Understanding the Software Development Life Cycle

Single-page applications (SPAs) have earned a strong position in demand long ago. Such apps have one page where most information remains unchanged, and only its parts are updated when a user interacts with them. 

Maybe, you don’t know precisely what they are. However, you probably use them daily. Most social media, Gmail, and other programs are single-page apps. They are quickly adopted thanks to their fast load times and user-friendliness. 

As for React, it is quite a favored instrument for SPA web development. Programmers can build SPA’s components with React to ensure their scalability, reuse them with few configurations, and refresh them instantly without manually reloading a page. Besides, React solutions are optimized for SEO while delivering high flexibility thanks to the Virtual DOM. 

What Are React Single Page Applications (SPAs)? 

SPAs consist of one HTML page. To access it, you make a one-time connection and then – load and modify data without refreshing an entire page. Only the blocks engaged in the interaction process are updated while other page elements remain unaffected.

A clear illustration of a one-page application is Google Docs. While reading a text, you scroll through sheets, but the top row with the menu and the left panel with captions stay put. Whatever changes you make, certain things stay untouched.

React is very common for SPAs because of its convenience — it speeds up the programming process significantly. Also, note that it is not a framework, it’s a library. The main thing in it is the components as they represent particular items on a page. Each one of them contains the entire set of data and methods needed for work.

React allows you to save the state of the elements. This makes them isolated and self-contained. This feature, in turn, provides developers with the ability to reuse the elements as needed. Specifically, the same element can be applied to another page or parts of the website as many times as you want. This way, a developer doesn't need to re-write a significant part of the code. Therefore, the absence of complex dependencies between elements simplifies troubleshooting.

Pros of React SPAs

Why do giant companies like Meta choose React SPAs? It becomes clear after looking at its main advantages: 

• Versatility. SPAs can be used from any device that has access to the Internet. 
• Accessibility. There are no problems with сompatibility, as well as memory limitations, capacity, or installation time.
• Enhanced usability. These apps are straightforward and enjoyable to operate.
• Better responsiveness. It can be ensured thanks to the high speed of data load.
• Ability to process large volumes of data. The device's memory does not limit the processing power of an app and the volumes of data it operates.
• Code reuse. React allows developers to reuse parts of code as often as needed in the same app. 

Let's look closely at the main merits of React SPA development. 

Enhanced User Experience (UX)

The primary advantage of a single web page application is immediate data update, resulting in a smooth sensation from using and improved responsiveness. Since SPA doesn't have to implement full-page reloads during use, the contents of a page refresh very quickly. The program only needs to connect to the server at the start, and then simply loads the necessary segments as a visitor needs them. In a single-page app, everything works quickly after the first load and doesn’t keep users waiting. 

Improved Developer Efficiency

Programmers who use React receive a lot of tools that simplify the assembling of the single-page application architecture. Moreover, React allows reusing code in software architecture to speed up the work. For instance, if you decide later to evolve a one-page app into a full-featured multi-page application, you’ll be able to reuse about 30% of the code instead of writing everything from scratch. Plus, it will help your startup save time and reduce costs.

Rich Interactivity

React is a freely accessible framework library that has a JSX (JavaScript XML) compiler with a focus on the users’ comfort as it provides prompt rendering. Thus, by utilizing React, you can create a UI-centric product which is common to SPAs that should have fluid interfaces, rapidly responding to the actions of users.

Cons of React SPAs

Surely, React SPA development has its drawbacks. Otherwise, every app would be written using this framework. 

The most important cons of these apps are:

• Lack of SEO optimization. The whole point is in the structure of such applications, which consist of just one page.
• Longer initial loading time. Since all user-side data of the application must be loaded during initialization, this can cause unpleasant delays for users.
• The client-side routing challenges. React may not be the best choice for creating applications with complex business logic and data routing.

So, let’s check each of them in more detail.

SEO Challenges

Single-page applications are quite problematic to index because not much text can be recognized by search robots. At the same time, you can’t put all the keywords on one page because it will look weird and lead to spam problems. What's more, the page will have only one URL.

You can eliminate this issue by resorting to server-side rendering. It's a way to render a one-page application on the server side. The app is still one-paged, but the main work is done on the server. The application receives a finished page with the required SEO elements from the server immediately after its initialization. However, due to the complex introduction of this technique, the cost of SPA development might be higher.

Complexity for Large Applications

Managing complex states and data traffic can be a problem in large SPAs. That’s why using React SPAs relates mostly to projects with rather limited functionality. At the same time, if applied skillfully, this library can still be useful when creating large projects – evidence of this is the digital giants that actively use it in the development of their services and applications. 

