizable, consistent and clear. Similar design aspects should always resemble one another. The unrelated aspects should be separated.

2. Simple

The UI design must make common tasks look easy. The design must communicate clearly in the user’s language. Shortcuts, if provided in the design, should be cleverly related to longer procedures.

3. Reusable

The UI design should always reuse internal and external components well. Consistency should be maintained with purpose and not just for convenience.

4. Flexible

UI designs should be flexible enough to avoid misuse and mistakes.

5. Visible

There should be no redundant information visible on UI designs. Options, if provided, shouldn’t stick out like a sore thumb.

6. Feedback

All relevant actions provided over the design must be informed to the user. Errors or exceptions must be displayed clearly.

2.5 What are some useful UI design techniques?

Before we look at what are some useful UI techniques, we need to understand that a UI technique is a combination of software and hardware elements. They provide a way for users to get a task accomplished. The examples for this are pressing a key, mouse gestures, clicking a button or activating speech commands.

We won’t cover every technique out there but do mention some important ones.

1. Keyboard shortcuts

UI designers work on making interactive and responsive user interfaces. A great way to use this technique is via navigation or keyboard shortcuts. This allows users to easily get their work done while improving workflow.

2. Advertising features

Sometimes you need to do more than just present a user with a landing page. UI designers always try to outline every application feature. This can be smartly incorporated through a ‘help’ section of the website or application. Not all users would know about every feature on your website. These tips within the application itself will help.

3. Colour-coded content

Using a colour-coded list makes perfect sense. An application UI design could require you to show files, tasks or messages over the home page. If all these items are shown together in one list, it might look confusing. Colour coding helps users to visually distinguish between elements.

Simply place the text label within a coloured box. The choice of colour should not be random. It should be one colour assigned to each function or list.

4. Sign-up forms

The longer a sign-up form, the more time and effort a visitor exerts. A UI design with a quick signing up process speeds up user on-boarding. A UI designer must remove any wanted elements from the form. The optional details can be taken out later.

2.6 What is a UI flow or UI process?

Every UI process consists of 6 key stages or phases. They are:

1. UI design strategy

Nothing beats formulating an initial UI strategy. It prepares the foundation for brand guiding principles and gauging the vision of the website/app. The goals of the project are set. Success measurement and overall project road-map are formulated at this stage.

2. UI design research

Also referred to as the discovery stage, the research phase is not fixed for all projects. A major project will include an exhaustive research process. A smaller project will only make use of surveys or interviews as research activities.

The research phase is also at times skipped to cut down on project run time.

3. UI design analysis

The design analysis phase makes use of data insights from the research phase. These insights help UI designers to focus on capturing and organizing key UI design areas.

4. UI design phase

The design phase combines inputs from UI/UX team members. Ideas and assumptions are validated through an iterative cycle. User feedback, collected from previous phases, aid a UI designer to refine and repeat them.

These ideas can be worked on either through wireframes or paper prototypes.

5. UI production phase

This phase includes the creation of content and digital assets. This version is then validated via user testing sessions. UI designers then need to share the vision of the project with developers to bring the design to a seamlessly workable state.

3. What is user experience or UX design?

UX or User Interface design is the process of creating systems, services or products that provide a meaningful experience to its users. UX combines aspects of usability, function, branding, and design itself. Also included are aspects of product ownership and human-computer interaction.

A fantastic UX design helps users to accomplish their goals when browsing through your website or mobile application. It does not just focus on usability but also user efficiency and user moods. UX design is heavily user-centred, which means the type of UX design is based on the type of user.

A UX designer’s role is challenging, complex and multi-faceted. They aim to connect business goals to user needs. This is done via testing and refinement of the product/application.

3.1 What does a UX designer do?

A UX designer looks after users who would normally be your website leads. The UX designer’s job is to help improve the company or agency’s overall business metrics. Some of these metrics include improving CTR and getting conversions.

A UX designer must focus on creating personas, creating interactive prototypes, indulge in user research and create wireframes. The research being conducted then yields a working structure, which helps layout engaging user stories to tell.

A UX designer must likewise, also look at how to prevent users from bouncing off of your website. A UX designer should have a thorough understanding of user psychology and user behaviour. Also, he/she must analyze business patterns and have a command over interface ergonomics.

UX designers think of the ‘what’, ‘why’ and ‘how’ of the design.

The ‘what’, looks at what a user can do via the web or app design. The questions that a UX designer needs to address include:

What are some of the key features of your design?

What is the user looking for on your website or application?

The ‘why’ covers user motivation. It includes answering to queries posed, such as:

Why does the user relate to your app or web design?

Will users spend a lot of time learning or understanding the design?

Are all the design features offered necessary to the user?

Finally, the ‘how’ of the design addresses design aesthetics and accessibility. Generally, UX designers start by addressing the ‘why’. This is followed by focusing on the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ of the design. The questions that need addressing here are:

How must the content be placed over the website or application?

How easy is the navigation? Is it too confusing or lengthy?

“A problem well stated is a problem half solved”

– Charles Kettering

3.2 What are the key UX design principles?

Any UX design objective can be completed if the following 6 user experience design principles are followed:

1. Visual design

This includes the design elements such as look and feel, colours, and overall visual representation

2. Interaction design

Here, the design flow is facilitated based on user tasks. Every aspect of how the user is interacting with the functionality is looked at.

3. Information design

How can the information on your design be understood by the user? Is the information displayed in the right order? These questions get answered here

4. Functional design

Every detail with regards to UX design functionality is defined here. These functional specifications must be presented based on user needs.

5. User needs

There are user derived goals that are identified via user research.

6. Design objectives

There could different objectives for UX design. Sometimes the goal of the website or application could be the generation of leads or a creative outlet altogether.

3.3 What are the stages/phases in a UX design process?

The UX design process for a web application is different compared to that of Android UI design. Despite this, the 8 most commonly followed UX design process stages are:

1. UX requirement gathering

In this phase, a list of functional requirements is prepared. This stage commences right after a communicative discovery session with a client is completed.

2. UX task analysis

A design analysis is conducted which will indicate if the design is capable of performing its tasks or not.

3. UX information architecture

This stage covers the information flow through the UI design. During the information architecture phase, we choose what visualization technique to use, the UI interaction style that is needed and select a design pattern.

4. UX prototyping stage

Here, the development of interactive screens, prototypes, wireframes, and mockups takes place.

5. UX usability check

This stage allows UI designers to evaluate prototypes, which will otherwise not be tested on users. It is a stage of heuristic evaluation, cognitive and pluralistic walkthrough.

6. UX usability testing

This UI design testing phase allows designers to find out what a viewer will perceive. This is the phase where several user tasks are tested to check for any errors or problems.

7. UX graphical UI design

The final look and feel of the UI design are conceived at this stage. The various aspects of illustration, photography, typography and problem-solving are tested to decide on the final elements.

8. UX software maintenance

This phase begins after the deployment of the design. Any system upgrades, software bug fixes or changes in features are checked for.

