Scoping out the competition

can help you start to come up with creative solutions

for your problem statement. Before you get too far
into the ideation phase, you need to make a decision about which device or screen
size
you'll design for first. Why? Well, most designers prefer to start designing for
one
device or screen size and get the design through the high-fidelity prototype stage
before moving to a second device. Designing for one
screen size first allows you to validate
your product design, establish a clear user flow, and make decisions about the
visual design of your
product before moving forward. The insights you
gain from working on the first device will enhance your designs
for the second device. Let's discuss some of the
questions that UX designers ask themselves when
evaluating which device to design for first. To get started, ask yourself, where
are your users
located geographically? For example, if
you're designing for a user that's located
in an emerging market, they're probably more likely
to access your product on a mobile phone rather
than a desktop computer. In this case, you'd want to take a mobile-first approach
to your design process. Second, where will users be when they access your product?
At home, at school, at work, or on the go? For example, imagine
you're designing a math tutoring product for
middle school students. The student's experience with your product design
will be very different, if they are at home
using a laptop computer, at school using a
desktop computer, or on the go using
a mobile phone. You'll need to determine which of these contexts you'd like to
optimize your designs for. Third, how reliable is your
users' internet access, cellular access, or Wi-Fi signal? For example, do your
users live in a place where internet access
is available but slow? Or do they live in a
more remote location where there's no
internet access at all? In either of these cases, choosing to design a
mobile app first makes more sense as it could be downloaded when they have access
and then used in offline mode. Considering the answers to these questions for
your product and target user will help you determine which device
to design for first. For the purposes of this course, you'll design a dedicated
mobile app first, followed by a responsive website. Following this order
will allow all of us to learn together as we
go through this course.