Showing posts with label interface design. Show all posts
Showing posts with label interface design. Show all posts

The Columbia Guide to Online Style Review

The Columbia Guide to Online Style
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The Columbia Guide to Online Style ReviewCitation of materials from the (extremely) volatile web was a major problem. Creating a summary, and providing a hyperlink to the original content, proved a major issue since electronic content moves so frequently.. The Columbia Guide gives some assurance that proper citation can be given. Some of the citation style suggestions seem very redundant, and there is no clear table or quick summary to highlight the proper method for common usage. Still, as the first work of this type, it gives an excellent baseline for referencing, building, managing on-line content.The Columbia Guide to Online Style Overview

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iPhone User Interface Design Projects Review

iPhone User Interface Design Projects
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iPhone User Interface Design Projects ReviewLove it or loathe it, the iPhone and iPod touch have been a stunning success, largely due to the App Store -- over 100,000 apps at current count. It is, by all accounts, the largest gold rush to invade the application development scene since ... well, ever. Apps that pay attention to design and usability stand out from the rest of the detritus, and quickly become a success.
"iPhone User Interface Design Projects" devotes a single chapter to each of ten developers/designers who've stood out from the crowd. They talk us through their thought processes and workflows, their failures and ultimate successes. You can teach someone to write code, but can you teach something as subjective as interface design? Apple's "Human Interface Guidelines" document goes some way to achieving this goal, explaining what users expect from an iPhone app's interface, and how the various controls behave and interact. The HIG is an essential reference and fits the bill perfectly for most use cases, but doesn't offer insights into more creative interfaces. "iPhone User Interface Design Projects" augments the HIG by bringing the authors' experiences into the discussion. They explain what worked and what didn't - there's nothing like learning from other people's mistakes.
A common thread throughout the book is that design and usability is an iterative process - very rarely will your first design concept reach the App Store. Though the individual authors refer to it differently - wireframing, prototyping, mock-ups, etc. - you get a sense for the importance of knowing what the interface will look like and how it will behave before committing it to code. The book's technical reviewer, Joachim Bondo, contributes a chapter on the design of a prospective Google news reader. Refreshing in presentation, this isn't a post-development retrospective. As he explains in the chapter's introduction, he has a few ideas in his head, and he fleshes the designs out as your read along. You don't get to see the final interface, but that's not the point. What you do get is insight into his design decisions. Bret Victor presented the excellent "Prototyping iPhone User Interfaces" at WWDC '09, and Bondo's narrative is very similar in content.
Though I enjoyed (almost) all ten contributions, Chapter 7, for me, was the highlight of the book. Chris Parrish and Brad Ellis cover - in great detail - often overlooked concepts of user context and application flow, and the undeniable value of prototyping and specifications. Parrish and Ellis rightly won an Apple Design Award at WWDC '09 for "Postage", a visual and highly intuitive postcard creator, and they approach their chapter with similar attention to detail.
The odd-one-out is Ju'rgen Siebert's detailed discussion of typefaces, the implications of their usage on small-scale devices such as the iPhone, and a walkthrough of his "FontShuffle" app. As informative as the history and anatomy of typefaces was for me, I didn't see how it specifically related to the very restricted set of fonts on the iPhone. Siebert even goes so far as to mock up a Contacts screen with a font that isn't available on the device, suggesting that the screen's readability has improved as a result. I don't disagree; however, the iPhone's fonts are baked-in, and unless you want to implement a custom glyph rendering routine, it's a pointless argument on a closed device. This chapter represents a missed opportunity, in my opinion. I was initially looking forward to reading about the author's choice of available fonts under different scenarios, but was ultimately let down.
Where the book falls short is in its use of black and white screeenshots throughout. We're talking about the design of applications which are displayed on a full colour device. Colour clearly plays a very large part in the design of any user interface, so cheaping out with black and white screenshots was a mistake. What's even more unforgivable is that the downloadable eBook (which isn't free) doesn't have full colour plates! Come on, Apress! I think given the context of the book, we'd be prepared to pay a bit more for colour.
Who's this book for? Everyone who develops or designs for iPhone, novice to expert alike. Even if you've had success on the App Store, I guarantee there's something in here for you.iPhone User Interface Design Projects OverviewFollowing the best-selling Beginning iPhone Development, iPhone User Interface Design Projects is the first book dedicated to designing and implemented great user experiences on the iPhone. The iPhone has quickly become the coolest new platform for application development, and developers with all levels of experience and from all development environments are eager to learn how to do it. Not only is there money to be made for developers selling great-looking iPhone apps, but it's just a hell of a lot of fun for everyone involved

