A Mobile First Mindset...
A Mobile-First Mindset
Website development rules rewritten for the
digital revolution…
“Mobile is not the future, it is the now. Meet your customers in the environment of their choice, not where it is convenient for you.”
We are all familiar with the expression “The train has left the station.” By today’s standards, if you haven’t thought thru a mobile marketing strategy for your business or content streaming platform, you haven’t just missed the train… you are definitely at the wrong station or maybe on the wrong planet.
Most of us are familiar with the 1999 movie “The Matrix” with Keanu Reeves.
There is a scene in the movie where a small child is bending a spoon to the wonderment of Neo (Keanu Reeves). The child explains that the secret to bending the spoon is simple, but the answer is not what you might expect… or even consider. There is a parallel meaning to reimagining solutions for our modern digital marketing issues.
Old Solutions to New Problems…
I am old enough to remember when the internet was first taking off and companies were just beginning to form online strategies. It’s oddly familiar in comparison to the move from desktop to mobile-first considerations.
The challenges were different but the solutions are ironically the same. At the turn of the century, network speed and technology limitations mandated design restrictions for internet marketing. Most desktop computers did not have the processing power necessary to translate images and video in real-time… especially across networks. Content developers were forced to utilize simplistic design strategies and low-tech digital websites.
This forced website designers to adapt text-first design strategies that limited multimedia. But, in some ways, it put more emphasis on content design strategies. Though today’s technology and attention span challenges are much different, an emphasis on content design strategies is still one of the best ways to attract and engage your audience.
“What works is good, integrated design that fills a need - carefully thought out, well executed, and tested.”
Our chapter readings from “Webs of Influence” for this week provided this quote above from Steve Krug. He reminds us that careful design techniques that are tested and executed should yield good results.
These words are comforting to an Instructional Designer like myself who is surrounded by technological advances that I can’t possibly keep up with. But, I am reminded that good design practices and understanding user testing and interface design theory are still invaluable skills in today’s digital economy.
Unprecedented Growth…
The number of people who are using smartphones in their daily lives is growing at an astounding rate. Trends are moving heavily to the mobile-first mindset.
This means “Don’t miss the train.” Better yet, start building the next train station if you want to stay in business or stay relevant. Mobile-first is not just the future… it is “the now.” What’s next? Voice commands are gaining steam. AR/VR are making strides. You can’t visit a Best Buy or tech seminar without trying on a pair of AR specs or VR headsets that transform you into immersive worlds. How long before that tech is mainstream and businesses are fighting for market share?
It’s a great time to be in this industry. Trying to keep pace with the tech is challenging… but thinking about the future and adapting quickly is the only way to survive.
References
Nahai, Nathalie. (2017). Webs of Influence; The psychology of online persuasion (2nd Edition). Chapter 7, Optimising Your Website, pg. 67.
S. Krug (2013) Don’t Make Me Think, Revisited: A common sense approach to web usability. New Riders, 3rd Edition.
Search Engine Land. (2017, August 3). Designing content for the mobile-first index. https://searchengineland.com/designing-content-mobile-first-index-280071#summary