Diff between UI & UX Design – CareerFoundry

3.4 Is UI design greater than UX design?

If you haven’t skipped through the above sections, then you probably know the answer already. However, we will let web developer Dain Miller answer this for you…

“UI is the saddle, the stirrups, and the reign, while UX is the feeling you get while riding the horse”

So, essentially both are crucial. You can find hundreds of examples where one is better than the other, and yet the application or website is great. Just imagine how good the end product would be if both UI and UX are built strongly?

About

Kodework

Kodework is India’s top UI UX design company. Our team of experienced UI/UX designers work with clients all over the world to simplify human-screen interactions. We pride ourselves on delivering seamless user interface design, user experience design, mobile UI design, dashboard design and web design.

When it comes to employing the best UI UX designers in the country, Kodework leads the way. We are the top company for career growth. For our clients, we deliver business growth & brand building via UX UI prototyping tools, design techniques, adopting the latest UI/UX trends and turning UI/UX needs to successful case studies.

The Kodework UI UX blog covers topics, such as UI UX prototyping, usability, architecture, interaction, process, research, styles, news, trends, tips, strategies, successful case studies etc.

Kodework works with Nordic Intent, Creometric, Ninestack and Fathamster Studio to serve B2B, B2C and B2E customers’ needs.

[marketingmane]

PPT trends to look out for in 2020

If you put a question to a business professional, such as, “What tool is the best to express business ideas?” or “What is an ideal way to communicate business storytelling to a dedicated audience?”

The answer has to be PowerPoint.

At the end of last year, Microsoft further solidified this response by releasing several new features. Google Docs came out with something similar.

Presentation design helps businesses to share their business ideas.

Whether it’s a sales presentation, financial presentation, fundraising presentation, conference presentation, company profile presentation, interactive presentation, pitch deck presentation, product launch presentation or a startup pitch presentation, nothing beats a visually appealing deck for business storytelling.

With so much happening on the PPT front, we thought of writing a dedicated piece on emerging trends in PowerPoint.

1. AR & VR in PPT

With immersive storytelling now the overall goal when presenting a pitch deck, Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) are both excellent trends to incorporate.

Text is certainly not enough. Engaging an audience with technological subtlety is a trend that will continue for ages to come.

2. The rise of infographics in PPT

Infographics will always be in vogue. They are easy to understand, visually appealing and heavily used. The use of charts is declining.

This is also because the audience reads & comprehends icons faster than text.

You also wouldn’t want your slides cluttered with an excessive copy. The heavy use of words can be left for the Notes section of your pitch deck.

The visual interest and icon’s legibility will provide a seamless flow for the viewer through the entire PPT. Infographics come in handy for explaining mundane figures and statistics.

3. PPT with adaptive motion graphics

The animation will always remain a quintessential aspect of presentation decks. Elevating the quality of your pitch presentation using smooth animations is a no brainer.

Several built-in tools in Microsoft PowerPoint are available to help capture the audience’s attention. Although, the more intricate the animation, the harder it can get to make changes to the slide.

4. PPT with embedded fonts

Custom fonts in PPT presentations are now universal for PC & MAC. If a PPT design agency uses embedded custom fonts for a brand-new pitch presentation or undertakes a PPT touch up, those fonts remain unique to the agency’s style.

This in turn, also makes your PPT unique, thus remaining exclusive to your company’s brand.

It’s fair to bid goodbye to Calibri or Arial and welcome primary brand typefaces.

5. 3D in PowerPoint

A couple of years ago, Microsoft introduced 3D models to PowerPoint. This gave PowerPoint design firms a chance to elevate their presentation design approach. 3D models can be morphed.

This facet can be used within designed presentations to understand product design, mapping and data visualization.

6. Custom illustrations in PPTs

Getting custom illustrations and shapes created in PowerPoint slides is easier now. Tools such as ‘Merge Shapes’ are now being used to great effect. They give you the creative freedom to build unique shapes or assets.

It doesn’t hurt to think out of the box when design visual graphics are required for your presentation design.

7. Avoiding clutter in your slides

How does one remember a mobile number? We simply break it down to groups of 3’s, 3’s and 4’s. It’s the same logic for your audience. They will grasp information presented to them in a streamlined format instead of a multitude of bullet points.

Break down a text-heavy slide into 3-5 sub-slides. This serves two things. First, the audience retains information better and second, the components within a slide can be shuffled around.

8. Presentations with dynamic layouts

A useful PowerPoint design tip is to have a dynamic layout. A fresh ‘dynamic layout’ template turns your PPT design into a gorgeous piece of print.

Static and boring presentation design layouts are a thing of the past. The best PPT designers will do everything to give PPTs a fresh appeal.

[marketingmane]

Powerful PPTs make selling easy

For those employed in the service sector industry, the one thing you are sure to find in their portable storage device is a sales presentation or a sales PPT. Time and time again we see ineffective sales PPTs castoff into the recycle bin. A good sales presentation is key in aiding the sales pitch.

You may prepare your sales presentations by the book, but if it’s cluttered, text-heavy or mundane, convincing the client takes a major hit. A solid presentation needs to be coupled with a persuasive sales pitch. Provide a run-down of your product benefits and product USP.

Be confident, enthusiastic and always try to re-invent your sales outlook. Try understanding your client better. For example, hire a sales presentation design agency or sales presentation design company to get a modern, visually appealing sales PPT designed. While you do that, also run through our 5 effective sales presentation tips to close those deals!

A relevant Presentation works best

Refreshing your sales presentation is key. A generic presentation just doesn’t work. These presentations (taken from the web) say the same things and may not always be relevant to your target audience. When hiring a sales presentation design service to get a sales pitch deck ready, provide them with crisp information related to your client/audience.

Even though your sales pitch presentation is being designed by a PPT design company, you need to put in the research to understand your client’s industry and their pain points. Check your prospective client’s website, newsletters, PR releases, annual reports, blogs, use cases, and social media accounts. Also, research companies who are major players in the industry and see how you or your company can improve specific areas of your clients’ needs better.

Quick sales PPT tip: Add your client’s logo to every PPT slide. Make them feel that your solutions are already tailor-made for them.

Let the PPT Build a Connection

If you are preparing a product presentation, make sure you have a demo or a sample of the product placed near you. Ask your clients to use the product while you are presenting. This allows your client to see what the finished product would look like. You can then answer questions based on their feedback.

Connect with your clients better by putting forth the benefits of your product. Tell them how your solutions can get them to trump their competitors. Allow them to ask as many questions as they want to. Do not interrupt presentation related queries coming in. Pay attention to your client’s body language, gestures, and expressions.

The Pitch Deck must be Crisp

Decision-makers have very little time available to listen to long discussions. That is why a short, to-the-point sales PPT is a must. Understand what the key points to present are. Provide solutions and let your clients take something back from your sales pitch deck. Their feedback allows you to go back, work on your presentation and try again (if they are kind enough to re-schedule).

There is no need to discuss every benefit of your product or service offers. Sometimes you could try cross-selling another co-service or product of yours. But to be safe, focus on that one key benefit that can address your client’s challenges.

