No matter how much we speak about the importance of simplicity for UI design, the world is always obsessed with creating huge amounts of information, hoping that there is enough for the user would pick and choose.

While doing so, we maybe, subconsciously,  wanting to extend what was available in print media to devices (web, mobile, tablet pc's and what more....).

The proliferation of the coolest devices not withstanding, with their mega pixel high resolution display screens, the experience is still not akin to a hard print which, even today is the easiest and most intuitive way to access content  (An interesting article here )

So then, how much is good to encourage adoption and usage on these devices ?.  Can the experience be seamless across them, given their widely varied display specifications ?

I believe that most of the design briefs and conversations are still too much focussed on colors and themes. Save for a few surveys that summarize findings from usability consultants like the Nielsen Norman group, nothing much is available on what could be the right strategy.

A quick survey of some well adopted applications reveal some interesting commonality in how the user experience is designed:

1)  Have minimal text  (Digitial is not print. Period).  User generated content in the web 2.0 era is  giving mountains of data to display. But definitely have the moderator front end the activity to choose and display.

User's attention should be driven from options to be drilled down into larger bits of information.  Users may "choose" what to read and then "read."

Driving the user to select options using images with brief text introduction laid on top, is a good option.

Let the options/ Introductory text not exceed 150 words.

2)  Navigation should have the "Back" button to backtrack.

3)  Quick links on the detail page to access other options without hitting the Home button.

Leave the apps clean and neat, unless the context is very unambiguously in the domain of "art" or "show and tell" (aka. marketing)

In a nutshell, for most of the contexts, the user need is "usability" and not a visual "wow".