Notes on LukeW’s video from 06/14 posted to Vimeo, link here.
5 most popular sites in US, by hours per month spent on them: Facebook (6.4), Yahoo (2.2), AOL (2:15), Google (1:54) and YouTube (1:44).
All 5 are read/write experiences–they don’t work if people don’t write/upload content. International top sites are similiarly content-focused
All are focused on mobile–78% of US Facebook users come via mobile; 75% of Twitter’s; about 50% of YouTube’s. Mobile-only is the fastest growing segment
eBay did $22M on mobile in 2013; they did $4M in 2011
Services are moving to mobile–utility apps are more downloaded than entertainment apps
Mobile is often one-handed–and many touch targets aren’t optimized for one-thumb use. Check out LukeW’s Polar app for how to build for one thumb. Apple seems to be shifting to this design paradigm also
One finger use: 50% (72% thumb, 28% index), two hands (one holding): 36%, two thumbs (a la Blackberry texting): 15%
Design for the extremes–the middle will take care of itself
86% of US smartphones used while watching TV; 68% of overall use happens at home
How do we design for mobile:
- Avoid making users type. Pre-populate text where ever possible
- Avoid bring up the keyboard. Use sensors like location detection to gain information. Provide users with tappable suggestions. Check out Google Flights for a good implementation
- Create tightly focused user flows. Note how Foursquare went from a 5-tap check in to a 2-tap. Boingo used to require 23 inputs to pay to use their WiFi; when they cut it to 12, conversions went up 34%; 53% of sign up times decreased. But LukeW proposes a flow that only requires 4. Hotel Tonight’s app works in 4 taps/8 swipes/under 2 minutes and is so easy to use they make users trace their logo to ensure they actually want to book that room. Compare 30+ taps for similar apps
- Create just in time actions; only show chrome that can be used at that instant
How do we design for multi-devices? Think about:
- Access–how do you use the interface on different devices. Look at how Chrome users can seamlessly use the interface anywhere without losing history etc
- Flow–seamlessly move our processes–like searching for an address on Google Maps on desktop, then when you go to the Maps app on your phone that searched location is showing
- Control–one device drives another like using your phone as a remote to change Hulu shows on your tablet or desktop
- Push–push between devices. Ebay lets you select a photo from your phone while using the desktop site
- Plan different usage scenarios for different devices–people will quickly see which device is best suited to which actions