Deliver the Presentation with Energy

Sales presentations that are unimaginative and boring don’t last long in your client’s memory. If you want your sales PPT to stand out, you will need to demonstrate its effectiveness with energy and enthusiasm. Modulate the tone of your voice to good effect and avoid speaking with a monotone.

Try practicing the sales pitch among colleagues. If they can understand the crux of your sales pitch, then you can work on improving the pitch in other areas. You can record your dummy sales pitch to hear how you sound. Use it to analyze yourself and improve.

Timing is everything in a sales presentation

It is quite common that a sales presentation meeting will begin with the PPT being presented first, instead of business requirement discussions. Suppose, your client has allotted you sufficient time to first, discuss the deal and then, watch the presentation, do exactly that. Don’t barge into the meeting and start blabbering about how good your product is and how beneficial your client would be if they chose your services or product.

Always remember, that the sales presentation must never precede a discussion. A scenario could arise wherein the presentation if shown first, may not be necessary with newer challenges to address. That is why, be patient, listen to your client’s requirements or needs and present as per what he/she wants to hear, and not what you want to say.

[marketingmane]

Every startup started with a pitch deck

Have you watched ‘Shark Tank’? It’s a show where budding entrepreneurs present an idea or product, to willing investors, in order to acquire funding. Contestants pitch their idea verbally hoping to acquire some form of investment.

Nothing impresses an investor more than a really engaging pitch deck. A pitch deck can tell your entrepreneurial story. A pitch deck represents your product roadmap, product benefits, and sales figures, all through a visually appealing investor pitch deck.

Sometimes a product becomes less pivotal compared to a startup pitch deck. The pitch deck needs your special attention, when being designed. That’s the reason your investor startup pitch deck needs to be designed by a professional pitch deck PPT design agency.

The future of your product hinges on these slides. They need to make an impact or else your startup-dream will remain a dream.

Here are 7 essential To-Dos that should to be part of your pitch deck presentation. Bear in mind, only a professional PPT designing agency can make your PPTs look visually engaging and communicate your idea in a better way.

Highlight your product promise

Investors aren’t stupid. They are intellectuals and can sense if a product will make it big or bite the dust. Simply presenting a pitch deck that looks good only on slides instead of value-producing will fail.

Their ability to envisage your product’s future cannot be underestimated. Your pitch deck, although designed by a top presentation design company, needs to provide some substance for an investor to find it fruitful to invest their money in your company.

Investors attend multiple pitch deck presentations in a day. Ideas look great on paper or PPTs, but they must have proven test results to give a clear indication of its promise.

These tests could be metrics for revenue, engagement, growth or retention.

Mention your product’s Key Performance Indicator (KPI)

Your investor pitch presentation should indicate its core KPIs . Your product’s core KPI is a benchmark for your product’s progress.

KPIs are excellent revenue levers. Even if you are not focused on revenue (which isn’t ideal), a well-thought-out KPI is important for investors.

Allow your investors to see your key target assumptions. Your financial forecast needs to be detailed. Make sure your pitch PPT includes revenue projections for the next 5 years. This also includes the investor’s ROI, company gross margins and likely exit strategy.

Define your target audience

Define your target audience when planning the deck content. Your startup’s target audience cannot be as vague as ‘everyone’ or ‘everywhere’. You must know;

Will the audience benefit from your software/product?

What will be the size of the audience?

Can you scale your product within this audience, or not?

What price can you set for the audience?

The answers to all these questions must be detailed on your startup pitch deck.

Include your sales funnel

A strong understanding of your sales funnel is obvious. That same understanding needs to be passed on through your pitch presentation.

A robust sales funnel aids in better modeling your financial projections. It also estimates the timing of your sale. There are bound to be discussions over this as you present your pitch deck. Show investors how you will increase conversion during times of business recession.

Add your team’s slides

Investors will invest their money in your startup only if your idea is executable. This, you need to prove by convincing them of your vision.

A statistic by TechCrunch states that investors on average look at team slide for close to 23 seconds. This is only slightly surpassed by financial slides.

Also, make them believe in your team. Your team needs to be experienced enough to handle sections of your presentation.

A team member with sound knowledge of your product journey and user flow must handle product sections within your pitch presentation.

Questions that every investor asks when viewing your presentation are:

“Why is this the right time to launch your product?”

“Is this the right time due to a change in the market landscape?”

“Is this the right time because of a shift in sentiment or because this is the right time to innovate?”

The answer(s) to these have to be precise, concise and satisfying.

Mention customer acquisition costs

Investors will enquire about customer acquisition costs. The cost of gaining a customer, cost of paid marketing, cost of setting up an office, etc. needs to be addressed clearly.

Investors are interested in knowing if your business is scalable or not.

Try to craft a story

A serious, bland, cluttered, to-the-point fact-based pitch won’t hold the  investor’s attention for long. While undergoing pitch deck research, make sure you research the investor(s) as well.

Try crafting a story, and direct it towards something the investor can relate to. The story could be based on product ideation or through personalized experiences.

Telling an engaging story can sometimes be hard to conjure. This is why hiring a pitch deck presentation design agency makes sense and eases the hardship.

Utilizing the expertise of one of India’s best PPT design agencies will bring your PPT to life through visual assets, animation and videos.

[marketingmane]

Strong investor relations is the end goal

Your pitch deck presentation is arguably the most important document that you will work on during your company’s lifecycle.

It is the opening salvo towards your prospective investors. Online searches indicate the dearth of affordable pitch deck design companies in India.

Angel investors or venture capitalists are swarmed with startup ideas presented to them. To stand out, your pitch deck presentation needs to address the consumer problem you intend to solve as well as leave a lasting impression.

You can design a perfect pitch deck by hiring a PPT design agency. A PPT presentation design can be tweaked, refined and optimized for multiple presentation meetings.

Getting a unique and engaging pitch deck designed by a PPT design agency is fine. The actual pitching must also be to-the-point and effective.

We reckon you adopt these 7 pointers when presenting a successful pitch deck.

Your Pitch Deck must convey a Story

Begin your pitch deck by telling a real customer story. The story could be about how your product/service solved the customer’s problem.

Avoid using tech jargon when conveying the story. Keep it simple and believable. Adding a human story can touch hearts. The investor must walk away with something. It’s the stories that remain in memory.

Quick Pitch Deck Tip: A deck emailed to your investor will not have the same effect, compared to you presenting it in person.

Similarly, a ‘one-way presentation’ is differently received compared to a ‘one-many presentation’ meeting. So, find out who would be among the audience for the presentation.

Trim your pitch deck to bare essentials

There is no need to address every aspect of your business plan. Remember, you are not auctioning your private antique collection. You are presenting a business plan which can solve a consumer’s problem on a large scale.

Prioritize the most important points you want to share. Address the problem(s) you want to solve.

Highlight what is broken, and how you can fix it. Scope out the size of your market opportunity. Focus on tangible, real pain points that you can address.