Initial Load Time

With React’s ability to load all content during initialization, people can wait a lot when opening a SPA first (in comparison to other websites). However, after initial loading, all other data will be pulled up automatically, and there will be no issues with delays in provisioning page content. 

Code splitting solves the problem of slow app loading by reducing the volume of data sent on the first session. Rather than uploading the entire code at once, users do it only with the parts that they need right now. This, in turn, facilitates the coding procedure.

React SPAs vs Traditional Multi-Page Applications (MPAs)

These kinds of apps are paralleled and characterized as competitors. However, multi-page applications (MPAs) are unlikely to lose the race because each alternative works for certain products and commercial pursuits. 

Let's look at the core strengths of each application type:

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As you can see, each application type has its drawbacks and advantages. So, when choosing between them, come from the specifics and tasks of your company. 

What kind of companies should pay attention to one-page solutions?

• Products that run on a captivating platform with low data volumes. SPA is commonly applied to SaaS platforms, social media, and private communities. Some examples include Grammarly, Netflix, and Slack.
• Startups focused on usability. Single-page apps allow you to create an easy-to-use and intuitive interface that attracts the eye and encourages customers to explore the product. 
• Startups planning to go big. Later you can reuse some of the code of your single web page application. This helps reduce the time and expense involved in developing new, full-fledged digital solutions.
• Businesses for whom SEO is not a key metric. If your company doesn't require to be ranked high on Google from its first launch, to successfully implement your idea, SPA is right for you.
• Companies with their own APIs. You can build a one-page application based on a pre-built API.

Conclusion 

Today, we see that one-page applications gradually replace classic applications and begin to play an important role in the construction of large-scale web systems. Now, these apps are everywhere, and we use them every day without noticing it. Moreover, the big players in the app market already use SPAs.

What are the rewards of single-page applications? They are pretty speedy, don't keep visitors on hold, and generally improve their experience when dealing with the solution. in turn, overall consumer comfort has a direct impact on conversion rates and profits.

Still, SPAs are not ideal for all startups. But for those seeking a dynamic, high-speed, and lightweight digital solution, SPAs are an excellent choice.

Venture companies face a large volume of tasks and the need to make decisions quickly daily, which is due to the specifics of such companies. Some tasks require a quick response with only employees. For others, it is necessary to select a tool from the technology field that can significantly improve the company's efficiency and avoid possible risks. Conventionally, they can be divided into websites and mobile applications, which equally solve the tasks set by the company. There can be many such problems because there is the factor of unpredictability, which a company must take into account when organizing the workflow of the whole team.

As a technology service provider, we have experience working with venture capital companies and know their challenges. We have compiled a list of the main ones that can be solved with a mobile app:

• Lack of information 

Venture capital funds often need more information about potential projects, industries, and trends. Finding potential projects is a responsible task that takes a lot of time. And knowing industries and trends will help a company stay one step ahead of its competitors and run its business more efficiently. Therefore, developing a mobile application can help collect and process a large amount of data quickly and efficiently, allowing the fund to make informed investment decisions. 

• Slow decision-making process

The decision-making process in venture capital funds can be slow and time-consuming. That is due to the slow pace of information gathering, analysis, and drawing conclusions based on the data. Venture capital funds have a tremendous amount of internal information. Analyzing it manually requires a considerable amount of time and people, which slows down the overall pace of the company. In this case, developing a mobile application will help automate the process of collecting and processing information, speeding up the decision-making process and helping reduce the time and money spent on this work. 

• Ineffective portfolio management

Venture capital firms have a lot of investments, and managing a portfolio can be a daunting task. You need to consider the total number of projects, their dynamics, and all changes to react quickly if necessary. Automating these processes will make it easier for a company to manage its business and take on new projects. In this case, you need an application that will track and analyze the effectiveness of each project in the portfolio and track its dynamics to help the company manage it more efficiently.

• Limited access to investors

Venture capital funds may need more access to potential investors and partners. Each new project requires significant investments. Therefore, venture capital funds must attract reliable funding sources. But this process also requires time and labor to analyze and select investors interested in a long-term cooperation. The app's development will help funds reach more potential investors, and partners will expand their circle of contacts.

The latest trends in mobile apps for investors and venture capitalists

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Ventures are directly related to investing in promising startups and, accordingly, in cutting-edge technology. To keep up with the times, tech-savvy investors are integrating mobile apps into the workflow of VCs. 

Typically, these applications include functionality to manage and track portfolio financials, manage business contacts and communications, analyze data, and predict investment success. Moreover, they can provide access to experts and industry leaders for advice and mentorship, which can help accelerate the development of startups and increase their chances of future success.

