Recap: Mint Talks Mobile Design at MobileBeat

On Monday, some of the tech world’s best design minds gathered at VentureBeat’s MobileBeat in San Francisco to discuss mobile design, including Mint’s very own Head of Design Mike Tschudy. Mike was in good company at The Art of Kickass Mobile Design panel joined by Joe Korngiebel, Senior Vice President of User Experience, Workday; Jamie Hull, VP Mobile Products, Evernote; Alex Schleifer, Head of Design, Airbnb; and moderated by Emily Wengert, VP of UX, HUGE. The discussion touched on how designing mobile experiences has evolved dramatically over the past few years and is continuing to change, bringing users better products suited to their lives. Below are a few highlights from Mike on how he delivers the most seamless experience possible for Minters.

Design is Not One Size Fits All

While all the panel’s companies tackle very different problems, they all agreed on the importance of creating designs that are unique for the individual user. Money management is personal and each Mint customer uses the application differently. Mike and his team dive deep into the creative design process to curate content that is relevant and make the Mint experience personal, such as developing cards that allow the experience to be unique for each user.

The Future of Mobile is Invisible

Users may not understand everything that goes into mobile design, and according to all the panelists, that is the point! The ultimate goal for Mint is to become so intuitive, you don’t realize you’re using it, Mike shared. The engineers and product managers at Mint are committed to learning about user needs and creating extraordinary products and features that make users forget they are using an application – instead, it feels like an extension of your life. The same goals apply to the content you are pushed via Mint alerts.

Design Defines the Application

One thing the whole panel agreed on is the fact that design should always come first when creating mobile applications. Designers need to be involved in the entire process. Mint tackles this by hiring “hybrid” designers that are involved in the entire development process, going beyond the initial design phase to help create usable features for users.

Do you use Mint on your mobile phone? Tell us how you make the most of Mint on-the-go on Twitter with hashtag #MyMintTips.