Give your pitch deck a crisp outline

Your business model allows an investor to understand your idea, and see if it’s economically viable to invest in it. A crisp outline can ensure you answer the most important questions right.

“What do we sell?”

“To whom should we sell?”

“How much should we sell for?”

“How do we get paid?”

Your pitch deck’s outline should answer these questions.

Describe your solution in the best possible way. Highlight what steps will be taken to address the demands in the market. Your outline should keep answering questions which the investor will ask.

In simple words, your deck presentation convinces the investor that your ‘mousetrap’ is the best. Also being presented is a step-by-step breakdown of how you will ‘trap the mouse’.

Your deck PPT is the ‘lure’ that will get the ‘mouse trapped’. Run your pitch deck through colleagues.

A successful pitch deck must be about you

Always remember that investors firstly believe investing in people, and then in ideas. At the end of a successful pitch deck, some investors might want to keep in touch. They would like to be kept posted concerning any projects in the future.

Speak about your team’s accomplishments glowingly. If those accomplishments are directly related towards starting of your venture, don’t miss sharing them.

It is your team that understands the business model more than anybody else. Investors will invest funds in your team’s dedication and passion.

Present the pitch deck in the right tone

The tonality of your PPT presentation is key. Be creative and avoid using tech jargon. Always gauge your audience and play to them.

Content is king when it comes to pitching presentations. But, if you do not layer it with creativity or humor, you won’t be able to make an impression.

Investors want to listen to your stories. They want to hear about your first customers, your investment that is being put into this venture, customer or product milestones, key hires and a signed ‘letter of intent’ (LOI).

If you present your PPT without any zeal, passion or confidence, you won’t be able to make a strong impression.

Forecast your pitch deck projections

Put together a set of business projections that are based on cost and revenue. Having these on your pitch deck enhances your credibility. Demonstrate an appreciation for the capital you plan to raise. Also, depict how you will meet milestones that are key to future fundraising.

Don’t declare a far-fetched business turnover unless you can show the numbers supporting it. Unless you have achieved such numbers in a previous venture, there is no chance any investor will believe it.

Show them exactly how you will reach your estimated targets. Present the information that led to your predictions. You want investors to be calculating numbers on their smartphones.

Your pitch deck must address competition

Never enter an investor presentation proclaiming you do not have any competition in the market. Every product, service or idea will have competition.

It could be indirect competition as well. Make sure you present your competition in the form of a matrix. Articulate a go-to-market strategy. The scope for this will depend on your product’s development stage.

Demonstrate to your audience, the steps you have taken to capture a significant amount of market share. Don’t just focus on presenting a business model, dedicate sufficient time to your competition as well.

[marketingmane]

An expertly designed PPT is rewarding

A successful PowerPoint presentation is all about leaving an impression. Your presentation design shouldn’t just look awesome; it should also tell a story. Copying and pasting random content or adding visuals is something that anyone can do. What matters most is its effectiveness.

Your slides need to look the part. It cannot be a half-hearted presentation. If  you are looking to pitch for a startup idea, your presentation is the first impression to investors. We all know what happens when you fail at your first impression. Avoid this risk. Hire a professional presentation design agency to create believable and visually appealing PowerPoint presentations.

We are putting down 7 good reasons to hire a professional presentation design agency. We are doing this because we know how important a convincing presentation is in today’s world.

A quick disclaimer: There are tons of things that a PPT design agency does best. From making intricate animation look seamless to getting your provided content to look crisp.

We are only going to look at 7 basic additions that a PPT design company brings to your presentation deck.

A presentation design agency keeps the audience in mind

During the course of collecting data or research aid, you may forget to address the primary purpose of the presentation – the audience. A presentation design agency will always ask you first to brief them well, by asking the following questions:

What do you want to tell your audience?

What do they expect from your presentation?

How much does your audience already know?

Which slides are of most importance?

What can the PowerPoint presentation teach your audience?

Answer these questions clearly and precisely to allow the PPT slide design agency to do its magic.

Leave the composing to the presentation design agency

Instead of inviting suspicion about whether your content is plagiarized, let the presentation design agency present your content better. Avoid presenting a rag rug of a pitch deck. What you should be presenting is a consistent deck that will help your audience to focus only on the essentials.

PPT design tip: Don’t be enticed with Google fonts just because you feel it will improve your PPT. Leave the decision making of font sizes, visuals, colors, etc. to the deck design agency.

A presentation design agency adds consistency

If you hire a PPT design agency, then be assured that a consistent font size and font face will be maintained on all your slides. The agency designers know which professional presentation template to select, based on your requirement.

Matching colors is also a skill that is used by professional presentation agencies. There will be no funky looking PPT template. There will be no unwanted Excel charts. The font sizes for text and headers should be consistent. If your content for a particular slide involves a wall of text, then that is bound to have the audience confused. With a presentation design agency, that won’t be the case.

A presentation design agency works wonders

A presentation design agency will turn your dull and cluttered preliminary presentation into a work of art. They will do this by making use of color to highlight your key message. Colors make numbers standout, thereby aiding in your ‘take-home message’ to pop out.

A top PPT template design agency will match colors to your PPT design. Good contrast will surely be used to highlight your message. Black text on a white background works best. It’s something you don’t need to tell a PowerPoint design agency. They will use colors vividly based on your template design requirement.

A presentation design agency keeps it simple

You can expect a K.I.S.S abbreviation here…Keeping It Straight & Simple. This means a good presentation design agency will ensure proper keywords are present over all your slides with minimal use of full sentences.

The use of animation and media will not be stockpiled on your presentation. They will be used in the right context, thanks to the experienced designers at a presentation design agency.

A presentation design agency leaves a message

Even if you forget to provide a ‘take-home message’ in your presentation, a top design agency will ensure you have that in your presentation. A ‘take-home message’ is anything that will be remembered by your audience.

This message is a summary of your key data points. An hour-long presentation would need multiple ‘take-home messages’. It needs to be memorable, and so it will be. It’s best you allow the PPT design service to create a ‘take-home message’ that conveys the message visually. It could either be via a video or graphics.

Imagery is never forgotten by a presentation design agency

A good principle is to have more images on each slide than text. A presentation design agency understands that visuals are your friends. They are perfect to support your message and illustrate your points. Your content will always be king. Therefore, don’t make use of imagery simply to decorate.

Overuse of images can lead to distraction. They need to be used simply to compliment or reinforce your message. Good PowerPoint designers will use images to explain the presentation as a story.

[marketingmane]

Sliding into potential success

What would we do without PPT presentations? Wouldn’t there only be speeches and monologues?

Imagine how a company would present its product? How would businesses present their company profiles?

During the course of this post, we will look at the meaning of a PPT presentation, its benefits, and how presentation design agencies create PPTs that engage.

PPT Presentation

A PowerPoint slideshow or a PPT presentation is a digital presentation that’s designed with the help of Microsoft’s PowerPoint software. The software is part of Microsoft’s custom Office Suite.

The suite provides business communication tools for creating reports, presentations, text documents as well as tools to send emails.

