Chris Scull, veteran of mobile projects in the automotive, cultural and B2B world, shares his 5 rules to help design better mobile experiences

1. Mobile UX:
We’re still human
Chris Scull
1

2. Between the ages of 13 -17...
I worked weekends for my dad’s engineering company
My main duties included carrying toolboxes,
around buildings, for engineers

3. This was hard work
The toolboxes were always ridiculously heavy
And I always had to carry them to the top
or bottom of a building

4. But I noticed something..
The engineer never used ALL the tools in the toolbox
So I made a deal...

5. The game changed, but the players were the same
We would decide what tools were needed
And if we discovered we needed more,
I’d make another trip...

6. Things got a lot better after that...
I’d say 70% of the time, the engineer knew
what tools to take
So most of the time I wasn’t dragging
a massive toolbox about
Which is obviously better

7. That story is true
ALLEGORY
ALERT

8. Here’s the
presentation menu

9. The points I’ll be making
Allegorical toolbox story
With mobile and tablet now
accounting for 10 -20% of
traffic to most websites its
increasingly important that
mobile user experience is as
good as desktop.
Which actually happened (ask my dad)
I’ll cover my rules to help
you design better mobile
user experience, with case
studies from the field
Be as fearless as Macbeth when creating mobile UX
Point 1: Mobile and desktop are different
You’ll want to be sitting down for this, it’s a real bombshell
Point 2: Design for the context, not the content
Because context is more important
Point 3: Be bloody, brave and resolute
Point 4: Don’t be afraid to be good at one or
two things
Embrace simplicity and ease of use
Point 5: Success isn’t the thing existing
It doesn’t end there
I’ll conclude
And spell out the meaning of the allegory earlier

10. POINT 1
Mobile and desktop are
different

11. Spot the difference?
o
Stood up – and on the move
o
Sat down in a familiar location
o
Surrounded by other people; lots of sensory
distractions
o
Alone in a quiet room
o
Concentrating on something else (not missing
his train)
Concentrating hard; desktop interaction is
likely to be sole focus.
o
Plenty of time to do what she wants
o
Fitting what he’s doing into an idle moment
o
Typing with both hands
o
Holding the device with one hand
o
o
Likely to be using a touchscreen device
Has full access to everything in her office and
on her computer
o
Mobile is inherently social
o
Push notifications remove the need to check
multiple sites
o
Much smaller real estate
o

12. Takeaway
Patently, experiences should be
different dependent on whether you’re
on a mobile or desktop.
An IA might change. Functionality
might change. Everything might
change.
Be flexible.

13. Point 2: Design for the context, not the content

14. Responsive doesn’t solve your mobile problem
Is this content/functionality useful?
Is it valuable?
Is it worth being on mobile?

15. Client X: Mobile UX design for user context
Designing a mobile site for a public sector agency
Mobile and tablet important as they now account for 20% of all traffic.
First step was to understand the context and usage – how does web and
mobile-web fit?
I believe that mobile shouldn’t necessarily
directly mimic desktop

16. Client X: Mobile UX design for user context
And the stats reflect that...
Popular pages
Desktop
1. Home
2. Consumer information page
3. Consumer information page
Mobile
1. Contact us (70%)
2. Consumer landing page
3. About
If mobile users consider ‘Contact Us’ the most important
journey on a mobile site, then treat it as such

17. First understand how the business operates
Business insights
People buy legal services based on
reputation and personal relationships
They buy into an individual, not just the
firm that person works for
Sales do not happen online, you do not
add legal services to a shopping basket
and go to the checkout
Digital needed to support the offline
business, not replace it

18. Lewis Silkin: Mobile UX design for user context
Mapping out the customer journey helped us to
understand where mobile web could make a difference
Telephone
Email
Mobile-web
Face-to-face
“We’re interested
in legal services
for marketing. Yes,
sure I’d love to
meet Simon.”
“I’ll send you an
email to confirm
and a link to
Simon’s profile.”
2 days later
Diary reminder:
your meeting with Lewis
Silkin is in 30 minutes.
“Hi Simon.. I was just
reading your journal
post – really
interesting stuff.”
“Who is this guy I’m
meeting – what’s he like?

19. Automotive Client: Mobile UX
Some awful mistakes
App for a car model
Don’t presume positive outcomes

20. Takeaway
The success of mobile UX is dependent
on the human holding it and the
situation they are in.
Solve the problem; don’t answer a
question that’s not being asked.

21. POINT 3
Be bloody, brave and resolute
(Fearless like Macbeth)

22. Be bloody, brave and resolute!
Don’t cram everything in
Make every piece of content fight for its life on mobile
Wield the axe
Less is more
Nobody wants a mobile app or site to be like an
overstuffed suitcase that you can’t close
(Let alone fit into an overhead bin)

23. This is why gov.uk wins awards...
Client Y: “What are we going to do with all our great content
when we go to gov.uk?!”
Research/Analytics: NO ONE IS LOOKING AT YOUR ‘GREAT CONTENT’
Be bloody, bold and resolute with content and
functionality!

24. Embrace simplicity
Fast, stylish & elegant!

25. Not overstuffed..
Busy, complex, difficult to navigate and use

26. Takeaway
All the best mobile experiences are
fast, stylish and elegant.
Your mission is to remove the friction
which prevents that.

27. POINT 4
Be really awesome at
one or two things

28. Being awesome at a few things
The Guardian app is awesome
at summarising The Guardian
Vine is great and creating and
sharing looping videos

29. Being awesome at a few things
Vanity Fair have a really elegant
pared down experience
The Sweet Setup focus on mobile use by
streamlining their offering for mobile

30. Instagram sold for approx $1bn
It is awesome at one thing.

31. Instagram sold for approx $1bn
“We knew that if we specialised in
photos and did photos really well,
that’s in some way more powerful
than this bundle of everything
else”
- Kevin Systrom

32. Takeaway
Make it simple.
Be awesome at one or two things.
Don’t be a toolbox.

33. POINT 5
Success isn’t “the
thing existing”

34. Automotive Client: Mobile UX
“Yeah but we’ll be on the App Store!”

35. Client X: Mobile UX
“Everything needs to be on mobile”
Analytics, 3 months later: No one is looking at it.

36. Client X: Mobile UX
“We’ve launched our big campaign
with a YouTube video!”
Analytics: It has 30 views after a month

37. Takeaway
What is working? What isn’t working?
Test on real people.
Learn and iterate.

38. Let’s ‘wrap’ this up

39. To conclude
Pick the right tools for the job
Don’t give users the entire toolbox, when a
few tools will suffice
Users want a fast, stylish and elegant mobile experience.

40. “
By the end of 2013, there
will be more mobile devices
on Earth than people
-------------------------------------Cisco 2013
”

41. Questions?
Chris Scull– UX Consultant
Get in touch:
Email: chris.scull@readingroom.com
Twitter @cjscull
Blog: blog.readingroom.com
Interests:
• Digital strategy, user experience, information
architecture, usability, accessibility, mobile, social
media
• Outside work: West Ham, live music
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