design matters: a mobile ux manifesto

Mobile Clients : Adidas, AOL, Audi, Axe, Best Buy, Carnival Cruiseline, Citi,

Dow Jones, eBay, Godiva, JC Penney, Nike, Ralph Lauren, Visa, XM Radio

and others

Platforms: Mobile web, iPhone OS, Android

Razorfish + Mobile

Photo by DJ-Nike on Flickr

prologue

For the past several years our clients in Europe

and Asia have been embracing mobile….

Europe - Adidas

Europe - AXE

Asia - Nike

But in the U.S. there wasn’t much demand for

mobile, until….

Photo by Vedia on Flickr

All of a sudden, clients are interested in mobile

(particularly iPhone) and are beginning to ask us a

lot of (the same) questions…

… so here are 5 principles to address the

questions that clients are asking us.

5 principles

For mobile UX

Principle no. 1 – Get your hands dirty

Invest in innovation

Build skills, learn by doing

Ideally give money, or time

Freedom to fail

Share knowledge, archive experiments

Principle no. 1 – Get your hands dirty

Principle no. 2 – Choose your platform carefully

Know the target audience: what phones, OS, carriers customers are using

Device agnostic or native application (or hybrid)?

iPhone is probably the best bang for the buck (stability, exposure in iTunes)

Principle no. 2 – Choose your platform carefully

Sometimes mobile web makes more sense…

Principle no. 3 – Embrace “mo-jile”

Photo source: w3.org

Agile development seems particularly suited for mobile.

Cross-functional disciplines (creative, ux, tech)

Control of feature set

Rapid development process

Test early and often

Hybrid process – “mo-jile”?

-

Principle no. 3 – Embrace “mo-jile”

A hybrid agile approach for mobile ux

• High-Level Functionality

• Contract

• Product Brief

• Prioritized Features /Functions

• High-level App Architecture & Roadmap

• Prototype (key functionality)

• Business rules

• Visual styleguide

• Visual comps

• Wireframes

• Task flow diagrams

• Code production

• Supporting infrastructure Set-Up

• Rapid User Testing

• Release

SOW > Visioning Phase >

Agile Build Phase

Sprint 1 > Sprint 2 > Sprint 3 > Sprint 4 >

Core team snapshotFA • Supports Management of

the Backlog

• Explains functionality between the prototype and the real site

• Attends both the Tech and UX scrums

PM

• Ensures alignment with business objectives and throughout process

• Keeps project on track (timing and budget) D

evel

oper • Building the prototype

into a real site

• Bug fix of the real site

• Launch Support

Des

ign

er • Partnering with UX to fulfill the early development of comps, wireframes and copy decks that enable prototype development

Exp

erie

nce

• Creates a draft of stories for the planning meeting

• Creates work flow through prototype

• Leads Consumer Testing

Co

nte

nt

an

d C

op

y

• Validates that evolution of the prototype can be supported from a content feed perspective.

v v v

Principle no. 4 – Sweat the details

Don’t throw out the standard experience deliverables just yet

Application architecture diagram, wireframes, task flows, feature matrix

Gestural methods, sound, microphone, camera, accelerometer

UX suddenly got a lot more complicated

-

Principle no. 4 – Sweat the details

Principle no. 4 – Sweat the details

Principle no. 4 – Sweat the details

Principle no. 5 – Be Unique

Difficult to stand out from the crowd

Take risks

Push the envelope technologically

Focus only on core features (strengths)

-

Principle no. 5 – Be Unique

Principle no. 5 – Be Unique

Principle no. 5 – Be Unique

Principle no. 5 – Be Unique

Principle no. 5 – Be Unique

Principle no. 5 – Be Unique

Principle no. 5 – Be Unique

1. Get your hands dirty

2. Choose your platform carefully

3. Embrace “mo-jile”

4. Sweat the details

5. Be unique

Rinse + repeat

5 principles recap

epilogue

The iPhone has set a new benchmark for user

experience

Photo by duncandavidson on Flickr

But is it just the tip of the iceberg?

Photo source: Slashgear.com

Augmented reality was available first on Android…

Photo Source: Mobilizy.com

Advanced telecommunications services on iPhone

have been problematic…

Photo source: Techcrunch.com

PCs and Phones continue to converge

New devices and platforms bring enormous

possibilities coupled with potentially huge

usability headaches.

Welcome to the golden age of mobile usability…

e: kyle.outlaw@razorfish.comt: @koutlaw