Over 50% of online visits in the past two years have come from smartphones. With so many consumers glued to their mobile devices, marketers must prioritize making a mobile-first design.
Now more than ever, mobile devices are used to traffic different web designs and digital content. Due to the rise of mobile as an avenue of content consumption, you need to make mobile-first designs.
Keep reading to learn what mobile is first, designing its many benefits.
What Is Mobile-First Design?
The term "mobile first" refers to designing products for the more constrained mobile platform before extending those capabilities to develop tablet and desktop versions. If you are designing something for both desktop and mobile, you will want to make the mobile design first and resize it from there.
When using a mobile-first design strategy, you can focus on creating a sleek and organized design. You will quickly grow accustomed to working with the visual constraints of bandwidth and screen size.
Mobile-first designs are built for phones and then sized up. Traditional design is "mobile friendly," where designers slowly shrink and resize their desktop design down to a mobile device's parameters. Downsizing and resizing an image to make it smaller can force designers to make a page appear cramped and unappealing.
Benefits of Mobile First Design
If you struggle to convince your client or design team to adopt a mobile-first strategy, be sure to share the many benefits of mobile-first designs. Some of these design benefits include an improved user experience, better conversion rates, and scalable designs.
Improved User Experience
By eliminating the excess space, that is present on a desktop, mobile-first designing demands that designers pay more attention to the user's needs. Designers must eliminate the flashy widgets and vanity features used as fillers on a typical design.
Better Conversion Rates
Web pages with fewer elements are easily optimized and load faster in terms of web performance. Both of these factors contribute to conversion rates and overall success.
Scalable Designs
There is no chance of building a page that can't be adjusted for other devices on a mobile design. You can always add more features. However, if you start with a desktop image, you may need to cut features as you scale down to a mobile device.
Tips for Mobile First Designs
Switching from mobile-friendly to mobile-first designing can be difficult. Here are some tips for creating mobile-first content.
Prioritize Functionality
Typically, mobile-first designs don't appear overly complex. They require easy-to-use functionality. This might be difficult for more conventional designers who approach their work as artists.
Users who scroll down a page should be guided through the prescribed user journey. On a desktop, there are many options for the user to sift through, and often a multi-faceted user journey is in the works.
Start with Essential Content
In desktop designs, the layout will drive the content. In contrast, when making mobile-first designs, you will create the essential content before considering the layout.
Use Mobile First Design Strategies
In the digital age, designers need to create a mobile-first design. Learning to market in the mobile era can help your business model. Contact us at Addison Voice to learn more about implementing effective branding and marketing strategies for your business.