A PPT presentation is made up of slides. The software allows the user to add animations, audio, and visuals to these slides. The objective is to convey ideas and stories in the most engaging way possible.

Microsoft PowerPoint is an excellent tool to share content, with collaboration also possible. It is quite easily one of the world’s most recognized and used presentation software.

Imagery, audio, and video must be added to elevate the impact of the slideshow. The PPT presentation software will always rely on the PPT designing agency’s skills.

A designed PPT presentation helps reduce the presenter’s anxiety by drawing the viewer’s eyes onto the projector screen. This makes hiring a PPT design agency to custom design visually appealing and engaging presentations crucial.

PPT Presentation Benefits

The visual impact that an effective slideshow presentation provides is beneficial in many ways. The audience’s focus is improved. The interactivity and spontaneity are also boosted.

Whether it is a sales PPT, fundraising PPT, analyst presentation, conference PPT, elevator pitch or financial PPT, the presentation software will make the company business model and business proposition standout.

PPT Presentations are Customizable

PowerPoint slides can be easily customized. Companies can get a PPT touch up or a PPT makeover designed by top PPT designers. The same designer that arranges a PPT from scratch, can re-do a PPT to make it better.

The presentation can be a combination of both images and text (text-heavy slides tend to appear mundane and monotonous)

Apart from being customizable, PowerPoint slides can also be shared via a sharable web link or email. The presentations stored over the web can be accessed anytime and anywhere.

PPT Presentations leave an Impression

A lasting impression with business stakeholders, clients, and investors is important. PPT presentations convey the company’s brand identity.

Brand guidelines, which comprises of marketing collateral, company vision, company logo, and company products, get resonated with the audience.

PPT presentations help collaborate ideas

PPT presentations allow team members to collaborate on ideas to improve either the flow or design elements. The presentation then becomes streamlined.

Each team member can make use of PowerPoint settings to provide valuable insights. One such setting is available through the ‘Review’ tab. Members can add comments within a presentation.

PPT presentations save time

Hiring a professional presentation design agency can save time. All one has to do is brief the agency with basic content, and the custom presentation is designed to good effect.

This frees up time for company personnel to focus on other tasks at hand. The design agency will take care of visuals, smooth animations, relevant charts, custom fonts, and colour schemes.

PPT presentations impact visually

An engaging PowerPoint presentation combines the usage of graphics, animation, and multimedia. The ideas are turned into effective business communication.

The overall addition of audio, video and visual imagery provides a visual impact that wows audiences. For the presenter, the blend of animation, visuals, and text builds interaction.

Through clean template designs, presenters can tell a journey in an engaging fashion. All of these can be achieved by hiring a good, professional PPT presentation design agency.

[marketingmane]

Targeting the right way

A CTA or ‘call-to-action’ button is a button or link that invites a user to act. Without a CTA, the communication within a website or app is incomplete.

It is common for PPT presentations to contain a CTA within its slides. The goal for any presentation is to either sell, make aware or visit a destination.

The multiple CTAs is also seen within presentations. A good CTA can generate traffic, leads, business, profit, and revenue. It is an important element of any PowerPoint presentation.

Simply adding a CTA button or link without first understanding the audience and CTA relevancy is a waste. Through this post we will look at the meaning of CTA and strategies to successfully implement it.

CTA meaning

A ‘CTA’ needs to invite a response. In the field of online marketing, a CTA is usually a clickable button that leads the user to a designated destination.

The action could either be to send a message, redirect to a website or directly call a number. Inside a PPT presentation, a CTA is usually the link of a website, a number to follow-up to or the date and time for an event.

A CTA can spur the user to also download a PDF, purchase a product, or simply fill out a form. The text or message for the CTA differs based on the requirement. A CTA is a balance between a website bounce and a website conversion.

Some commonly used texts for CTA are:

Read more

Try it now

Add to cart

Buy now

Share now

Online chat

Writing an effective CTA script or text requires the PPT designer to be compelling, persuasive and creative. The major aspects of setting up a CTA are:

What will the CTA look like?

Where will the CTA be placed?

What will the CTA look like (button or text overlay)?

Two things need to happen with a PowerPoint slide CTA. One – the viewer needs to spot them. Two – the viewer must know what to do next.

CTA design

The CTA needs to be recognizable. The contents of the presentation must not let the CTA be lost among the content.

The CTA must be part of the slide itself. It needs to be distinctly designed to stay unique, yet be part of the narrative. Maybe a stark shadow or outline, with contrasting colours can define it better.

Negative spacing within the slide can be used as well. Negative spaces are the breathing room for creativity. This creativity can be directed towards the CTA instead.

CTA colour

To stand out, the CTA needs to be of a contrasting colour to the slide’s background colour.

Several posts have highlighted the change in CTA colour, and have seen a massive rise in engagement or leads.

The right colour depends on the audience, the overall colour scheme, the product and number of the slide.

CTA image

Along with the colour, the CTA typeface and image also needs to be appealing. A CTA image commonly used is that of a real human being looking at the viewer.

The image of a person makes the CTA more human. Typeface, colours and placement are added parameters that can make the CTA standout.

CTA copy

Images and videos enhance the appeal of a PowerPoint presentation. The slides, however, still need to contain enough copy to educate.

Asking for the viewer to act on a CTA is great, but it is the content that he/she will interact with in the first place.

When writing the text or copy for a CTA, avoid surprises, subtlety and secrets. Make the request crystal clear. Active verbs work best.

Hiring a professional PPT design agency to create engaging presentations will allow your message to garner the right result.

[marketingmane]

Introductions tell its own story

Speaking before an audience can be intimidating. Being in the spotlight, remembering the key pointers of the PPT presentation, worrying if the video in the PPT will play or not are just some of the issues that could put you off guard.

That’s why presenting a PPT with an engaging introduction can calm nerves and also get the presentation started smoothly.

The key aspects of starting a PowerPoint presentation are:

Telling a story

Capturing the audience’s attention

Sharing opinions, ideas, and information

Leaving a lasting impression

Through an effective introduction, the audience learns about the topic and starts trusting the presenter. And when the PPT’s introduction is presented through a well-designed slide, the impact is doubled.

PPT introduction slide tips

High-quality PowerPoint slides, designed by a professional PPT design agency, aren’t of much value if the introduction within is insipid.

The introduction must be constructed with a clear agenda or storyline. The introduction sometimes can be broken down into bite-sized pieces.

Again, the way a PPT designer structures the introduction page is also important. The idea is to invoke surprise, trust, amusement, and a hint of emotion through the PPT introduction.

One way of creating a PPT introduction is by using the age-old ‘quick personal introduction’. This is a short passage of what the company does, what its products are and what are its beliefs.

Introduce the company and the contents of the presentation through a link back memory method. It’s a method in which a simple story is shared that potrays where the company’s roots originated.

Everyone loves a good story. The introduction is the perfect platform to launch an engaging story about the company’s journey. Telling stories through PPT slides can help the audience to retain information.

