During an interview I gave to Alison Enright of Internet Retailer magazine about designing across an increasing variety of devices, and the topic of the current excitement in the web design community came up. It got me thinking about why exactly everyone is so jazzed about what’s going on in the web right now.
While the storm of talk about responsive web design and new technologies are definitely factors in creating a high level of buzz with design oriented techno-nerds like me, I found myself realizing that these things are just a small piece of what makes the future of web so exciting.
We are again at a point where designers and developers are equipped with both new devices and the technologies necessary to create truly exciting content for them. Five years ago today, Steve Jobs unveiled the very first iPhone. Since then we’ve seen smartphones (then tablets) go from newfangled to prolific.
Right now we are creating new patterns and trends that will shape and form the way the web is used for ages to come. The internet is evolving it right now, and we have the power to make it whatever we want. It’s a good time to be in the web industry.
At 7:15 the alarm on my iPhone goes off, notifying me that it’s time to wake up. I briefly check my email, waiting a bit for my mind to snap out of its drowsiness, and then pull myself out of bed. Today the TV in my bedroom stays off, but I flip on the set in the living room to catch the headlines and weather while I make some coffee. Next, I sit down at my computer to fire off a quick email I forgot to send out the night before, sync up the news articles on my Kindle for the commute and head out the door to work. I see seven different screens in my first hour; three more are waiting for me at my desk at work. This is my typical device-filled morning.
Our current technological environment plays host to thousands of digital devices. People move from one screen to another, increasingly expecting their gadgets to integrate into a consistent experience across all platforms. Because of this it’s becoming more important that businesses, app creators, information architects, designers, and code slingers take responsibility for providing their clients with strategies for a multi-screen playing field– thinking beyond the smartphone to other devices. But solely creating several applications and scenarios for each device won’t cut for much longer. It’s time for us to start thinking about the relationships between different devices and how people utilize and interact with each of them.
I recently had the opportunity to attend the BrandPerfect Tour NYC. Design consultancy Precious hosted a workshop exploring several multi-screen patterns, the context of the user, and connections between devices. Their documentation of these relationships gives us a clear picture of current possibilities between devices and provide some great solutions on your next multi-platform project.
