History of Mobile UX Design

Working conveniently from anywhere, turning up the heating in the bathroom on the way home, quickly ordering dog food and finding a partner for life on the couch in the evening - we now scroll, swipe, drag and tap our way through all areas of our lives on mobile devices. What is so easy for us today is the result of years of development to optimise the user experience. UX designers are undoubtedly the silent heroes of our everyday digital lives.

We set out in search of the major future tasks in the field of user experience and couldn't help but take a look at the past. What has happened in mobile UX design since Steve Jobs changed the world forever with the first iPhone in 2007? And what developments will keep UX designers on their toes in the future and require creative solutions? Please pack sturdy shoes and a good mood! It's time for an excursion into the history of UX.

The first smartphone saw the light of day back in 1994. Although the Simon personal communicator from IBM was still a real brick with a low screen resolution (160 x 293 pixels), it already had an integrated calculator, a calendar function and a sliding puzzle to pass the time. The smartphone pioneer was operated with a stylus. Today, the device has a permanent place in London's Science Museum, as it marks the beginning of a development that only experienced its big breakthrough much later with the first iPhone. The device presented by Steve Jobs in January 2007 triggered a revolution that changed all our lives: smooth scrolling, multi-touch screen, no more physical keyboard, mobile internet for everyone. A year later, competitor Samsung followed suit with the first Android smartphone. It was the beginning of a race between iOS and Android for technological progress, the best user experience and, above all, sales figures that continues to this day.

There is no doubt that the possibilities for using mobile devices have developed rapidly over the last 25 years. Interestingly, however, the way in which we interact with these devices has become entrenched early on. This is shown by a field study by UX expert Steven Hoober, who has been involved in mobile and multi-channel design since 1999 and now works as a Senior UX Design Consultant for HP. Back in 2013, while observing 1,333 people in everyday situations, he discovered that there are exactly three ways to hold a smartphone: one-handed, two-handed, where one hand holds the device steady, and two-handed, where the touchscreen is operated with the fingers of both hands. Nothing fundamental has changed to this day.

On the other hand, user requirements for mobile design change with each new generation of devices. The display of the very first iPhone, for example, was just 3.5 inches in size. Today, the latest and largest model, the iPhone 14 Plus, already has a screen diagonal of 6.7 inches, a whopping 17 cm. For UX design, this means that more content, multitasking options and increased and constantly changing media consumption need to be accommodated by creative and interactive solutions for user interfaces. Because in addition to the ever-growing display, users naturally don't want to do without convenience.

At the same time, smartphones have enabled new ways of interacting with a screen. Early devices could only respond to single touches. Today, we use up to three fingers to, for example, zoom in on content or execute commands such as calling up toolbars in word processing. UX designers have had to learn how to incorporate these gestures into their designs and ensure that interactions work smoothly and intuitively. Experience has shown that this requires sufficiently meaningful data on user behaviour, which can only be obtained through time-consuming and cost-intensive in-depth user testing. A race against time to keep up with the competition.

This is now the unwritten standard. After all, the use of smartphones has become an integral part of our everyday lives. People access the internet on the move and expect an optimal user experience, regardless of the device they are using. If a website or app doesn't work as conveniently as users expect, this can lead to frustration and, in turn, to a high bounce rate and, in the worst case, to a loss of potential customers.

The mobile-first approach to UX design constantly challenges designers to focus on the essentials and create a user-friendly experience on relatively small screens. It encourages prioritising the content and features that are most relevant to mobile users while keeping the user interface lean and intuitive. Mobile first also has an impact on the way content is presented. Short and concise texts, well-placed calls-to-action and optimised navigation are crucial to enable efficient interactions on mobile devices.

Disruptive technologies offer many opportunities for experimentation until a certain standard has been established. This is also the case with mobile devices. Developers have tried out many new interactions and layouts over the years to gain a better understanding of when which pattern is best to use. Good examples of this are the navigation bars and the hamburger menu. Despite its low information content, the latter is used so frequently mainly because users have learnt to deal with it and expect it on practically all websites.

This stabilisation of the design means that UX designers can now fall back on proven patterns and build on them. However, this does not mean that innovation and experimentation are no longer possible. Rather, it provides a solid foundation on which further improvements and adjustments can be made to continuously optimise the user experience. The challenge is to find the right balance - preserving the familiar while exploring new approaches to best fulfil user needs.

In 2018, UX luminary Jakob Nielsen named a number of challenges that UX design will have to face in the next 25 years in a lecture. The major topic of the future, artificial intelligence, naturally also plays a major role here. The big challenge for UX design will be to use technological possibilities and functionalities not for the sake of technology, but to use them to fulfil the needs of users. Just because something is technically possible does not mean that it is also beneficial for the user, says Nielsen. User-centred design must be the motto.

Another point of his presentation is the design of mobile interaction options for an increasingly ageing society. Accessibility and intuitive usability will be indispensable for this target group in particular. Nielsen also emphasised the need for practicable security solutions. This is because today's password requirements mean that people end up writing down the countless access codes required on post-its, which they then leave freely accessible in their drawer. It is therefore the task of UX designers to rethink security aspects across all systems and adapt them to human behaviour in order to ensure simplified security measures and thus improve the user experience.

Quickly checking a message while driving and risking an accident? Here, too, Nielsen sees a future task for UX design, namely to drastically reduce the distraction of drivers through mobile apps and thus, in the best case, save lives. In general, the topic of app development will continue to keep designers on their toes. Be it in the areas of augmented or virtual reality, voice-enabled apps or 5G Internet, which promises faster operation and improved connectivity.

However, Nielsen believes that the biggest challenge in the UX sector is to further anchor the recommendations for action that have already been developed for meaningful UX design in the minds of those responsible. Despite all efforts to elevate the rules to the standard, there are still many designers who do not adhere to them and thus unnecessarily complicate the user experience or develop something that does not meet the needs of users.

It is precisely because of these developments that the topics of ethics, transparency and avoiding bias will also become increasingly important in UX design. Compliance with ethical principles must ensure that the needs and rights of users are respected and potential bias or discrimination is avoided. In addition, transparency is crucial to provide users with clear information about functionality, data use and data protection measures. By taking these aspects into account, UX design can have a positive impact on society and build trust with users

One thing is certain: UX designers will continue to face the challenge of constantly keeping up to date with the latest technologies and trends and skilfully incorporating them into their designs. Whether it's a smartwatch as a smartphone extension on the wrist, VR glasses on the face or perhaps one day a chip that reads our thoughts: The basic principles of user-centricity, clear communication, simple navigation and barrier-free design will continue to be of great importance in the future.