Mobile-First Design

Whether designing an app or a website, start with the mobile version; it’s the most effective way to prioritize content and task flow around users’ needs, as well as ensuring an excellent mobile user experience.

We use a rapid process for prioritizing users’ needs, defining components, and iterating through build-measure-learn cycles. 

Benefits

• Ensure an excellent mobile user experience for a growing number of users
• Mobile-first benefits (e.g. speed and relevance) improve your users' tablet and desktop experiences too
• Mobile-first forces you to simplify your site's navigation and prioritize content around users’ needs
• Easier than adapting a desktop design for mobile devices

What is Mobile-First Design?

The use of mobile devices has exploded in recent years. Mobile devices have unique constraints (especially display size) and capabilities (e.g. geo-location and sensors) which provide challenges and opportunities for designers. Technical tools, such as 'responsive design' provide the basics of flexible layouts that will adapt to mobile devices.

However, designing for touch (rather than a mouse) and maintaining context on a small screen are just a couple of the difficult design challenges that can only be solved by good design, not technology.

The mobile-first approach starts with designing for mobile devices, then extends the design for desktops. Starting mobile-first forces an early focus on users' needs, top tasks and priorities. It simplifies your navigation, reduces text and content and speeds up interaction. Mobile-first forces you to get the difficult decisions out of the way early. Our approach focuses those decisions on ensuring users can carry out their top tasks successfully.

What is the timeframe and cost?

• 10-12 weeks, depending on project constraints and complexity
• $10-50K depending on the complexity of the project or app.

What do I get?

• Multiple design iterations, ranging from sketches to interactive prototypes
• Content component analysis and responsive layout templates with rules for the required range of display sizes
• Iterative test results based on users' performance of top tasks 

Why Neo Insight?

• The Neo Insight team have been designing mobile experiences since the early days of mobile phones. Recently, we have mentored a start-up team in mobile design techniques, and carried out mobile design and prototyping for clients such as Fido, Service Canada, Treasury Board, Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the University of Ottawa.