The Mobile Frontier
A Guide for Designing Mobile Experiences
Mobile user experience is a new frontier. Untethered from a keyboard and mouse, this rich design space is ripe with opportunities to invent new and more human ways for people to interact with information. The Mobile Frontier will help you navigate this unfamiliar and fast-changing landscape, and inspire you to explore the possibilities that mobile technology presents.
Mobile user experience is a new frontier. Untethered from a keyboard and mouse, this rich design space is ripe with opportunities to invent new and more human ways for people to interact with information. The Mobile Frontier will help you navigate this unfamiliar and fast-changing landscape, and inspire you to explore the possibilities that mobile technology presents.
Testimonials
A must-read for anyone who cares about the future of digital media, The Mobile Frontier explains not only the technological revolution that’s upon us, but also the behavioral, cultural, and psychological changes (and opportunities) ushered in by mobile. If you’re not listening to Rachel Hinman, you’re not hooked up right.
Josh Clark, Author, Tapworthy: Designing Great iPhone Apps
In The Mobile Frontier, Rachel Hinman offers a comprehensive perspective on designing for mobile devices in support of mobile people. She draws on her decade of experience, and the results are highly readable, engaging, and—more importantly—actionable.
Jon Kolko, Director, Austin Center for Design
The “big picture thinking” you need to understand mobile computing and its astounding implications.
Luke Wroblewski, Author, Mobile First
Hinman dares us to get comfortable, calling the devices in our pockets “banks,” “health clinics,” and “movie theaters”—but not “phones.” Then she gives us the tools to build them ourselves. When everything else in mobile is shifting—the boundaries between computers and the human body, the boundaries between computers and the environment—Hinman’s book makes future possibilities clear.
Liz Danzico, Chair, MFA in Interaction Design, School of VISUAL ARTS, New York City
From tiny touchscreens to geo-located services, mobile devices have caused us to rethink how we design. If you’re looking for a primer on mobile fundamentals, look no further than The Mobile Frontier. In casual, easy-to-understand language, Rachel Hinman gives an overview of today’s mobile landscape—and tomorrow’s.
Dan Saffer, Author of Designing for Interaction
Table of Contents
Foreword by Larry Keeley
Chapter 1: Casting Off Anchors
Chapter 2: The Emergent Mobile NUI Paradigm
Chapter 3: Peanut Butter in Denver
Chapter 4: Shapeshifting
Chapter 5: Mobile UX Patterns
Chapter 6: Mobile Prototyping
Chapter 7: Motion and Animation
Chapter 8: Awakening the Senses
Chapter 9: New Mobile Forms
FAQ
These common questions about mobile design and their short answers are taken from Rachel Hinman’s book The Mobile Frontier. You can find longer answers to each in your copy of the book, either printed or digital version.
- Why is mobile UX such a hot topic right now?
For what felt like the longest time, mobile UX was considered a small and obscure design space that most designers felt obliged to learn more about but loathed participating in because of all the inherent design constraints. The release of the first iPhone in 2007 changed all that. The iPhone demonstrated to the mobile industry and the world what was possible when innovative mobile technology was paired with a stellar user experience. The iPhone was more than an innovative product; it was the first mobile device that got people—regular, everyday people (not just the geeks)—excited about using a mobile phone. Now, as increasingly more people are experiencing what it’s like to access and interact with information from nearly anywhere, through devices that are beautifully designed, mobile is no longer a niche topic. There’s never been a better time to design mobile experiences.
See Chapter 1 for more.
