While designing a mobile site first is neither fun nor easy, it’s usually the smartest way to begin designing your site. Here’s why:

• Mobile devices have more limitations than any other platform. Tiny screens, low bandwidth, the list goes on.
• By starting from the ground up with the mobile site, desktop complications are avoided.
• A usable mobile site is clean, intuitive, and fast. This requirement forces designers to really think about why users are visiting their site, and more precisely, which content and functions are essential.

A superior user experience on mobile platforms happens when the user finds everything they’re looking for and nothing more. As a bonus, developing a clear framework for prioritized content makes the workload for designing the desktop site that much lighter.