By E. Brown
In March 2013, the U.N. said 6 billion of the worlds 7 billion people had mobile phones. Of this number over 1 billion had smartphones. Although there are some slow adopters due to cost and bandwidth issues, the fact is mobile is here to stay. And the mobile web is a maturing part of doing business in today’s world. Are you engaged?
Most organizations have a mobile-friendly web site. This allows for audio and video playback and touch interface navigation. While that is a start it is only the bottom rung of the ladder. You need a strategy, a mobile design, and well developed site to compete for the eyes of mobile savvy users.
Brian Fling’s book, Mobile Design and Development is a good place to start. As Fling says, “I wrote this book to be a beginning—your beginning in mobile—and to give you all the information you need to know in order to start thinking of your site, application, or business in the mobile context.”
Brian Fling. Mobile Design and Development (Kindle Locations 305-307). O’Reilly Media.
Before you dismiss this book as too basic, be sure to check out the chapters on:
- The Mobile Ecosystem
- Designing For Context
- Mobile Strategy
- Mobile Web Apps versus Native Apps
- Adapting to Devices
- The Future of Mobile
Everything rises and falls on strategy and a good mobile strategy is the key to a successful mobile design and roll out. In the case of mobile, context is king! Understanding your users and, consequently, their needs will get you most of the way there. Based on proper personas you can assess the needs of your mobile audience and begin to define goals for meeting those needs. You will most likely have a large list of needs and related goals. Don’t be tempted to develop them all. As Fling notes, “keep it simple.”
Without going into too much more detail, suffice it to say there are many good nuggets of information for application in Mobile Design and Development. This book should definitely be amongst your personal library.
WeirdGuy Creative 