The Media Briefing
Martin Belam writes that the news design concepts of the past are not good enough for the platforms of the future, including mobile phones and tablets.
He argues that both print and Web design is wedded to the technology and work flows of the past. On the Web, especially, publishers have “typically crammed” stories, links, widgets, ads and tools onto every pixel of real estate.
On mobile devices, he says, that approach will not work:
“There simply isn’t room for 15 related story links, a most read panel, and 100 ways to share an article on the screen of a smart phone or small tablet — not to mention advertising. This forces a concentration on what the user is most likely to want to do next after consuming a story. It means carefully thinking about whether uniform global navigation that can take you from any one section to all other possible sections is appropriate. It also means thinking about what are the real interactions you are hoping to encourage from the reader — to share the story, to comment on the story, or to dive deeper into a specific topic?”
