emerged media

highlighting the best digital advertising campaigns, interactive marketing trends, technological innovation, and anything else that inspires creative thought, pushes the interactive medium, and creates a conversation. by brian o'shea

tips for designing a perfect iPad app

“design is not just what it looks like, design is how it works.” - steve jobs

the magic of an iPad comes from the perfect marriage of utility, it’s ease of use, and smart design. creating an app that goes beyond a disposable gaming experience that actually tackles a functional problem takes time to develop.  an app must be easy to use and equally easy to set up.  it must also be visually beautiful in order to create the all-important emotional connection with the user.  when designing an app, here are some important things to consider in the define/design stages.

keep it simple

  • its so easy to overdesign things and in doing so create an experience that confuses and loses the end user.  the best ipad apps are about simplicity and not trying to be a “jack of all trades and master of none.”  
  • be selective about the functionality and follow a goal oriented approach to figuring out what the “must haves” are.
  • think about what the end user is trying to get done and brainstorm about all of the functionality that someone might need/want to accomplish that task.  
make it personal
  • leverage other websites and utilities to make your app smarter and more personalized with facebook connect, twitter feeds, rss, delicious bookmarks, or the user’s calendar.
consider the place of use
  • think about where a user will be using the application.  you wouldn’t access a gps driving app on a sailboat or a cooking app while sitting in traffic.  
  • a user’s needs (functionality, user-experience) will be different on the safe, walking down a street, or in a restaurant.  
keep the navigation clean
  • the ipad does have swipe controls and an internal gyroscope, but that doesn’t mean that you have to use them when designing the navigation.
  • stick with standard navigation for frequently used apps.  if you want to do something super innovative, make sure that the interactions support the task at hand.  
  • think about what works best for you, which apps you love/use, and then apply that same logic to the end-user.
  • use gestures in cool/clever ways, but don’t over do it!
make it clear and make it big
  • it’s easy to lose track on many apps of exactly what content is tappable. make it really clear to the user which areas on the page or tappable.  apply the same logic that you would designing a banner ad or website with strong call to action language, big bold letters, or boxes that act like buttons on a rollover/tap state.
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