UX and mobile design principles : A study of how they are applied to mobile operating systems

We are currently living in an information society (also called the IT society) that began in the 1990s when the internet and computers began to grow and become more used. New technical products are constantly being developed, from analog to digital. Nowadays, mobile phones are devices that almost all people use and the business giants Apple and Google own the two most used operating systems for mobiles, iOS and Android, respectively. User experience (UX) design, together with the development of the internet, has played an increasing role in product development and companies are investing more and more in it. For UX designers, there are general design principles such as Nielsen's ten heuristics or Norman's Seven Fundamental Principles for Interface Design that should be followed when developing products, such as mobile applications. UX puts users in focus and takes into account the whole experience with a product. Companies often have their own design principles and Google and Apple are no exception. To develop user-friendly applications for their operating systems, their principles must be followed, and developers must understand what differences there are in the principles while also following general principles such as Nielsen's and Norman's. This thesis studies the differences between Apple's and Google's design principles, and leverages interviews and observations to investigate the user experience related to Spotify and Instagram. The applications are evaluated according to the companies' principles but also the general ones such as Nielsen's and Norman's. After analysis of the results, it can be seen that there are differences in the companies' principles, but there are also some similarities. Both Spotify and Instagram follow the principles and in cases where they are not followed, it is possible to refer to Nielsen's or Norman's principles. However, Spotify violates Apple's principle of gestures and uses it in a way that reduces the user experience in the app and this could also be seen from the observations. It is important that apps follow all principles to create a good user experience for all different types of users