Marketing, Design, & Web Development

This month we would like to highlight a long-time member of the Rock, Paper, Scissors family Discovery Point Child Development Centers.

Last month you got a look at QR Codes. Now we would like to show you how Discovery Point Child Development Franchising is putting this new technology to work for their franchise sales efforts.
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“What’s that funny looking box thing?”

“What am I supposed to do with this?”

“Did they make a mistake when they printed this?”

If you’ve ever seen an advertisement that was printed with a QR code, you’ve probably asked one of those questions. QR codes (QR stands for “quick response”) resemble an enlarged section of a barcode. These small squares may look like a printing mistake, but don’t be fooled. That funny looking square could contain a plethora of information about that product you were just looking at in the advertisement.
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In previous posts we have discussed the growing popularity of mobile devices and the different types of related user behaviors. Now that we are getting excited about the possibilities, it is a good time to talk about some of the limitations. I suppose it's obvious that mobile devices have smaller screens than our wide-screen, flat panel monitors with our desktops, but what does that mean for a mobile website design? It means we have less real estate to work with. We need to limit the amount of content we put on this website simply for the fact that it won't fit on the screen. Think of what is really important for your mobile users to see and constrict it to that. Screen size narrows our navigation as well – a vertical navigation works better for mobile web than horizontal does. Say bye bye to those wonderful detailed forms on your desktop website, too. There's just not enough room on a mobile device. Not to mention, mobile users don't have the time or patience to fill out long forms, unless their thumbs can type 100 words per minute. Speed and accessibility are other limitations that we need to consider. We have to restrict graphics and image file sizes because it takes our mobile devices longer to download them. Some of this comes inherently from designing for a small screen, but the speed of our wireless connection also dictates how big our files can be too. Can you hear me now? Just because our iPhone is permanently attached to our being doesn't mean that it's permanently attached to the internet – "Hold on honey, I'm going through a valley." Wireless hasn't fully figured out Flash, JavaScript, and some other web technologies, but wait until tomorrow and that will change. The same goes for video. Watching video on mobile devices can sometimes be pleasant while at other times painful. What other limitations with mobile technology can you think of? I hope these limitations haven't frustrated you too much. I'm sure Steve Jobs will figure out an iPhone application to relieve you of all the stress that comes from the limitations of mobile web. In our next post we'll talk about the approach to getting your mobile site on the web and why you should do it sooner than later.

In our last post we looked at some staggering statistics regarding mobile devices and found out why these devices are so popular today. Before we rush to the marketing department to get the mobile version of our website up and running, we need to know who we're marketing our mobile website to, as well as, some obstacles and limitations we may run in to. Leland Rechis, an experience designer for Google, recently did some research on behaviors of mobile device users. Rechis said that Google breaks down mobile users into three behavior groups:

1. Repetitive now
2. Bored now
3. Urgent now

The "repetitive now" user is someone checking for the same piece of information over and over again, like checking the same stock quotes, sport scores, or weather. The "bored now" are users who have time on their hands such as people who are on trains, waiting in airports, or sitting in cafes. The "urgent now" user is one who would be looking to find a specific piece of information right now, like directions or a phone number. When we build your mobile device website, which user behavior are we targeting? Maybe it's more than one. The target market group is the first thing we should consider. So now we're ready to build an even better, faster website than our desktop website, one that is focused on our mobile users whose devices are on their person all the time, right? Well, we can't get started quite yet. Next, we need to understand our limitations. Stay tuned for my next post as we discuss mobile web limitations!