An emotional bond is created when the introduction begins as a story. The presentation becomes more receptive and less sceptical.

Another method of starting the PPT introduction is through the stereotyped formula. The introduction slide can depict a visual about a popular stereotype about the company’s field/domain. This can also lighten the mood a bit.

The self-deprecating introduction can then be followed with a serious topic, thus reinforcing the audience’s attention.

Opening the presentation with a cool hook or unexpected twist that will make the audience sit up and take notice.

In the design aspect, inserting a cool statistic with a bolded typeface can make a strong impact. The introduction can shock, create empathy, call to arms or simply spark curiosity.

The use of an absorbing visual can help highlight a statement. At times, the first slide can be text-free. A picture, a chart or an infographic can also introduce the purpose of the presentation.

Visuals are a powerful communication medium. Our brain needs approximately 13 milliseconds to render what our eyes see.

The use of relevant images can add an aesthetic appeal that can bolster the viewer’s imagination. This, in turn, makes the message memorable.

Starting the introduction with brief, two-letter phrases such as, “Picture this” or “Think of’ can help set the platform for a cool story.

All these exhaustive aspects can be hard to keep track of. That’s why hiring a top PPT design agency can solve the problem and have your engaging PPTs readymade.

[marketingmane]

Making a company resume memorable

Company profile presentations introduce the company. They present a company’s mission, roadmap, hierarchy, goals, and success stories.

If a business presentation is an art, then, a PPT is the canvas. Creating the content for a company profile presentation is hard enough, designing an engaging presentation around it is another challenge.

This is why hiring a professional company profile presentation design agency would be a good idea. A company profile presentation caters to a specific audience. Investors, decision-makers and other top-level management will be in the audience and they need to be impressed!

Creating an engaging and effective presentation for them is something that only a top PPT designer can really do. Let’s look at some interesting pointers that company profile PPT designers keep in mind.

Company profile presentation

A company profile presentation is like a company’s resume. It outlines the company’s goals, achievements, and potential.

All possible company information is mentioned in the presentation. This information is important for customers and clients. A company profile presentation is written with prospects in mind.

Company profile PPT pointers

Nailing a good company profile presentation is tough, but not impossible. The selling point needs to be addressed with honesty.

The problems that hamper company operations must be addressed. The solutions to these problems need to be highlighted as well.

These solutions can be presented in a step-by-step manner, smeared with testimonials, stories, and possible queries. A top PPT designer will use visual elements to explain the problems and solutions.

PPT design agencies make use of colour psychology to produce the right look for the presentation. This psychology can be visible from the first slide – the title.

The first slide must introduce the bigger picture. Avoid mentioning too many details with regards to this big picture. Break down the company’s goals into individual slides, weaving them into a story.

Unlike a sales PPT, fundraising PPT or an analyst presentation, a company profile PPT needs to follow a chronology. This standard format is comprehensive and has stood the test of time. The audience is already expecting it to be in a designated format.

The products and services slides can be illustrated to highlight its USP. A pain point addressed thanks to the mentioned product or service can build authority. Introduce the products from the audience’s perspective.

The team is up next. A PPT design agency can embed a video within the PPT. This video can cover each team member talking about their experiences. Introducing the team this way can help keep the presentation light.

Each team member is part of the company vision. Speak about their traits and strengths. Link it to how they fit into the big picture at the company.

Keep track of the presentation slide length. A reputed PPT designer will add magic to the presentation, but it should not come at the price of the PPT slide length.

Company branding should be highlighted. This will be taken care of by the PPT design expert who will be working on the presentation. Finalizing the right template is key. The company’s brand colours must be visible.

Don’t forget a strong CTA. The call-to-action must be specific and must be stated very clearly. Work with the design agency to see how best the CTA be highlighted.

By the time the audience gets to the final slide and the CTA, they must be convinced and have confidence that the company will meet its targets.

[marketingmane]

Decision-making made easy

Investor presentations are designed to pitch to investors. The pitch can be for launching a startup, a business idea pitch to angel group investors or presenting stats within an analyst presentation.

Investors look for numbers, growth patterns, and usage of business models. Designing an investor presentation PPT designed with immersive visuals work best. It is only through visuals that slides filled with numbers can be illustrated clearly.

Investors look for compelling businesses that show promise. The return on investment and the company’s capability to execute its vision is very important.

Investor relations is a strategic corporate activity that combines disciplines of finance and communication. Presenting to someone from the IR communication department will need an accurate portrayal of company prospects and performance.

Getting an investor presentation designed by a top investor presentation design agency is always a great idea, but there are some practices that a company must keep in mind when delivering the brief.

Compelling content

Compelling investor presentation content must include material that grabs attention. Telling a story is key. Simply presenting data in slides won’t capture the investors attention.

Talk about problems. Then provide solutions that  the company came up with. Add real-life examples to the PPT. Keep the number of slides short. Again, this will be done in consultation with the PPT design agency. The slides need to be brief and must communicate efficiently.

Maintaining interest

Most investor decisions are taken within the first 30-seconds of the investor presentation. The business’ market potential needs to be addressed quickly.

Animations designed by a top PPT designer can keep the audience engaged. Make sure the animations display business opportunity and present a competitive edge.

Make sure there are facts in the content. Starting with “Did you know?” questions work well. These stats can help relate to real-world examples easily.

Provide substance

Describe the size of the market in vivid detail. Here too, an investor presentation design agency can come to aid. They can come up with a way to present market potential visually.

Competitor metrics and the company’s advantage over them works too. Stress on the strategies that can make the business reach its targets.

Tell investors how much investment is needed to drive traffic, what marketing spend to expect within the first 6-months etc. All these can be visually shown with ideas from a PPT design expert.

Management expertise

Display management expertise. Thanks to prior experiences with investor presentations, build a list of questions that the audience could ask. Try getting them answered beforehand in the slides itself.

Display passion for the company. Make use of the presentation design agency to come up with a relevant way to showcase this passion.

Make the PPT tangible

Talk about specifics and not concepts. Use simple English and try avoiding industry buzzwords that any MBA can mutter. Tell a story, and present within the confines of it.

Highlight the company’s management experience, functional skills, and industry knowledge. Use bullet points, and keep the points concise.

The type-size should be large enough to be read from a distance. The type-colour should be contrasting to dark slide backgrounds. All of these can be illustrated perfectly through the experience of an investor PPT designer.

End with a strong call-to-action. Tell the investors about how much money they will spend, and how much they can expect back. The success of the presentation hinges on the inputs of an experienced PPT design agency.

[marketingmane]

Slides that spring to life

PPT animation is best left to the experts. This is because there’s a fear of overdoing it. Animations can make or break a presentation. That is why asking a professional presentation design agency to work on company presentations is a really wise approach.

PowerPoint animation

There are two main reasons why a top PPT designer will adopt animation in your PowerPoint presentation.

One is to enhance the appearance, and the other to control the pace of presentation delivery. Animations increase the appearance of PPT slides. This is done primarily by transitioning either an entire slide or some elements on it.

