Mobile UX Designer

SSCC – Simple and Structured, Clarity, and Consistent.

I was on the Metro-North train going to Central Station and practically everybody was either gaming or reading on their phone or tablet. Almost without exception. This day was special because I saw a sweet silver hair old lady engrossed in a good read on her iPad mini, flipping pages and occasionally reading her mail like a pro.

Why was this an exception? The iPad mini had only been on the market for a week. This was obviously an upgrade for her.

There are many challenges to designing for the mobile and iPad market, and solutions are being crafted as fast as the innovations are being created. This site is responsive – that is, the formatting changes to adapt to the platform, and screen size on which it’s being viewed.

MY FAVOURITE MOBILE UX DESIGNER PROJECTS

MetLife People Finder

OUP The Oxford Companion to Beer

OUP The Oxford University Dictionary

What is trending at the moment for a mobile UX designer?

Less Prominent Navigation

Facebook, for example, utilizes a fly-out style menu that is less obtrusive and therefore saves on a lot of screen real estate.

Clean Interface

It seems almost sacrilegious to say it, but Apple seems to be following Microsoft’s lead with clean two-dimensional designs instead of the faux textures and stylized graphics of the past. Great development and I love the honesty of this new simplistic style. Microsoft deserves more credit.

Images and Content are Key

The right image can say more than a thousand words and set the right mood for the content. A cluster of images and non-related posts will only confuse and distract the user. No more content-free content! If it is not there for a very good reason – get rid of it!

Mobile Apps as an exclusive Experience

Instead of a mobile app being ported lock, stock, and pixel from an existing website, the app is designed as an exclusive experience. This is the key to a great design.