← Journal5 min

14 June 2026

Mobile-first is not a style, it's a constraint you design with

Over half of your visitors will only ever see the phone version. Design that one first and the desktop layout gets easier, not harder.

When a layout is designed at desktop width and then squeezed, you get stacked leftovers: a hero with six lines of text, buttons the size of a fingernail, and a menu that hides everything important.

Start at 375 pixels. Decide what the single most important thing on the screen is. Then earn every element after it.

Type scales, not fixed sizes. Touch targets no smaller than 44 pixels. One primary action per screen. Images that carry meaning, not decoration.

By the time you widen to tablet and desktop, you're adding room and rhythm to a structure that already works. That's the whole trick.

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