User experience design and human–computer interaction (HCI) emerged in a world of desktop computers. But our experience of computing has changed radically in the past 10–15 years. Many of our interactions now take place on mobile phones, tablets, e-readers, and smart TVs. And it’s common to use one service across multiple devices with different form factors.
We’re still figuring out the best ways to design for new devices and experiences. Interactions can happen in a wide variety of contexts, especially for mobile devices. They can happen on a variety of scales, from tiny wrist-tops, to smartphones, to TV user interfaces (UIs) viewed from 10 feet away. Even academic researchers in HCI have published relatively few papers on cross-platform design.
