How can you follow key mobile design principles?

Once you know what emotional struggles the user faces, besides offering a great product that fixes a problem, the key factor is to provide a user interface tailored around brain emotion receptors that will improve the well-being not only logically by palpable results, but with lasting effects in the users' life. This can be achieved by using the right colors, shapes, backgrounds, depths, and lightning.

For user research I’m a big fan of Contextual Inquiry and understanding the true Context of Use. These two really help design teams relate to and empathize with end users.

In my experience, many mobile touch points are overly complex and do not provide users a simple and direct understanding of what content is available. Mobile users are seeking answers and the simplest way to provide users, in their self-guided journey, a path to obtain that answer will lead to return website visits and increased app usage. Understanding what answers users are looking for or tasks they are looking to complete is key to building something that will improve or create ease in one’s life. Thoughtful navigation is key to presenting users the options they have to chose and act on. Information architecture can help with defining a successful mobile navigation based on user needs and expectations.

In a first iteration or MVP type phase, decide which content is the most important or most essential to get out the door. That can help you clarify future priorities and speed up the development and deployment cycle as well.

We need to start thinking bigger than responsive design and viewport sizes. Modular content solutions that flow across all distribution channels is where modern design is heading. There are also many new WebUI responsive design capabilities that empower users to carry their personal preferences, as set in their browser, into all web experiences. This is personalization on the cheap.

Part of the design process is testing in real world use cases. Doing that can lead to the discovery of previously unknown items and alter previous assumptions about the UI.

Ensure all charts and infographics have live HTML text and proper follow the 3:1 color contrast ratio. And when possible consider following the specs for Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA) by using the correct roles, landmarks and attributes so chart elements can be properly interpreted by the browser’s screen reader.

Straying from platform guidelines and conventions can add mental overhead and confusion for users and prevent them from using the app for its intended purposes. Customization shouldn't be ruled out, but there should be a conversation around the added value of it.