Each MEX Conference is built around a Manifesto, the product of hundreds of research consultations with users, industry experts and academics. The Manifesto sets out our beliefs as to how user-centred design principles can enhance the experience of multi-platform digital services. It will be at the heart of the agenda when the brightest minds in mobile and user experience gather in London on 2nd / 3rd December 2009 at the 6th MEX Conference. We’d love to hear your opinion, whether you agree or disagree, so please get in touch to tell us what you think or post a comment on this article using the form at the end of the page.

1. We believe the definition of ‘platform’ is any channel through which users interact with a product, service or community, ranging from digital devices such as mobile phones and PCs to physical entities such as retail stores and call centres.
2. We believe the number and variety of platforms in users’ lives is increasing rapidly, facilitated by wireless networks and driven by users’ desire to communicate, consume content and make purchases at the most convenient times and in the most convenient places.
3. We believe the number of platforms in users’ lives will continue to increase, leading to exponential growth in the quantity of potential user pathways and creating ever more complex usage scenarios to challenge user experience designers.
4. We believe true multi-tasking will be impossible for users; instead, they will switch their attention rapidly between multiple platforms in ever shorter time slots, giving rise to a state of continuous partial attention and a requirement for user experiences which are instantly available and easy to resume.
5. We believe intelligent access to a consistent, wireless cloud of user data is a key enabler of the multi-platform experience, but will succeed only when it can be accessed through a variety of interfaces, optimised for each usage scenario.
6. We believe the mobile phone will be, for most users, the natural starting point for the multi-platform experience and remain the dominant device in their growing portfolio of digital tools.
7. We believe natural interfaces, which closely resemble existing human behaviour and analogue controls, will be central to multi-platform interactions.
8. We believe interfaces should adapt intelligently to match the behavioural patterns and expressed preferences of users and that it should be possible to synchronise this experience across the multi-platform environment.
9. We believe the size limitations of physical screens and keyboards are constraining innovation in form factors and the virtualisation of these elements will be made possible by a multi-platform approach to design.
10. We believe the flow of information in some users’ lives is becoming a severe challenge and only the ability to asynchronously place- and time-shift tasks from one platform to another will enable them to increase their consumption of digital services.
11. We believe user experience testing methodology must evolve from a device-specific to a goal-specific model to reflect the increasing range of usage scenarios in a multi-platform world.
12. We believe local storage of data will remain critical to a good multi-platform experience until the wireless cloud is 100% reliable and effortless synchronisation should, therefore, be a right, not a privilege.
13. We believe TRUST will be a key competitive differentiator in the multi-platform environment and brands will be judged on their respect for user privacy, support for data portability and clarity of business terms.
14. We believe the most compelling multi-platform services will be found at the intersection of the virtual and physical worlds, where digital technology adds a layer of enchantment to the tangible, real, analogue experiences which move us emotionally.

We’d love to hear your opinion, whether you agree or disagree, so please get in touch to tell us what you think or post a comment on this article using the form at the end of the page.

100 of the brightest minds in mobile and user experience will come together at MEX on 2nd – 3rd December 2009 to learn from a carefully selected line-up of expert speakers and create a collective response to the Manifesto. If you’d like to take part, delegate passes can be purchased from the MEX web-site – buy one pass before 7th October and you’ll get another absolutely free.