The world changed when Steve Jobs unleashed the iPhone in January 2007. The pivot from buttons to a touchscreen, along with several other innovative and intuitive features, ramped up smartphone adoption and the use of handheld devices. Where once they were used for phone calls, texts, emails, and even a bit of Snake, mobiles became pocket-sized computers with a tremendous amount of potential.
Now, 17 years later, the potential continues to be realized, promising power that outpaces some laptops, camera quality that rivals that of standalone products, and a huge range of utility, communication, and entertainment options. The world has had to adapt to the rise of handheld devices, including those who design graphics and videos for websites and apps.
Adjusting to the Prominence of Handhelds
Knowing the popularity of smartphones, owing to the sheer convenience and usability of handheld devices, all industries operating online have had to pivot their approach. This goes all the way down to those who design graphics and create videos for internet users. For graphic designers, it’s a case of changing the shape, scale, and size of images – particularly when it comes to image tiles or thumbnails.
Today, these images have to relay the same amount of information and appeal but in a smaller space and with a new perspective. An example comes in the form of an entertainment platform teeming with thumbnails. In the casino lounge selection online, there are hundreds of thumbnails for games. Ten years ago, these would have been larger and much more square. Now, they’re portrait-style, with a bold logo and one central image for added appeal.
Even with the first iPhone utilizing an accelerometer to rotate the screen with the user and automatically change the displayed contents accordingly, some modern video producers are looking to turn to portrait videos. Rather jarringly, instead of keeping videos in landscape form and respecting convention, some productions have been toying with vertical videos, including the ABC series Content and even the last FIFA World Cup.
Appeasing Billions of Users
The need to pivot to a handheld-friendly approach with media creation these days isn’t just because smartphones are popular: it’s because they’re embedded into everyday life for billions. Figures swing: from 2023 estimates that point to some 4.3 billion people being smartphone users, to others that say there are over 6.9 billion. Either way, that’s billions of people. Plus, on average, a person will use a smartphone for over four hours every day.
It’s because of this that designers have bent the knee to the vertical way of making media. Portrait mode, perhaps slightly stretched to fit, keeping the focus on the middle of the oblong, and just making everything fit the natural position of the device has become key. As shown by those looking to create video content in portrait mode, some are seeing the need to turn the device 90 degrees as being too inhibiting to some users now.
Handheld devices have completely altered how designers need to present their creations. We’ve gone from the more natural, larger potential of landscape that we’re used to with all other screens to needing to go longways, portrait, and adjust the scale, shape, and size to fit the all-conquering smartphone.
