Website Design for Mobile: The Big and Small of It

In today's digital age, creating an optimal user experience for mobile users is a must. Let's dive in for tips to ensure your website delivers a seamless and enjoyable mobile experience!

By Rex Rainey

July 24, 2023
Advice, Design

There are many important things to consider when designing your website for use on a smaller mobile device. Not thinking through the user flows or organization of content on these smaller devices can add unintended or unnecessary barriers to your customers reaching the information they are looking for.

Here are six of the top items to think through in order to design an optimal mobile user experience.

1. Keep the Navigation Simple

Simple navigation offers a clear and intuitive way to transition between screens and locate desired content. Make sure the most important sections of your site are visible with one click of the mobile menu.

See our work for HealthFitness

2. Provide Plenty of Room for Fingers

Ensure that the controls in your design are large enough to facilitate easy thumb and finger tapping. Using larger controls will prevent user frustration while interacting with your website on a small device. Make sure to test on actual devices to ensure ease of use.

See our work for Zee Zees

3. Reduce Clutter

Avoid overloading the interface with excessive information. Arrange your content in a manner that presents users with a clear understanding of available features. Minimize clutter and display only essential content on the screen.

View our work for Commercial Food Sanitation

4. Smaller Device, Bigger Images

Most modern mobile devices have a high-resolution screen. So, even though the screen is physically smaller, the pixel resolution can be the same, or sometimes higher, than some desktop or laptop monitors. Make sure the images served to mobile devices have been scaled to look their best on mobile devices while also optimized to not hinder page load.

See our work for BDO USA, LLP

5. Smaller Device, Bigger Text Too

Take into consideration the limited size of the mobile screen and increase the font size to enhance readability and comprehension. Make sure to test your font sizes on actual devices to ensure optimal legibility and spacing.

See our work for Ariens

6. Keep the Experience Consistent

For a website that needs to perform on desktop, tablet, and mobile platforms, ensure a seamless user experience across devices. Maintain similarity in the user interface and organize content effectively on smaller devices to provide a user-friendly, consistent experience.

See our work for Vermeer

In the End, It All Comes Down to the User Experience

All of these items, when planned and executed well, will make the experience of using your website on a mobile device much more pleasant and useful. Your customer comes to your website for information. The easier you can make it for them to get that information, the better.

About the Author

Rex Rainey

Rex loves all things design but specializes in branding, web design, and illustration. He’s worked professionally as a designer, art director, and creative lead, at various interactive and branding agencies, since the mid-2000s. When not working, you can find Rex spending time with his family, watching the latest comic book movie/tv series, or deciding which sixth scale collectible he should purchase next.