What is the difference between WEB UI design and mobile app UI design?

Very interesting question. To answer it we have to analyze whether the split between web and mobile designers is real. Subsequently, I’m going to share what, in my opinion, makes designing for mobile different than designing for the web and whether it actually makes any sense to be ‘mobile only’ or ‘web only’ designer.1. Is there really a large group of designers who design only for mobile?Data about the design specialization is hard to get. We can rely only on a simplified set of information. I've checked Linkedin and Dribbble databases, assuming that if there's a true 'mobile-only' trend, we should see a lot of people describing themselves as 'mobile designers.' As you can see below, that's not really the case: Linkedin (analysis of job titles) 16,394 - mobile designer 408,163 - web designer Dribbble (analysis of skills, not mutually exclusive) 6,109 - mobile (design skill) 23,117 - web (design skill) Of course, we don't know how "mobile" is growing as a skill or a job title, but so far we can't say that there's a large number of mobile only designers.Is the mobile becoming more important? Of course! Just take a look at this google trends analysis: Web Design (blue) vs. Mobile Design (red); source: Google trends. Design for Web (blue) Design for Mobile (red); source: Google trends. Does it mean that designers become exclusively focused on one or the other? As for now, nothing shows that this is happening.2. Is the task of designing for mobile really different than designing for other platforms?I designed my first mobile app years ago on Windows Mobile 6. iOS and Android apps followed. Was the experience different than designing for the web? Yes and here's why:a. Built-in growth engine. Mobile OSes, unlike any other platform, have a built-in distribution mechanism. Users can reach an app through the marketplace. The discoverability of your new baby, though still limited, is unmatched with anything else. Rankings, related apps, categories, can all be used to start growing your user base. Moreover, if your app makes it to users' home screen, it stays there until voluntarily deleted. Forgetting about an app is so much harder than about a just visited website.Why is this important for designers? It makes our job seems much more worthwhile. If we'll do a good job creating a great experience, there's less place for an error of the distribution mechanism. Moreover, thanks to notifications we get more chances to engage with a user.b. Tangible experience - mobile removes the middle man of interaction with the screen. Mouse or trackpad are not necessary to interact with the interface. Users are touching the UI and manipulating objects with their hands. It makes the interaction more tangible and memorable.c. Enforced consistency - mobile platforms are enforcing consistency of UIs with their style guides. While some may see it as a constraint, I always felt that detailed style guides allow users to focus on the most important aspects of the product, while granting consistency that can significantly speed up adoption of the new app.d. High context dependency - context is the king on mobile. Your app has to be easy to use under different lighting conditions, on a move, by people with small hands, big hands, etc. Highly contextual nature of mobile design creates an extra challenge, which many designers welcome.3. Should designers specialize only in mobile design?I think that designers should be platform-agnostic. After all, our job is to craft the experience and solve problems. A platform should come as a secondary choice. Platforms come and go, but the fundamental task of design, solving users' problems, persist.

At first, I would have said… There’s ISN’T a big difference… Probably would have said that a few years ago. Maybe two…But, things have changed very quickly in a short amount of time.Now, it’s possible to be a mobile app UI design specialist… Some apps are even exclusively available on mobile. Instagram was like this for a veeeery long time. So, there’s a market/need for solely designing on mobile… for some odd reason. What if a website already exists? Calling yourself a ‘mobile app UI designer’ makes you stand out because it directly addresses a business need which you are obviously the solution to. It’s a clear, direct title that is less vague than ‘web UI design’. If a business has a website, but they just need to convert it to mobile, you know who they will call… There’s so much to do! A mobile designer has plenty to think about. There are so many different types of phones, space restrictions… Having to know all of the specification for Mobile ON TOP of knowing the requirements for desktop is a lot of work to handle, especially for an industry that is constantly evolving and updating its standards and browsers. Time is an issue. Let’s say it takes 20 hours to design the website and 20 hours to design the app… Maybe the Mobile App UI Designer doesn’t want to spend all of that time on a single project (or maybe take that time can’t be alloted linearly to the project) Also, it’s possible that a mobile UI designer would rather act as fresh set of eyes for transferring the website into a mobile version that is simple, effective, and powerful than working on every aspect of the online presence. Mobile UI is different than Web UI because the nature of the game is different. You have to spend more time thinking and researching about the best possible solution for representing content within a small amount of space. Navigation is a clear example of this. https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/show-me-the-way-to-go-anywhere-navigation-for-mobile-applications?ep=az There are so many possibilities for your navigation and physical behaviors to consider, it’s much more simple when thinking about the web and desktop presentation because there is more space… There’s definitely a big gap. Sometimes responsive design tries to decrease this problem, but other times, it may not be so successful… So, people are becoming Mobile UI design experts and dedicating their focus to this particular medium. It makes sense for such specialization to occur, just as at one point it made sense for print and web design to be the two major divisions of graphic design.

It is very interesting question. Have you ever asked the designers why they don’t want to design for web? Does the mobile mean native apps only? Does the web mean sites only? Let me describe my oppinion which might not reflect the reality. But it is based on many designed webs and mobile apps.Mobile design is simpler than a web: You don’t need to solve complex layout You can use verified mobile standard patterns provided by the OS owner so you don’t need to reinvent the wheel Mobile apps are typically very simple in terms of functionality You can use special features which are not available (or just partially) on the web You don’t need to solve responsivness Mobile apps are interactive products and websites are simple text pages without interactivity And design for mobile is cool and hot Also majority of mobile apps are for consumption so you don’t need to solve complex interaction flows. Which we typically solve on web.It also depends on the problem which the product should solve. Is it an app or just a textual site? Many apps solves hot issues trying to be a new Instagram or Snapchat. And that is not possible on the web - which typically is about presenting information to people.For me, it does not matter which kind of product I design. Mobile app, web app or sites are just a medium/form through which we solve the problem. So the designers who said it were not the right candidates.