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Tapworthy: Designing Great iPhone Apps Review

Tapworthy: Designing Great iPhone Apps
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Tapworthy: Designing Great iPhone Apps ReviewHere's why: it's not only a great guide to what makes iPhone apps successful, but what will increasingly be the way to make successful software for any platform. Josh does a fantastic job of getting the reader into the right mindset for creating successful apps.
This is an interface, big-idea, that's why that design works book, not a coding book. Nor is it a "how to market your iPhone app book". That said, the interviews alone with designers of big important iPhone apps about how they really designed those apps is worth the price many times over.
Warning: you will probably spend more on buying apps Josh uses as examples of what he is talking about than you will on the book itself - I guess the skills he developed writing his last book, "Best Iphone Apps: The Guide for Discriminating Downloaders", gave him five star ability for picking great to awesome apps.
Also, while I almost never buy anymore actual paper books, this one is worth it - the color, gloss stock, painstaking layout and content structure would not be done justice as a .pdf.
I could write a longer review, but I'd rather go back to reading, re-reading, mulling and thinking about the what Josh covered in this book. Can't wait for the iPad book!Tapworthy: Designing Great iPhone Apps Overview
So you've got an idea for an iPhone app -- along with everyone else on the planet. Set your app apart with elegant design, efficient usability, and a healthy dose of personality. This accessible, well-written guide shows you how to design exceptional user experiences for the iPhone and iPod Touch through practical principles and a rich collection of visual examples.

Whether you're a designer, programmer, manager, or marketer, Tapworthy teaches you to "think iPhone" and helps you ask the right questions -- and get the right answers -- throughout the design process. You'll explore how considerations of design, psychology, culture, ergonomics, and usability combine to create a tapworthy app. Along the way, you'll get behind-the-scenes insights from the designers of apps like Facebook, USA Today, Twitterrific, and many others.

Develop your ideas from initial concept to finished design
Build an effortless user experience that rewards every tap
Explore the secrets of designing for touch
Discover how and why people really use iPhone apps
Learn to use iPhone controls the Apple way
Create your own personality-packed visuals
Ten Tips for Crafting Your App's Visual Identity
Choose a personality. Don't let your app's personality emerge by accident. Before you start designing, choose a personality for your app. The right personality for the right audience and features makes an app irresistible and creates a bonafide emotional connection. Tapworthy designs have the power to charm and beguile.
Voices (left) has a Vaudeville personality appropriate to a funny-voices novelty app. iShots Irish Edition (right) creates a gritty dive-bar ambience for its collection of drink recipes.

Favor standard controls. Because they're commonplace, the standard set of controls is sometimes dismissed as visually dull. Not so fast: commonplace means familiarity and ease for your audience. Conventions are critical to instant and effortless communication. Before creating a brand new interface metaphor or inventing your own custom controls, ask whether it might be done better with the built-in gadgetry.
A coat of paint. Standard controls don't have to be dreary. Use custom colors and graphics to give them a fresh identity. This technique requires a light touch, however; don't distract from the content itself or drain the meaning from otherwise familiar controls.
Wine Steward uses standard lists (known as table views in iOS) but creates a vintage ambience by draping a backdrop image across the screen. The app adds a parchment graphic to the background of each table cell, making each entry appear to be written on an aged wine label. The burgundy-tinted navigation bar maintains the app's wine flavor.