Here are examples of mobile apps used by VCs mostly:

• Mobile applications for productivity & collaboration

Business is only complete with communication with colleagues and partners. Many applications help to establish and maintain communication between all participants in business processes. They improve communication within the team, help receive timely information, and also help to strengthen business relationships with partners and clients. And that can increase efficiency and lead to new opportunities for venture-backed businesses. They can also help companies solve problems such as a lack of information about potential projects and investment news. 

The main objectives of such applications are to simplify the workflow as much as possible, to significantly reduce the number of emails for more critical issues, to automate the processes of searching and analyzing potential startups, and to create an environment for interaction between investors and entrepreneurs.

Usually, such applications include essential functions such as messaging, video conferencing systems, and social networks for professional communication.

• Networking mobile applications

These apps typically serve as a platform to connect entrepreneurs, investors, and other stakeholders in the startup ecosystem. The main problem they solve is expanding the circle of investors and partners for the long term.

The main tasks of such applications are to provide users with a platform to communicate with others involved in the investment process, facilitate funding opportunities, and support the growth of innovative companies.

Talking about the specific functionality of such applications, we can include the basic set, such as profile and networking creation, according to users' business needs, event management by investment interests, content sharing, tracking investment portfolio progress with analytics and metrics, and protecting confidential user information.

• CRM & Automation mobile applications

This type of application is designed to optimize and automate sales, marketing, and customer service processes. They are of great help to companies when there is a problem with the automation of internal processes, such as investment portfolio management or information collection and processing. 

The main tasks of such applications are to optimize and automate sales, marketing, and customer service processes, improve efficiency and productivity, and provide information for data-driven decision-making.

From the general functionality, we can highlight the following: the ability to manage leads and information about them, automation of such tasks as sending emails and scheduling meetings, automation of marketing tasks, automation of customer service tasks (case management, chatbot support), the ability to track sales performance, the ability to integrate with other tools and platforms that are used by venture capital companies.

• Contacts Management mobile applications

These applications help users organize and manage their contacts, including customers, investors, partners, and other stakeholders. They will help companies that have certain problems with collecting and processing information about potential investors, as well as do not have an established automated process for working with partners.

The main tasks here are to help users organize and manage their contacts more effectively, improve communication and collaboration, and build stronger relationships with their network of stakeholders.

The functionality of such applications includes the ability to create and store contact information; segment their contacts based on various criteria; import and export contact lists from other tools and platforms; track communication with each contact, including emails, phone calls, and meetings; set reminders and receive notifications about follow-up tasks and collaborate with other team members in contact management.

• Company Research mobile applications

Venture research applications are designed to help users research and analyze potential investment opportunities. In other words, to help find new investment sources and opportunities for promising projects. If a company needs to invest in current projects or has the plan to expand investment capital in the future, an app to find such potential opportunities will be an urgent need.

The main tasks are to help users make informed investment decisions by providing access to detailed information and insights into potential investment opportunities.

The functionality of such applications covers the following list: the ability to access a database of companies that meet their investment criteria; select companies by various measures, such as stage of funding, revenue, and market size; conduct market research on specific industries and trends to help inform their investment decisions; and analyze the competitive landscape for each company; manage their investment portfolio, including tracking performance, monitoring news and events, and analyzing trends; users also can collaborate with other team members when researching companies, such as sharing notes and opinions.

Summary

Each venture capital firm is unique and has different goals, so venture capital software reflects the additional functionality built into it from the beginning. The key takeaway is that mobile apps and their customized functionality help automate the collection of investment market information, attracting funding sources through new partners, creating financial reports, and displaying them conveniently for the company. 

As the investing world becomes increasingly digital, apps can help venture capitalists do their day-to-day work optimally. There is also a high demand for mobile apps and other digital tools to minimize repetitive tasks, increase productivity and streamline the deal-making process.

All this is the basis for the company's effective functioning, and the data collected by the program is the basis for making investment decisions.

If you are working on a digital solution, one of its integral stages will be UX/UI design. While trivial projects usually have “beaten” paths for creating navigation and visuals, any deviation from the standard can lead to dissatisfaction among end users and increase the entry threshold for them. In this regard, no matter how sophisticated the logic of your project is, it is important to understand the usability principles maintained by human psychology to ensure its excellent user experience.

