Imagine spending one month’s income on your next mobile phone. Or having to courier it to another town to recharge the battery. Or not being able to read what is written on its screen. These are everyday realities for people living in poor, developing countries. But mobile usage is exploding throughout the developing world. How should you think differently about design in this context? What does it mean to create appropriate design? This presentation will explore the challenges and approaches to designing for mobile in developing countries, and will use case studies to help bring these insights to life: - Bridge International Academies is building hundreds of schools throughout the slums of Kenya that cost $5 per month to attend, and wanted to use technology help the schools run better. But how do you design a complete enterprise management system to run on a $50 phone? - Refugees United uses mobile technology to help bring together families separated by war and natural disasters. But how do you design a mobile online networking platform for people who have only occasional access to a shared mobile phone? - Motorola wanted to create a phone for poor illiterate people. How do design a handset user interface so that people who cannot read are able to use it?

1. Design
at the
Edges

2. Design for Developing Countries

3. Design for the Poorest

4. Lessons Learned

5. Reference
Points

6. Superficial Differences

7. Society is Organised Differently

8. guuleed / Flickr
Life’s Practicalities are Different

9. The Reboot / Flickr
Difference: We Get It

10. johnjoh / Flickr
‘Developing’ Varies

11. Literacy

12. raymondjune / Flickr
Mobiles

13. andresnilsson1976 / Flickr
Grid Electricity

14. Lesson
‘Developing’ Varies
14

15. Improvisation

16. fbester / Flickr
Uneven Infrastructure

17. maisha_elonai / Flickr
Access Happens

18. kiwanja / Flickr
Charging Happens

19. Fenix
Turning into Business

20. dharma_for_one / Flickr
Improvisation Mindset

21. Resource Driven Design

22. yum9me / Flickr
SMS, Ubiquitous Platform

23. rickroxburgh.com
Enterprise-Grade SMS

24. EU Humanitarian Aid & Civil Protection / Flickr
Front-line Field Staff

25. World Bank / Flickr
Maternal Health

26. Internews / Flickr
Community Radio Stations

27. capcase / Flickr
The Swiss Army Knife

28. Quality Education for $5

29. Bridge International Academies
Standardisation & Data

30. Poor Infrastructure

31. Bridge International Academies
$50 Android Devices

32. Bridge International Acadmies
$80 Refurbished e-Readers

33. Lesson
Allow for Improvisation
33

34. Lesson
Assess Resources
34

35. Communities

36. ne / Flickr
Literacy Rates Often Low

37. dharmasphere / Flickr
Technological Literacy

38. wink / Flickr
Proximate Literacy

39. otama / Flickr
ATMs

40. EU Humanitarian Aid & Civil Protection / Flickr
Reuniting Refugees

41. Refugees United
Extended Communities

42. Refugees United
Many People, One Device

43. One Account, Many People

44. Lesson
Distributed Capabilities
44

45. Lesson
Personal is Shared
45

46. Meaning

47. Artii / Flickr
Low Literacy = High Literality

48. Ringtone Icon

49. swamibu / Flickr
China

50. m4roon3d / Flickr
India

51. zz77 / Flickr
Ethiopia

52. onecle / Flickr
Thailand

53. Motorola
Learned Metaphors

54. amrefrance / Flickr
Giving Instructions

55. Daktari Diagnostics
Literate, Low Education

56. Lesson
Abstraction Doesn’t Work
57

57. Lesson
Representation Matters
58

58. Navigation

59. Amazon
Navigation is Learned

60. bluekdesign / Flickr
Models are Hard

61. Free Photo Fun / Flickr
‘Spatial’ Design Works Better

62. The Reboot / Flickr
Mobiles Make this Difficult

63. Motorola
Shallow Navigation, Spatial Design

64. Lesson
Keep Navigation Shallow
65

65. Lesson
Spatialise the Design
66

66. Lesson
Touch is Wonderful
67

67. Change

68. swankalot / Flickr
Developed Markets Are Slow

69. Change is Normal

70. andrewcurrie / Flickr
Electronic Payments

71. oddwick / Flickr
Internet Access

72. meemoo / Flickr
Micro-business Bookkeeping

73. japsden / Flickr
QR Codes

74. Lesson
People Will Try Things
75

75. Lesson
Change is OK
76

76. Design
at the
Edges

77. Design is the Same

78. Different Pragmatics

79. Future Consumers

80. Thanks!
Gabriel White
@smallsurfaces
gabriel@smallsurfaces.com