Common design mistakes in WeChat app development

Although the development difficulty of WeChat Mini Program is lower than that of web page development and APP development, WeChat Mini Program development can use many design components and resource libraries provided by WeChat.

The above two reasons reduce the probability of major "errors" and "failures" in the development of WeChat Mini Programs. However, we still found some WeChat Mini Program designs that we think are relatively unsuccessful, and we point them out for your discussion.

Failure: Embedding the APP download module in the WeChat applet

Many brands have their own apps, and they also attach great importance to the operation of the apps, using all channels to promote the apps and increase downloads, including WeChat mini-programs. For example, when you open their WeChat mini-programs, the key point is to provide guidance and reminders for downloading the apps.

For example, in Hellobike’s mini program, there is a prompt to download the APP at the top.

There is a logical error here - when users open WeChat mini programs, it is because there is no APP on their phone, or for convenience, because mini programs are faster and simpler. At this time, users are obviously unwilling to download the APP and are psychologically resistant.

Therefore, we have observed that although some brands have apps, they do not use WeChat mini programs for promotion. Instead, they prefer to guide users to add mini program "shortcuts". For example, McDonald's mini program prompts users to add the mini program icon to the desktop or WeChat homepage.

Failure: Too many pages or too many page elements

Why can’t there be too many pages in WeChat Mini Programs? Because the “organizer” of the page is the navigation. Since WeChat Mini Programs use smaller mobile phone screens, it is impossible to put too many navigation buttons. Therefore, in the WeChat Mini Program Development Guide, WeChat recommends that there should be no more than 5 bottom navigation buttons, and 3 or 4 is appropriate.

Why can’t there be too many elements on a WeChat Mini Program page? It’s also because the screen is small and it’s harder for users to focus visually. We need to reduce the number of elements so that users can focus on the key points. In addition, too many elements on a page will also affect the page loading speed. Furthermore, too many elements on a page will interfere with each other, which will also affect the user experience.

Failure: Design that confuses users

There are two aspects of design that lead to user confusion: first, users don’t know where they are; second, users don’t know how to make decisions. This is also a common failure in WeChat mini-program design.

Take button design as an example. Two buttons designed in parallel with the same color, shape and arrangement can easily lead to user confusion. First, they may pause when choosing; second, it is easy to cause misoperation. This is a bad design that makes users confused about how to make decisions.

For example, the state of user selection and the state of non-selection do not form a strong contrast. This will make users feel confused about "where am I now?" Therefore, in the design of WeChat mini-programs, the selected and unselected items should form a strong enough contrast, including text contrast, color contrast, etc.

As above, we have summarized three common mistakes that are often made in WeChat mini-program design, which are worth discussing.