Mobile

Business / 28 Feb 2025

The Art of Thumb-Stopping Content: Designing for Social Media Attention

In today’s fast-paced social media world, users scroll through hundreds of posts in minutes.

To stand out, your content needs to grab attention instantly—before their thumb swipes past to the next post. This requires mastering the art of “thumb-stopping” design.

In this post, we explore this art form for crafting engaging, thumb-stopping posts for your social media platforms. We break down how to create visuals that make users pause, engage, and remember your brand with a few useful tips and hacks.

Let’s get started.

App Templates / 12 Feb 2025

Adaptive UI: How AI Is Personalizing Mobile App Experiences

Mobile apps are no longer static experiences. As artificial intelligence continues to advance, apps are becoming smarter and more intuitive.

Adaptive UI, powered by AI, is revolutionizing how mobile apps interact with users by dynamically adjusting interfaces based on behavior, preferences, and context.

Imagine opening your favorite shopping app and seeing personalized recommendations, rearranged menus based on your past behavior, and features that anticipate your needs before you even search for them. This is the power of an adaptive UI, and it’s reshaping how we engage with digital experiences.

According to a study, adaptive user interfaces also boost user engagement rates by up to 31% and user task completion rates by 22%.

In this article, we’ll explore how AI-driven adaptive UIs work, the key benefits they offer, and real-world examples of apps that are already using this technology to create highly personalized user experiences.

Layouts / 16 Dec 2024

8 Rules for Creating an Effective Responsive Website or App

Users are spending a lot of time interacting with websites on mobile devices, rather than desktops. And that number seems to be growing daily. According to eMarketer, adults in the U.S. spend an average of 3 hours and 35 minutes on their phones, and the amount of time engaging on these devices is expected to pass TV viewing next year.

That has significant implications for all web designers and developers. You must be creating effective responsive websites or apps to meet this need. Today, we’re exploring eight rules to make sure you follow whenever you’re designing a responsive experience (whether for a website or an app).

Mobile / 15 Oct 2020

Design Trend: Modern Tappable Targets (And How to Do It)

A solid tap target can make or break your mobile website or app. The size, shape, location, and overall design of the button or link determines whether a user successfully completes an action or not. It might seem like a small thing, but can be one of the most important elements of a design.

Modern tappable targets are easy to recognize, work in an expected manner, and encourage engagement.

Today we’re looking at how to design them, ways to craft effective call-to-action items, and considerations around color and font choices.

Graphics / 20 Aug 2019

10 Tips for Designing for Wearables and Watches

Every day, we see more and more people sporting an Apple Watch or similar. These devices are constantly changing the way we think about wearable technology and how to design websites and apps for unique interfaces.

Wearables present challenges unlike other design projects. Function is a primary concern, as is the size, with what will be one of the smallest screens designers have ever worked with.

The key is creating a design that is visually pleasing but is user-friendly and provides a functional experience.

Here are 10 things to consider as you design for a wearable interface (with examples other designers are already imagining).

Layouts / 14 Aug 2019

10 Ways to Use Mapping in Web or App Design

Almost everywhere you look these days, you find a map or location-based nugget of information. Almost every app asks for a location, and their presence is becoming more and more common on desktop websites as well.

But if you have not branched out into the world of mapping or location data, it may seem a little intimidating.

How can you effectively use mapping services for your website or app? We’ll take a look at ten ways you can integrate a map today.

CSS / 23 Jul 2019

Mobile First Design: Why It’s Great and Why It Sucks

Historically, most web designers and their clients have approached the desktop side of any project first, while leaving the mobile part as a secondary goal that gets accomplished later. Even with the rise of responsive design, many of us begin with the “full size” site and work our way down.

There’s a growing trend in the industry though to flip this workflow on its head and actually begin with mobile considerations and then work up to a larger desktop version.

Why would you ever approach a project this way? What are some of the pros and cons of this strategy? Read on to find out!

Mobile / 21 Nov 2018

10 Tools & Apps for Testing Your Responsive Design

It’s never been more important to ensure your design is ready for every type of user—and device—before launch. While it can be tough to physically test on every device, there are some tools and apps to help you replicate a variety of responsive scenarios.

With free and premium tool options, there’s no reason not to test your responsive design before deployment. Just make sure to use that information to many necessary design adjustments! Today we’re running you through a selection of tools for testing a responsive design.

Mobile / 10 Oct 2018

What’s a Progressive Web App (And Why Should You Care)?

In 2016, mobile users first surpassed those accessing the web from desktop devices. Since then, mobile hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down.

As everyone looks for how to make websites, and web apps, more mobile-friendly, you’ll increasingly start to come across the phrase “Progressive Web App”. Today we’re looking at what this is, how it differs from other technologies like AMP, and how you can get started.

Mobile / 21 Feb 2018

5 Fun Augmented Reality Apps for Design Inspiration

Augmented reality is a growing trend in application design and development. Apple has invested in the technology with recent updates (ARKit), and plans to include even more AR features. So how do you start planning to design for augmented reality?

It starts with playing with apps already on the market to see how they work. What do you like (or dislike)? Here are five AR apps to help jumpstart your design inspiration and hopefully get you thinking about this next generation technology. (And how to make it look great and function well.)

Mobile / 15 Jan 2018

7 Tips for Designing for Oversized Touchscreens

Touchscreens are everywhere. But they aren’t just on your phones and tablets. Designing for the oversized versions of touchscreens – think desktop computer size and larger – can present a unique set of challenges.

How do you design for something so big, when you are so accustomed to thinking about thumb regions for screen design? Here’s a guide to thinking about oversized touchscreens and how to create something that users with interact with on an even larger touch scale.

Instagram Templates / 6 Sep 2017

10 Simple Steps to Refresh Your Instagram Account

Taylor Swift did it. She deleted her Instagram account before re-emerging with a newly refreshed persona. The tactic was part of a campaign for her new album release, but shows a good point: sometimes your accounts just need a refresh.

You can learn more about how Swift did it, or take on a personal challenge to refresh your Instagram account. It’s easier than you might think. (Once you get over the mental block of changing the way you post photos, anyway.)

Here’s how you can refresh your Instagram account in 10 simple steps (and maybe even feel as diva as Taylor Swift in the process).