Aesthetics can elevate a presentation. The audience’s loss of attention due to amateurish animation would be a terrible. PPT professionals understand what type of animations to use, when to use them and when not to.

Top PowerPoint presentation design experts enhance the quality of company PPTs by either adding animations or transitions.

Transitions are provided between slides. One can view the transitions that are in effect through the transitions pane.

Animations are effects added to elements within a slide. They are action-based effects. They can be controlled through the animations pane. Let’s look at a few key pointers that a top PPT design agency will adopt to make a company profile PPT, sales PPT, fundraising PPT or analyst presentation standout.

PowerPoint animation tips

When adding animations to a PowerPoint presentation, designers keep the 80-20 rule in mind. 20% of animation can lead to 80% of engagement for the PPT.

Exciting, moderate, and subtle animation strengths offer change in their respective context. PPT designers know when to add transitions or animations. It depends on the context of the slide of course.

Ideally, the same animations are used throughout a presentation. Adding multiple different transitional animations just for variety makes no sense. Too much variety can distract the viewer.

Common animations used are Zoom (which adds emphasis on an element), Fade (fades the element) & Appear (suddenly makes the element appear).

If for example, a slide contains a list, making them ‘appear’ as a bullet list draws attention to the list. Revealing one step at a time, using animations makes it look contextual.

Try the same with a chart. Instead of just showing the performance of a company of multiple years, a chart can make it look better.

Another cool animation tweak employed by PPT designers is branded fonts. These are added by a PPT design agency to make the typeface standout.

Exit animations are added to slides when there is a need to clean it up. In case the subsequent slide is a simple text-based slide, adding an exit animation to a preceding slide can maintain the attention levels of the audience.

Exit animations also aid in removing individual elements on the slide. Morph is an interesting transition that compares elements between two slides and finds a way to transition them together.

When a company hires a professional PowerPoint presentation design agency, all of the above pointers are taken care of. A top PPT design agency will provide the best of animations and transitions to give the PPT a life of its own.

[marketingmane]

Pitch decks to get inspired from

A pitch deck is a PPT presentation that gives a brief overview of your business. A pitch deck presentation is presented either during online meetings or during face-to-face interactions.

Your pitch deck’s audience consists of partners, customers, co-founders or potential investors. This makes a pitch deck a critical piece of business documentation.

The only way you can get a great pitch deck PPT is by hiring professional PowerPoint presentation designers who can create magic with it.

Let’s quickly dive in to look at what are some best practices to have in a pitch deck. Also, we take a look at 7 popular pitch decks and take away a key lesson to learn.

Pitch deck essentials

There are a several essentials that need to be present in a successful pitch deck. A top PPT design agency will know what works best for a relevant audience.

Despite this, it is good to include the following 6 pitch deck essentials for maximum impact.

Story

A pitch deck must tell a story. The attention span of investors is less. A pitch deck woven around an engaging story will do well. Tell your suggestions to the pitch deck design agency, and they will take it from there.

Idea

Each slide must ooze an idea. The idea can be a solution to an existing consumer problem. The idea could be a unique product or a sure way of generating ROI.

Impress

The first 2-3 minutes of your pitch deck presentation can make or break your PPT. Make this window count. Pitch deck experts can help you with that.

Team

Ensure you share pictures of your dedicated team. They are the backbone of any company, and showing images of your hardworking team will make the PPT more personal. Share personnel milestones, achievements, and rewards.

Style

This is something that only the hired PPT agency can deliver. They will provide your team with suitable templates that will cover the pitch deck style, colour, animation, layout, and icons.

Numbers

The numbers related to funding, investment, and sales must all be mentioned clearly. The pitch deck design company can probably come up with engaging animations or transitions to highlight these numbers.

Pitch deck examples

The following pitch deck examples are not ranked in any order. They are solely being shared to view, learn, and adapt into your respective pitch decks. All slides are taken from Slideshare.

Pitch deck examples

The following pitch deck examples are not ranked in any order. They are solely being shared to view, learn, and adapt into your respective pitch decks. All slides are taken from Slideshare.

Facebook

Although not the same pitch deck used by Mark Zuckerberg, this media kit does contain Facebook’s marketing services, business metrics and value proposition that were used back then.

Peter Thiel was the first billionaire entrepreneur and venture capitalist to invest in Facebook, back in 2004.

The key lesson to take from this pitch deck is point no. 6 from above. This pitch deck is based on solid business numbers such as growth metrics, user base, website traffic, user engagement.

Canvas

Canvas as a business is into the replacement of paper-based processes. They replace them with easy-to-use mobile forms and applications.

The key takeaway from its pitch deck is the expression of ideas to show how their product can solve problems.

Buffer

Buffer is a social media scheduling platform that helps users to schedule content over Pinterest, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

The pitch deck example is the actual one that raised close to half a million dollars. The pitch deck acts as an excellent example to start-ups who want to raise funding.

The pitch deck, like Facebook’s, relies on the power of numbers such as annual revenue and user base.

Adpushup

Adpushup is a product that allows companies to maximize their ad revenues. They do this by providing advanced A/B testing solutions.

They have raised more than 6 million dollars in investments. Their pitch deck sticks to the basics.

A good pitch deck introduction is followed by consumer solutions, product offerings, milestones, tractions, and case studies.

Airbnb

Airbnb allows users to list their properties for rented lodging. Considered a fantastic startup success story, Airbnb’s pitch deck is also a reference for entrepreneurs around the globe.

The pitch deck’s intro is all about hooking the right audience. The business needs a proper introduction. If the PPT introduction fails to break the ice, it’s time to rethink it.

Moz

Starting as an SEO company, Moz has now grown to support marketers with inbound strategies.

This series-B deck of Moz helped them raise approximately $18 million. The pitch deck comes packed with information about Moz’s journey.

The key takeaway here is the time that Moz had when presenting the revenue run rate or cost of paid acquisition. Moz was able to present these values due to their active operation period of 5 years and counting.

Buzzfeed

Buzzfeed has already managed to raise more than $240 million. Their pitch deck starts with big numbers.

The usage of quotations and estimate of website visitors make it a pitch deck worth referring to.

[marketingmane]

Presenting more than numbers

We all know how boring financial data can be. Talk about a financial PPT, and the boredom turns to dread. It is quite a task to create an engaging financial presentation.

The only way one can add some fun to a financial deck is by hiring a top financial PPT design agency.

A top PPT designer will ensure that there is a change in perception. The idea is to maintain the interest of the audience. The audience shouldn’t feel that they are being held captive.

There are 7 ways by which a financial PPT can become engaging and effective.

Telling a story

The audience will respond to stories better than they would if presented with figures or data. When the contents of the financial PPT are to be prepared, remember to convey the where, why, what and when behind the numbers.

Only those with an analytical intellect will be receptive to a completely financial presentation. But those that don’t, need images and storytelling to register the point being presented.

Instead of saying “these are the financial projections from last year”, tell them how the projections have come about. Tell them how various decisions have influenced these projections.

