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<p>In the age of the “Internet of Things,” companies like Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Samsung have truly raised the bar and changed people’s expectations for interactive experiences with mobile devices. </p>
<p>I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen users attempt a pinch and zoom or even a simple swipe — only to discover disappointment in their first encounters with even the most rudimentary touchscreens. </p>

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<p> It’s a truly telling observation: Humans have come to expect that all of their devices behave like their smartphones and tablets.</p>
<p>So why don’t they?</p>
<p>There are a bunch of reasons, but the disparity is often due to the cost of technology per unit. If we were to embed smartphone-equivalent tech (retina display, capacitive touch, gorilla glass, iOS-quality software, etc.) into let’s say … a microwave … it would likely triple in cost — resulting in a priced out consumer. (Would you pay $500 for a microwave with an elegant touchscreen?)</p>
<p>If we’ve learned anything from Moore’s Law, however, we know that technology costs rapidly decrease while embeddability increases. We’ve already begun to see higher functioning touchscreens integrated into all manner of consumer products and contexts. When clients with limited hardware budgets tell us they want their products to “look, feel, and act like an iPhone,” we rise to the challenge but tell them there are other ways to provide a smartphone-like user experience.</p>
<h2><strong>Smartphone Patterns</strong></h2>
<p>Despite the technology challenges, interaction designers can still reliably design interfaces for products using many of the “mobile” patterns users know, love, and expect. As designers, we try to strike a balance between being innovative and not reinventing the wheel (more on this later). So we rely on some fundamental design principles that are universal to all mobile device experiences — many of which are informed by the ubiquity of smartphone and tablet devices. Most of these features date back to pre-smartphone times but are now associated with smartphones because they’ve been so elegantly refined and packaged into this one type of device:</p>
<h3>1. Provide System Context</h3>
<p>It is baffling the number of times I’ve seen systems completely lose users due to a lack of context. This is usually easily resolved by adding something as simple as a breadcrumb or a title or a consistent visual treatment to the user interface. Granted, it’s not always that simple, especially if screen real estate is an issue. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_disclosure">Progressive disclosure</a> can also be a tool for providing context, particularly in guided workflows.</p>

1 system context

<h3>2. Familiar Navigation Schemes</h3>
<p>Here’s an area of user interface design where the wheel should not be reinvented. Navigating a system via a primary navigation menu is fundamental to modern personal computing. We’ve gotten pretty creative with the visual presentation of navigation, but the core mechanics haven’t really changed much in the past 30 years. Primary navigation is typically globally accessible, and either presented as an exposed list of choices or as a hidden list of choices with some kind of trigger to reveal itself.</p>

1 smartphone sliding drawer

<h3>3. Home Buttons</h3>
<p>The ubiquitous home button is another smartphone/tablet feature that really isn’t new. It has existed on Web browsers since the days of Mosaic, and was a feature of PDAs long before the iWhatever.  It remains a relevant way to control and navigate a device. The Home button has drastically improved in terms of simplicity and extended functionality.  As a single button, it can be multi-use with events such as single press, double press, triple press, and long press. Depending on the complexity of what you’re designing, this is a must-have feature whether implemented as a touchscreen or physical button.</p>

<p>Interaction designers have spent decades figuring out the best way to build an interface from scratch. A lot of what we know translates well to smart products.</p>

Don't Miss: 7 Interaction Design Principles for IoT Product Designers

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<h3>4. LED Indicators</h3>
<p>Light-emitting diode (LED) indicators are also nothing new (starting to see a pattern here?). We’ve been using them commercially since the 1960s. Much more of a feature on Android mobile devices, the notification LED is a passive and discreet way to signal to users that there’s something in the system that needs their attention (new email, calendar reminder, etc). It might not be immediately apparent, but LEDs can be implemented in a lot more ways than just a small dot. Possibilities are vast when you account for light shape, color, and pulsing pattern.</p>

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<p>(Note: Take caution enabling the LED notification feature on your smartphones because it will keep you up at night if left by your bedside. I turn mine face down.)<br></p><h3>5. When Possible, Design for Natural Gestures</h3>
<p>Although a lot of the elegance of modern multi-touch gestures is hardware-dependent, smartphone-like gestures can be achieved with the aid of some software magic. And many of the multi-touch gestures are truly natural. For example, swiping to reveal can be simulated in the physical world by sliding one piece of paper off the top of another. It feels natural, it makes physical sense, and it’s an expected interaction on touchscreens — thanks to the pervasiveness of consumer mobile devices (not to beat a dead horse). So if your hardware supports it, and you can squeeze it in as a feature, implementing multi-touch capabilities (such as swiping or pinch and zoom) is an unobtrusive way to add value and familiarity to the interactive experience with your product.</p>

5 gestures smartphone

5 gestures paper

<h3>6. Let’s Not Forget Haptics</h3>
<p>A fantastic way to provide real-time feedback to users, haptics leverage the sense of touch through small vibrations. Haptic feedback is another feature that can be used in several ways. To name a few:</p>
<ul><li>To provide the user with confirmation that his touch interaction has registered.</li><li>To act as a system alert (i.e. an alarm or progress complete indicator).</li><li>Through pulsing and intensity, it can communicate a range of states of something (i.e. a soft, quiet buzzing indicates you’re getting close, but intense, louder buzzing indicates you’re getting even closer).</li></ul>

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<h2>Familiarity Breeds Affection</h2>
<p>As I mentioned a few times above, most of the features we find in smartphones and tablets didn’t originate there. We’ve been designing products with these features long before the mass consumption of mobile devices.&nbsp;<br></p>

<p>The Interaction Design team at Delve offers services that can improve your existing user experience or guide your team through a process to realize innovative digital products and services.</p>

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<p>But it’s exactly this mass consumption that’s driven the standards of interaction design. Ideally, we can leverage these standards to develop a unified (but evolving) set of IxD principles. If our observations of human behavior tell us anything, we owe it to our users to give them innovative, but familiar solutions. Think of it as frustration-free packaging.<br><em><br>This article was written by Matt Thomas</em></p>

7 frustration free

<p><strong>Learn more about our&nbsp;<a href="https://www.delve.com/services/design/interaction-design" target="_blank">Digital Product and User Experience Design Services</a>​.</strong></p>

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<p><strong>Want your product to “look, feel, and act like an iPhone"? You can rely on some fundamental design principles that are universal to all mobile device experiences — many of which are informed by the ubiquity of smartphone and tablet devices. </strong></p>

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Want your product to “look, feel, and act like an iPhone"? You can rely on some fundamental design principles that are universal to all mobile device experiences — many of which are informed by the ubiquity of smartphone and tablet devices.

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Design Lessons from Smartphones: Universal Interaction Design Principles for All Devices

Design Lessons from Smartphones: Universal Interaction Design Principles for All Devices

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