This tutorial will cover the fundamentals of usable mobile design, including awareness of which issues to watch out for, what resources to consult and how to progress through a mobile design project. Participants will apply these principles to a sample project of their choosing. They will leave prepared to discuss mobile design within their organization.
Introduction
Mobile design is much like other types of design (web, pc, etc.). Applications need to have solid use cases with a developed persona in mind. Interactions need to be consistent, predictable, discoverable and enjoyable. However, mobile design adds additional challenges on top, including users who are probably on the go, multitasking (not in the systems engineering sense, but possibly walking or driving), highly contextual, time limited, etc.
To be a good mobile interaction designer is to understand that designs must compete with the external environment and to therefore take into account cognitive principals that dictate what humans are able to enjoy. In most cases those who develop mobile applications are doing so for systems that already have interaction paradigms in place which adds the challenge of differentiating while at the same time being consistent.
This tutorial will teach participants the basic tenants of mobile design from beginning to end. Focus will be geared towards those aspects of design that are unique or critically important to the mobile space, including input mechanism, key set, action model, locus and attention and navigation. Participant may bring ideas for applications they are looking to develop (including use cases and personas) and the group can focus on the unique attributes that would make those apps compelling mobile designs.
Tutorial Outline
One part good idea plus one part Mobile Design will result in compelling applications. That is to say, this tutorial will be highly interactive depending on participants to bring ideas relating to their field and applying mobile interaction guidelines to create applications. Each section will begin with a topic summary, references to readings, examples and then move on to participant activities.
Morning activities will be smaller, focusing on individual topic areas. Afternoon activities will consist of designing mobile applications in groups (or individually if so inclined) to be reviewed and critiqued by the group.
Audience
This tutorial demonstrates how to design for the mobile environment. It assumes either basic competence in design (mobile or otherwise) OR frequent collaboration with designers inside your organization. Aside from providing resources and knowledge to further mobile design activities, this tutorial is designed to help communication with and among designers within a mobile framework.
Instructor
Michael Wood is a Team Lead for Motorola's Consumer Experience Design group. There he leads groups in projects designing mobile applications for social communication, media consumption and fun. Mike works with product management, software development, marketing and customer account teams to create and tell a specific story around a give product that unfolds to the user through compelling mobile user experiences.
Before joining Motorola Mike worked on Windows-based application design and usability and holds a Masters in Human Computer Interaction. Mike enjoys reading, plays guitar, loves to travel and is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer having served two years in Guatemala, Central America with his wife Ali.