The 10-20-30 rule

Business professionals forget that financial PPTs cannot be over-stretched. Guy Kawasaki’s 10-20-30 rule states that any presentation must be 10 slides long, lasting 20 minutes and use a 30-point font size.

Although, every financial PPT is dependent on the content at hand, Kawasaki’s rule is considered to be a reference point for presentation designers in general. It sets up an ideal condition for audience to tune into.

Bullet points are key

Bullet points ensure that the whole financial presentation is not over-exposed over one slide. It breaks down figures, data, and numbers.

A top PPT designer will ensure that these bullet points are stylized as per the narrative of the finance PPT. Bullet points help the speaker to explore and expand the points at will.

Picture perfect

Relying on just numbers and text will kill any presentation. The audience won’t respond to chunks of financial data without breaks.

A top finance PPT design agency will add relevant graphics that are well-designed and add value to the story.

Animations & iconography

With the help of custom fonts and valuable animations, boring numbers can be made fun. Keeping the audience engaged is important. This can be achieved through effective usage of animation.

For example, a plant can be portrayed growing from a sapling into a tree. The leaves could be animated to show the growth in revenue or personnel even.

Condense some slides

If there is a lot to cover, consider condensing the slides. The financial data can be shown through detailed charts, graphs, and cool transitions. Condensing slides can reduce the length of the entire presentation. You don’t want the audience to fall into a sleepy monotonous rut.Keep it short and engaging.

The only way you can accomplish the target of creating an engaging financial PPT is by hiring a PPT design agency.

[marketingmane]

Best Annual Report Design Agency for 2019 - DesignMyReport.com

An annual report can be a visual report if there are visual elements based on visual hierarchy and brand consistency.

The best reports are engaging

Traditional annual reports are hardly engaging. Boring figures and lengthy tables are just the beginning. The snooze fest also continues through bland colour schemes and poor structure.

Times have changed. Gone are the bulky, lengthy and mundane annual reports. Those reports are not turned into visual reports. Visual reports are annual reports that are visually enriched. Now, a powerful tool for fostering trust between investors, visual reports are extremely impactful.

Visual reports are pleasing to the eye, thanks to its storytelling element, digital format (digital report), message delivery and creative visuals.

The key to getting a great visual report designed is its visual hierarchy and brand consistency. The header text, bullet points, fonts and images within the report all work towards improving engagement.

Reflecting the company’s branding withing the report is paramount. Branded surfaces, logos and colour schemes all create a consistent look.

Let’s look at some more visual report strategies that can make any annual report visually dazzling.

1. A title page that attracts

A no-brainer when it comes to creating a visual report, this strikes the right note with the viewer. A title page with a clear title, an eye-catching image, and a beautiful report design always works.

A picture with a clean background, and perfect image-to-text relationship, works best.

The title page’s design must be consistent with the annual report colour palette or layout.

2. Infographics explain timelines

Statistics that highlight the business impact and business growth can be shown using infographics. When a key piece of information is paired with a relevant visual, it quickly grabs attention.

Good annual report designers will ensure an infographic is made part of a company’s annual reports. A visual report without a visually appealing infographic is incomplete. Add to those, tables, charts, graphs, and customized fonts.

3. Inspire using quotes

Inspirational quotes are incorporated by brands in social media marketing. Quotes are said to increase engagement. Making use of relatable quotes by prominent personalities builds trust within the visual report.

Better yet, get the company leadership to write or share quotes that inspired them. A personalized quote can inspire employees and add a touch of emotion. These quotes can be added with distinct typography.

4. Real pictures build trust

Incorporating well-placed real-life images of company personnel works wonders. Adding stock photos work as well.

Many a time a viewer will skim through the report and treat pictures as only fillers. Stock photos, therefore, don’t really retain attention for long. Real images are emotive and makes the audience stick around for a bit longer.

The images represent the core principles of the company’s brand. So, the images simply remove the curtain over the hardworking employees at the company. Captions describing a company activity, volunteer work or highlighting team achievements give the visual report a personal touch.

Images can be presented as scrolling slideshows (also called glide shows), with subtle animations added to it. Text blocks work well too.

A visually appealing annual report can only be designed by a top annual report design agency.

[marketingmane]

Best Annual Report Design Agency for 2019 - DesignMyReport.com

Corporate reports are financial reports, annual reports, sustainability reports all clubbed together. They are published annually to stakeholders

Corporate reports are here to stay

With CSR reporting, sustainability reporting, and social governance on the rise, it won’t take long for corporate reporting to catch up.

The objective of corporate reporting is to provide key information to creditors and investors to make sound business decisions. These decisions are mostly related to investment opportunities.

Corporate reporting builds a bridge of communication between business enterprises and external users. These external parties include the general public, government authorities, customers, and creditors.

With its immense impact, corporate reporting simply cannot be ignored. The following 4 reasons help strengthen its relevance.

1. Financial information

Financial statements aren’t easy to comprehend. Corporate reporting includes financial reporting that entails the following financial information:

Company balance sheet information

Cash flow statement figures

Figures of grants received

Previous years’ financial figures

Donation information

Comparison to previous years’ financial trends

Current stock prices

Thanks to corporate reporting, income statements are presented concisely. Every singular company expense, along with cumulative sales numbers are mentioned within the income statement.

Add to that, the balance sheet. This gives a detailed snapshot of company assets and liabilities. The cash flow statement easily covers financial information with regards to cash outflow/inflow.

Corporate reports also contain additional notes that make financial information easier to understand. Income statements contain notes explaining the type of sale.

2. Appease shareholders

Each section within a corporate report is presented in a structured manner. This is done to appease creditors, government officials, and company shareholders.

If a company does not have that much financial data to present, a large chunk of the report is dedicated towards gathering goodwill.

A section within a corporate report is dedicated to sending out a rallying cry to employees, stating company ideals and its mission.

Corporate reporting also presents morale-boosting employee testimonials, team photographs and highlights of community service. Best performing employees are recognized.

3. Management’s voice

A corporate report acts like a mouthpiece for the management. It’s quite rare for CEOs and company leaders to address their employees in the open.

Corporate reporting provides an excellent opportunity for management to communicate with internal stakeholders. Almost all corporate reports start with a message from either the Chairman of the Board of Directors or the Chief Executive Officer. The message is usually a summary of how the company has grown in the past year.

Following the message comes a detailed management analysis of financial operations. This analysis includes information regarding:

Operating expenses

Any changes in the previous annual report

Cash flow statement

Asset sales

Net income

Revenue growth

4. Quantifying environment change

Corporate reports help companies shape the future. Addressing environmental issues and portraying an effort to bring a change adds credibility.

Corporate reporting highlights the development of sustainable business practices. This leads to efficient operations, streamlined effort and conservation of resources. All this in turn, enhances employee productivity and reduces cost.

With companies adopting sustainable practices, regulations are now being put in place to regulate such practises. These practices can only be presented via corporate reporting.

Corporate reports are going nowhere. They are an essential piece of business communication. Get corporate reports designed by the best report designers in India.