Sunday, June 12, 2011

Mobile Platforms Force Us to be Better UX Designers

A few years ago, in a time before iPhones and iPads, designing for mobile platforms meant designing within serious constraints. Limited screen real estate, low bandwidth, and minimal browser capabilities, forced us to be minimalistic in our approach to mobile web user interfaces. Usability and Clarity were core Design principles, during the mobile web's "Dark Ages." In those days, the focus was squarely on facilitating key user tasks and behaviors that made sense, based on what the user was likely doing with the phone. Today's sophisticated, mobile devices, have amazing capabilities. They have large, multi-touch screens, access to WiFi as well as fast mobile networks, application marketplaces, GPS, video capabilities, etc., etc. In theory, "the sky's the limit" when it comes to contemporary, mobile user interfaces.

Inherent in this new found freedom, however, is the temptation to ignore all of the lessons that "Constrained Design" has taught. Luckily, new standards, trends in usage, design patterns, and best practices are emerging, to help Designers keep the focus on what is important to Mobile UX Design:

1. Understand likely usage - Your consumers' mobile usage is probably going to be different than their web usage. Seek to understand what your end-consumer is trying to do on a phone or tablet before you attempt to re-present your entire web site within a mobile context.

2. Simplify the user experience - The secret to great interface design is the ability to make it instantly intuitive to end-users. Avoid the temptation to clutter the interface with unneccessary options, filters, and interface "decorations."

3. Elevate and prioritize key tasks - Select the top 4 main tasks, and elevate them to the main menu bar. Understand what is a top-level task, and what is a sub-task that can be integrated contextually within the appropriate top-level task.

4. Tailor the experience to the strengths of the platform - This is the fun aspect of Mobile UX Design! Consider the cool features of the target, mobile platform, and exploit them in the user experience. For instance, if an application is intended to deliver recommendations to the user based on geography, consider using a native GPS functionality of a phone to bring these recommendations back instantly, based on the user's current location.

5. Start with a great core concept, and enhance it over time - Simplicity should be the guiding principle of the core concept of the application, as well as the interface itself. Launch an application with a few key features, and develop a roadmap of enhancements over time, based on usage patterns, industry trends, and level of effort.