The Elements Of The Mobile User Experience

300 dev and marketing leaders weighed in.

The relevance of these elements will change depending on the type of device (feature phone versus smartphone versus tablet) and the presentation interface (app versus Web). This article briefly describes each of these elements and elaborates on each with selected guidelines.

Functionality

This has to do with tools and features that enable users to complete tasks and achieve their goals.

Guidelines

TripIt directs users to the website for setting up a network

Additional Reading

Information Architecture

This has to do with arranging the functionality and content into a logical structure to help users find information and complete tasks. This includes navigation, search and labeling.

Guidelines

Cater to feature phone users, as CNN does with access keys, not as Delta does by making the first action to be nine key presses downs

Additional Reading

Content

Otherwise known as “the stuff on your website” (as Lou Rosenfeld and Peter Morville refer to it in Information Architecture for the World Wide Web), content is the various types of material in different formats, such as text, images and video, that provide information to the user.

Guidelines

VW asks iPad users to download an unsupported Flash plugin

Additional Reading

Design

This has to do with the visual presentation and interactive experience of mobile, including graphic design, branding and layout.

Guidelines

Additional Reading

User Input

This has to do with the effort required to enter data, which should be minimized on mobile devices and not require the use of both hands.

Guidelines

Additional Reading

Mobile Context

A mobile device can be used at anytime, anywhere. The mobile context is about the environment and circumstances of usage — anything that affects the interaction between the user and the interface, which is especially important for mobile because the context can change constantly and rapidly. While we often focus on distractions, multitasking, motion, low lighting conditions and poor connectivity, it also includes the other extreme — think using a tablet in a relaxed setting over a fast Wi-Fi connection.

Design Sketch: The Context of Mobile Interaction

Guidelines

GPS app sensing context

Additional Reading

Usability

This is the overall measure of how well the information architecture, design, content and other elements work together to enable users to accomplish their goals.

Guidelines

Zones showing ease of access for right handed touch-screen use from Mobile First

Additional Reading

Trustworthiness

This relates to the level of confidence, trust and comfort that users feel when using a mobile website or app. According to a 2011 study by Truste and Harris Interactive, privacy and security are the top two concerns among smartphone users:

Privacy and security are the top two concerns among smartphone users

Guidelines

Additional Reading

Feedback

This has to do with the methods for attracting the user’s attention and displaying important information.

Guidelines

Additional Reading

Help

This relates to the options, products and services that are available to assist the user in using the website or app.

Guidelines

Additional Reading

Social

This relates to content and features that create a sense of social participation, that enable user interaction and that facilitate sharing on established social networks.

Guidelines

Additional Reading

Marketing

This has to do with the methods by which a user finds a website or app and the factors that encourage repeated usage.

Guidelines

Mobile optimized formatted information for UPS, but partially missing for Fedex

Additional Reading

Conclusion

Mobile user experience is still a developing field, and opportunities for improvement continue to emerge. We’ve presented an overview of the key elements of the mobile user experience, along with some guidelines to get started in each. Focusing on these individual elements will help us create great overall mobile user experiences for our users.