Form Factor

Many people don’t understand the design struggles that are associated with changing form factors. From the desktop to the now-emerging watch, screen sizes are constraining canvases that marketers, developers, and designers need to maneuver around in order to get into the heads of people who seek it. A popular term that has been tossed around with the advent of smartphones is “responsive design”, where the content of your application, website, or service are aware of the device they are running on and adapt accordingly. The ultimate goal of design should be to appeal and cater to the most people possible, and responsive design seems to be approaching that kind of With the Apple Watch approaching, it’s more important than ever to understand the dynamics that comes with serving the consumer in a way that is informative, responsive, and not overbearing.

Typically, web designers and application developers alike have moved towards the pushing of the envelope—what is the latest and greatest of technologies, and how can I shape my application to fit into whatever can run the best stuff? However, if you want your product to scale to the most amount of people possible, you have to think about the wide majority of people that don’t bother getting whatever can run the latest software—my grandmother doesn’t care about how many features her phone has as long as it does the basics of what she needs. And that is the world that we are now designing for—a place where the hot new technologies (watches, wearables, etc.) are just as powerful as the low-end smartphones and computers that a majority of the world is using. The Apple Watch (and others like it) are inadvertently making creators think about how to serve the under-served, which is definitely a turning point for the industry. Software and hardware are now getting to the point where speed is less likely to matter, and it’s more focused on getting the most amount of people the services that they want or need.

There is a huge emphasis to be ahead of the curve in our culture. To be involved in what is new and interesting. A lot of us chase after this dream without realizing all of the people they are alienating in the process. Sometimes, an underpowered (but popular) accessory needs to be created in order for people to think about the ones they’ve been leaving behind. The ones that haven’t upgraded their phones in 4 years but still want access to the good stuff. The ones that have no intention of trading up until their technology gives them a reason to. And I think we would all be better served if we think about these people more often than we think about the bleeding-edge. The scope that you can achieve by focusing on the many far outweighs the benefits of serving the latest and greatest to the privileged few that can take advantage of them. Build for the world, not just for your small group of tech-savvy friends.