10 Tips for Mobile Design

If you haven’t started preparing for Google’s mobile-first update, you’d better get started. It’s time to start putting the mobile experience first.

Creating a good mobile website isn’t an easy task, here are 10 great mobile user experience design principles you should keep in mind while designing your website: 

1) Don’t Clutter

A user’s attention is limited, cluttering your website overloads the user with too much information that they won’t process. As your mobile screen is limited for space, every button, image and snippet of content you add will make your screen more complicated.

You must only focus on the important elements to deliver a clear message without any distractions. Keep things simple and only focus on essential content.

2) On The Go

Mobile devices are constantly used on the go, which means users usually have to quickly accomplish a function on your website, such as find a contact number or finding a property. This journey should be made clear for the user, so enable them to reach their goal in as few steps as possible.

3) Obvious Navigation

Your website must support your users core needs. Keep your layouts simple and intuitive. The navigation should help user discover what they are looking for quickly.

If the user can’t find it easy, then it’s pointless no matter how good it is.

4) Make a Good First Impression

First impressions matter and few users will give your website a second chance. Show the user what they need to know, keep it clean and to the point from the start.

5) Be Finger-Friendly

Small buttons aren’t for mobile, it’s important to keep buttons or anything clickable big. Keep your buttons over 7mm in size so they can be accurately tapped.

6) Positioning

Important call-to-actions should be positioned wisely. Hand positions should influence the placement of buttons on a mobile website. Buttons should really be placed within thumbs reach at all times.

7) Subtle Animation

It’s not all about usability, it’s also about interaction. Subtle animations can really make a website a joy to use, as they make the user feel like they are interacting with something.

8) Make It Readable

Mobiles as we have already mentioned are relatively small, which means that you can’t fit a lot of information onto them. This makes it rather tempting to squeeze everything in but you must refrain. The content must be legible, and according to Google this means it must be at least 16px otherwise it will require mobile users to “pinch and zoom” in order to read.

9) Avoid Interruptions

Your users want to find what they are looking for as quickly and effortlessly as possible, so avoid asking any irrelevant questions on their journey. Their path should be uninterrupted to keep the flow of your website smooth.

10) Test, Test and Test

Even if your website looks great on a mobile device to you, that doesn’t necessarily mean it works for everyone. It is important to test your website over time to ensure it is delivering the best results. Use data from analytics and search console, as well as user feedback to help you to improve the user experience over time.