Theories of Perception in UX/UI Design

Generally speaking, there are several popular theories of perception in UX/UI design:

• Gestalt psychology aimed at gaining an understanding of how people associate individual objects with things that are meaningful to them. The main gestalt principles include figure-ground (according to which some objects, depending on their visual appeal, are perceived as key navigation elements, while others serve as background), similarity (according to which elements with identical visual characteristics are perceived as interconnected), proximity (according to which closely placed objects are also perceived as related to each other), and closure (which states that incomplete objects, if sufficiently detailed, can be perceived by users as complete).
• Affordance theory, claiming that to ensure intuitiveness, users should receive some cues from the interface from the very beginning on how to deal with a particular element – one way to do this is to use skeuomorphism;
• Hick's Law, which states that the time it takes a particular user to make a decision is logarithmic to the number of available options (which means that to maximize intuitiveness, the user's choice should always be limited);
• Fitts' Law, stating that the time it takes a user to reach a desired part of the interface depends on its size and distance (which means that to ensure a great user experience, you need to place interactive elements closer to the user's starting point);
• Signal Detection Theory, claiming that users can subconsciously distinguish between meaningful cues (calls to action) and background noise, meaning that they should be visually separated.

Cognitive Load: Its Effects on UI Design

Now let's move from theory to practice and consider individual insights extracted from the above theories of psychology in UX. 

In particular, the first insight is the minimization of cognitive load, that is, the efforts of the human brain that must be applied to perform a specific target action. Thus, the importance of reducing the amount of information or tasks provided to the user becomes clear – otherwise, there is a high probability that the user will begin to act erroneously. 

In practice, such brevity can be achieved by correctly grouping interrelated elements and removing elements whose functionality duplicates each other.

Emotional Response & UX Design

Another valuable insight from UX design and psychology is to establish an emotional connection with the end user through your interface. This is a global task that begins with user behavior analysis and identifying their desires, pain points, and intentions and ends with transforming the obtained information into design elements that resonate with them. 

Ultimately, you will have to walk in the shoes of the average consumer of your software solution to ensure the proper level of empathy with your emotional design. In terms of practical implementation of the emotional response, such user empathy can be achieved through the integration of “user experience stories” that can be presented by a service provider to users as they get acquainted with the digital solution, as well as the use of the right color palette, forms, audio, pop-ups, and text.

The Role of Memory in User Interaction

Since, according to cognitive psychology in design, the average person can concentrate on one object for up to 20-30 minutes, it is important to take this aspect into account if your software solution involves long-term interaction with it. 

Specifically, you can reduce the load on your users' memory by implementing elements and scenarios that work and occur in a way that is familiar to them. Otherwise, if something does not function as expected, it can lead to users’ confusion and erroneous actions. 

Understanding User Behavior Through Heuristics

Heuristics are specific UI design principles that can predict user psychology. Here are some of them:

• Visibility of system status, which implies the importance of informing end users about what is happening with your software solution at the moment through progress bars, loading animations, or status messages;
• Match between the system and the real world, which emphasizes the importance of correspondence between the system's behavior and the knowledge and experience that users received before they became familiar with your software solution;
• User control and freedom, which implies the need to provide end users with the ability to freely navigate your software solution and manage negative scenarios;
• Consistency and standards, which determine the significance of logical connections between elements, terminology, and layouts;
• Error prevention, which consists of preventing erroneous actions by end users by providing them with unambiguous and understandable instructions;
• Recognition over recall, which states that to ensure better intuitiveness, users should “recognize” familiar patterns from the real world in elements and scenarios of your interface.

Thus, you have to perform a heuristic evaluation to check whether your solution is good in terms of usability. Also, note that in reality, there are many more psychology UI design heuristics, but the above list will be sufficient for a basic understanding of what is meant by the term excellent user experience.

The Impact of Attention on User Experience

Many designers, in order to encourage the user to perform a particular action, abuse pop-up notifications and other features to attract attention, thereby increasing the cognitive load, the inadmissibility of which we have already discussed earlier. 

Instead, you can use such approaches as the correct building of a visual hierarchy, optimization of the color palette, breaking down complex processes into several simple ones, etc. And, of course, do not forget to appeal to the memory of users, which already contains some experience of interaction with other digital solutions and can automate some processes of dealing with them due to the familiarity of the mental models implemented.

User Motivation & Reward Systems in UX/UI Design

Finally, from the point of view of UX psychology, many UX/UI designs benefit from gamification, which motivates users to move toward the target action. In general, gamification is aimed at boosting user engagement and creating an exciting user experience that they don’t want to interrupt. Its main elements are rewards and recognition.

At the same time, it is crucial to note that some reward systems are too confusing for the average user and, thus, create unnecessary cognitive load instead of motivation. Moreover, gamification is not considered a universal approach that could be used in any project. Therefore, you have to always start with the appropriateness and the affordance of implementing this concept clearly and simply for the consumer.

Conclusion

We hope that with the help of this article, you were able to understand the importance of UX design psychology and how it is implemented in UI/UX principles like heuristics, emotional response, lowering cognitive load, user motivation, and others. If you are interested in creating a digital solution that fully meets all these psychological principles, feel free to contact us.