What is a Splash Screen?
Splash Screen is a kind of welcome screen that appears when an app is launched. It is the first graphical introduction of an app. It also considers as a start-up screen or boot screen of an app. It can be a logo, an image, or an animation. Generally, splash screen covers the entire screen for 1-3 seconds. Sometimes splash screen would be interactive, and sometimes it is not. A unique and elegant splash screen is necessary for branding purposes as it creates the first impression of an app. Splash screen also uses for an app knowledge purpose, login purpose, select language purpose, or other purposes.
Let’s try to break it down in simple terms.
Open “Youtube” on your Smartphone. Make sure that it is not already open in the background. What is the first screen that you see as soon as you open Youtube?
As soon as you click on the “Youtube” App, the red youtube logo will pop-up with the white background. This screen is known as Youtube’s Splash Screen.
Why is a Splash Screen used?
Although it was considered an unavoidable screen at first, phone’s fast processors can now deliver performance that apps can now be opened in an instant. However, there are so many phones that cannot do so. Therefore it is necessary to use Splash Screen in your app.
Three reasons why Splash Screen requires;
1. To Deliver the Best User Experience
User experience is the most important aspect that you should consider. The users will describe your business or brand through the experience that they receive. Therefore your aim should be to provide the best user experience.
Splash Screen is directly related to the user experience. When the user clicks on your app’s icon, the user experience starts from that second. Your app should be smooth and user-friendly to provide the best user experience.
However, there are chances that your app might need 2-3 seconds once it is opened to start or to load the user’s progress, or to gather the personalized material to show to the user. If there is no Splash Screen, this is what the user will see.
2. To Create the Best First Impression
Splash Screens are used to showcase your brand and to provide the best first impression.
No matter how fast the app is, it will always require a split second to navigate the operational screen. The reason can be that the user’s phone is slow; the app needs to load things as the user is using the app after a long time, and so many more.
This is the first impression that your app provides. Is this how you want to provide your user experience?
An app should be perfect for providing the best experience. Therefore to overcome the above image, Splash Screen is used. In this way, an image is displayed when the app is loading instead of a blank or loading screen.
First impression is a very important aspect of the user experience. Moreover, as the saying goes – The first impression is the last impression; one should try to make the most out of the first impression.
3. For Branding and Marketing
Splash Screens are used for branding and Marketing. As soon as the user enters your app, the Splash Screen is the grand entrance of your digital empire, and therefore you should make sure that it is as appealing as possible.
No matter how fast the app is, it will always require a split second to navigate the operational screen. The reason can be that the user’s phone is slow; the app needs to load things as the user is using the app after a long time, and so many more. As the app is opened, there will be a delay due to one reason or another.
As the app is loading at this moment, there are very few things that you can do. But a smart person is always able to get the most out of the minimum, and therefore, in this case, the idea of branding is considered.
When your app is loading, the best thing to do is to market yourself. You can show your logo to increase its potential. If you use Facebook, you will remember Facebook’s color and the logo as you see it daily. It helps in brand awareness too. Therefore it is the first part of your app, and if used wisely, it can help you in marketing and brand awareness.
6 ways to Create a Perfect Splash Screen
Splash screens might not be an incidental part of the user interface. Because it’s just a start-up screen only and nothing much more, but still, the splash screen is imperative as much as other app functionalities. The reason is, the first impression is the last impression. It is the gate to your app and it’s experience. It should be huge and perfect.
Here are some tips on how you can create the perfect Splash Screen.
1. Follow the time rule
As the phones are now becoming advanced and technology is also improving, many apps do not need to require time to be started, and they can be launched instantly; moreover, if an app opens instantly without using the Splash screen, they are missing a very important part of the app, this will have an impact on their app, brand, and marketing strategy. If they do not use Splash Screen, this clearly shows that they do not understand the importance of Splash Screen.
To make you thoroughly grasp this, let’s take an example.
Do you have Netflix or Spotify on your phone? Those two apps don’t have just simple loading screens, but they have a branding strategy and a gateway to happiness. Once we see their screens, we know that we are entering the entertainment world.
This is the power of the Splash Screen.
The Netflix Splash Screen is of 3 seconds, and it is of just a second for Spotify. This is the reason we don’t mind it, and we like it. Netflix’s Splash Screen takes 3 seconds as it is an animation. But if these screens would have been on our mobile screens any longer, we will get frustrated. Imagine opening Whatsapp and looking at the Splash Screen for 10 minutes. Therefore the Splash Screen should not be longer than 3 seconds.
2. Grab the attention of the user
The Splash screen part is forced on the user, and therefore you should try to make this screen as less painful as possible.
And this is possible by making it as attractive as possible. The best way to do so is by adding animation. You can add animation to even a one-second Splash Screen. You can show the logo, and then you can bounce it to open the app. Also, you can use the animation as Netflix. If you show the full spelling of your app or brand, you can make letters appear one after another, but at a quick speed, to ensure that it does not take more than 3 seconds.
3. Show your brand message
Another part of branding can be to show your brand message. You can use these 3 seconds to show the users what you have envisioned or what you hold.
This Splash screen passes the brand message along with the logo and color. When we think from the perspective of having the best entrance, Trip Advisor’s Splash Screen is among the top 10 Splash Screens as it uses the Splash Screen to the fullest.
Showcase what your brand does, or your app does. This way, the Splash screen part is not a waste of time, but now a screen effectively tells the user what your brand is and what it does.
4. Serve a purpose
If your Splash screen takes 1-3 seconds, then an attractive photo of your brand, stating your purpose, or using a small animation are the better choices. But what if your app needs more than 3 seconds to launch?
When it comes to certain games and big applications, they can take more than 3 seconds to launch, and if the smartphone processor is slow, the time can be as long as 30 seconds. So, what is the user supposed to do at that time, look at the screen?
The better way here is to provide some tips or some news. Please provide some information to the user that can be useful to them, and try to provide the best in these completely wasted seconds.
5. Screen Resolution and size
The Splash Screen will address your business in the marketing and branding aspects. Therefore, you should make sure that your app’s Splash Screen should appear in the highest possible quality on all the devices.
App development for iOS devices is always hard thanks to the so-called high-security standards of Apple. But an easy part of the iOS app development is that the developers don’t have to think about the screen resolutions much as there are only a few Apple devices. Therefore, the developer can easily develop high-quality Splash screens for all the apple mobiles.
But when we talk about Android mobiles, there are thousands of Androids out there in the market. Therefore, developing a Splash Screen that delivers the perfect high-quality experience is a challenging task.
The simple solution for this is to develop the Splash Screens in three sizes-small, medium and large. It can help developers develop the perfect Splash Screen for the devices that work on Android OS.
6. A/B Testing with Multiple Splash Screens
A/B Testing is a user experience research methodology that helps you select the most impactful Splash Screen.
It means experimenting with various Splash Screens and their performance. This way, you will know what works the best, and therefore, you will be able to select the best Splash Screen, and as a result, you would be able to provide the best user experience.
You should try as many Splash Screens in this test as possible. Use Animation Splash Screen, 1-second Splash Screen, Logo Splash Screen, Quote Splash Screen, Picture Splash Screen, Etc. Explore as much as you can. But, make sure it syncs with your brand, and also, it should look similar to your brand to boost your Brand Awareness.
Take Away
The splash screen is very important for your app to provide a better user experience. Moreover, this part can be used in your favour by effectively syncing your brand strategy with it. Make the first impression impactful by creating the best possible Splash Screen.
