One of my first jobs was working as a junior copywriter for a large ad agency. And my favourite part was writing the radio ads because I got to be part of both the creation and production.
I’d find myself in a state-of the art recording studio with a seasoned conductor/arranger, full orchestra, vocalist who’d had a number of pop hits, mixers and technicians all there to produce my little jingle. (Wow!)
And when we were done, we played it through the big studio speakers and it sounded amazing. Ready to go, right?
Wrong.
Then came the reality check. We’d play the recording again on this crappy old car radio with speakers that looked as if they were about to give out. Why? Because most folks didn’t have access to a professional sound system and this ad had to work wherever they heard it.
You wouldn’t believe how many times we remixed for car radio quality.
This is the same approach we should take with mobile.
Most organizations spend the bulk of their time developing spectacular websites for desktop and laptop screens. Mobile is treated like a grudging add-on.
But really, we should be thinking mobile first.
That doesn’t mean giving up on amazing user experiences or site aesthetics. But it does mean reconsidering the bells, whistles and other cluttering widgets we treated as must haves on our sites.
Of course, this requires a major shift in attitude. A minimalist approach to the way we tell stories in words and visuals. Understanding how to communicate and engage by sticking to the essentials. And in our time-strapped, information-overloaded world, isn’t this approach a real benefit for customers?
It’s time to dream big by creating small.
Do you think we need to re-imagine our approach to websites?
Photo credit M Connors.
