Alexander Younger - Design Lab

Name: Alexander Younger
Company: Design Lab

Alexander is the president and founder of Design Lab, a digital design agency in Toronto. He started the company 20 years ago when web wasn't a thing yet, and through this experience, he reminded us that the industry is continually changing. Design Lab calls themselves a Green company, they even have a solar-powered office.

Alexander spoke to us a lot about the current mobile market, and brought along some stats:

371k - number of babies born each day
378k - number of iPods sold each day
700k - number of Android device activations each day
562k - number of iOS devices sold each day
200k - number of Nokia devices sold each day
143k - number of Blackberry devices sold each day

TOTAL: 1.45 million devices sold each day

Best Practices in Mobile Design

1. Establish business goals

• Know your audience
• Segment your market
• E.g. Angry Birds: They got people hooked by playing for free first, they sold merchandise and also created advertising revenue. They have had over 700 million downloads.
  

2. Keep it simple

• If something is simple, we'll do it a lot
• "Dont make me think":

Scrollbars and what they can select

Advanced functionality should be easy to find (e.g. shortcuts)


Labels - keep them clear and consistent (nav)

Icons - obvious, not cryptic, need to understand it in one second (e.g. put the word underneath)


Scrolling vs multiple pages - people are happy to scroll

Usability test it - this is the first place clients will try to cut the budget

Assume that the user doesn't actually want to spend time using it

3. Get inspired

• Know what your competitors are up to
• Be on top of new innovations
• Save time and money (e.g. buy the code from a working app)
  

4. Go social

• Invite users to give feedback on their experience using the app
  

5. Remember rankings

• Extremely important
• High-ranked ones are featured - this is free advertising
  

6. Measure

• Design in ways to measure
• E.g. number of downloads or shares
• The things that don't work are just as important - they have to evolve

How to Impress an Agency like Design Lab

1. Good Portfolio - Clear, applicable with what the company wants

2. Have a great attitude - "Your attitude determines your altitude"

3. Research the company and your interviewer

4. Ask lots of questions! - E.g. culture, your role, can I grow here - it shows your interested

5. Don't settle - at Design Lab, the average turnover is 6 years