' You stay classy. Luxurious textures applied with taste increase your app's perceived value.
' Keep it real. Realistic lighting effects and colors create elements that invite touch and create an emotional attachment. They also provide subtle guidance about what your audience can interact with.
' Borrow interface metaphors from the physical world. Lean on users' real-world experience to create intuitive experiences. People will try anything on a touchscreen, for example, that they'd logically try on a physical object or with a mouse-driven cursor. Besides these practical benefits, using an everyday object as an interface metaphor imbues an app with the same associations that folks might have with the real McCoy--a shelf of books, a retro alarm clock, a much-used chessboard, a toy robot.
' Don't be afraid to take risks. Make sure your interfaces are intuitive, sure, but don't be afraid to try something completely new and different. Designers and developers are hatching fresh iPhone magic every day, and there's still much to explore and invent. While you should look hard at whether you might accomplish what you need to do with standard controls, it's also worth asking, Am I going far enough?
The app icon is your business card. The icon carries disproportionate weight in the marketing of your app, and it's important to give it disproportionate design attention, too. Be descriptive more than artistic. Make your app icon a literal description of your app's function, interface, name, or brand.
Use a dull launch image. Disguise your app's launch image as the app background for a faster perceived launch. Always cultivate the illusion of suspended animation when switching in and out of your app.
Be kind to new users. Provide simple welcome-mat pointers for first-timers. Beware of more complex help screens; they're warning signs of an overcomplicated interface.

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System Analysis, Design, and Development: Concepts, Principles, and Practices (Wiley Series in Systems Engineering and Management) Review

System Analysis, Design, and Development: Concepts, Principles, and Practices (Wiley Series in Systems Engineering and Management)
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System Analysis, Design, and Development: Concepts, Principles, and Practices (Wiley Series in Systems Engineering and Management) Review
.
.
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The author wrote this beook because he was concerned that many of the SE textbooks on the market were too philosophical, and decided to channel his energies into creating a text
that reflected his realities as an SE practitioner and program
manager.
The book includes
1) conceptual foundations in SE,
2) HOW TOs,
and
3) practitioner-based knowledge.
Since SE applies to any type of system from Space Shuttles to PDAs, organizations, services etc., Wasson built on the basic SE foundations from aerospace and defense in formulating a fresh new approach that canbe applied to any business domain - construction, communications, financial, medical, educational, transportation, etc.
The 57 chapters are "lesson oriented", developed for upper-undergraduate to graduate level students, focus on specific SE topics, and include two types of exercises: development of general systems, products, and services and organizational centric.
Instructors can take the topics to any level of detail they desire, depending on their audience.
System Analysis, Design, and Development: Concepts, Principles, and Practices (Wiley Series in Systems Engineering and Management) Overview
Written in a practical, easy to understand style, this text provides a step-by-step guide to System Analysis and Engineering by introducing concepts, principles, and practices via a progression of topical, lesson oriented chapters.
Each chapter focuses on specific aspects of system analysis, design, and development, and includes definitions of key terms, examples, author's notes, key principles, and challenging exercises that teach readers to apply their knowledge to real world systems.
Concepts and methodologies presented can be applied by organizations in business sectors such as transportation, construction, medical, financial, education, aerospace and defense, utilities, government, and others, regardless of size.
An excellent undergraduate or graduate-level textbook in systems analysis and engineering, this book is written for both new and experienced professionals who acquire, design, develop, deploy, operate, or support systems, products, or services.


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Principles and Guidelines in Software User Interface Design Review

Principles and Guidelines in Software User Interface Design
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Principles and Guidelines in Software User Interface Design ReviewGood book. List coherently the do's and don'ts of interface design. The kind of stuff you think you know but don't practice. Actually give reasons why you should do it 'her' way but undeniably well-founded. I have used it for teaching HCI for several years now though not as a text book. One fault is that the lists of guidelines are endless. This is always the way with guidelines since they are so easy to give but difficult to follow or to interpret how one should implement the guideline. Still, I commend her section on mental models and screen layout. In particular the latter topic is still relevant despite the progress since publication.Principles and Guidelines in Software User Interface Design OverviewHere's a comprehensive sourcebook, filled with concrete designguidelines for developing clear software interfaces. In it, readerswill find practical guidelines including the high level conceptualmodel, dialog styles, organization of functionality to support usertasks, and effective error handling. Suitable for novice andexperienced software development professionals. Based on extensiveresearch in human computer interaction. Provides guidance for boththe design of traditional interfaces, such as menus and fill-informs implemented on character-based screens, and for the design ofstate-of-the-art user interfaces such as direct manipulationinterfaces including graphics, color, windows, and pointing devices.e

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GUI Bloopers: Don'ts and Do's for Software Developers and Web Designers (Interactive Technologies) Review

GUI Bloopers: Don'ts and Do's for Software Developers and Web Designers (Interactive Technologies)
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GUI Bloopers: Don'ts and Do's for Software Developers and Web Designers (Interactive Technologies) ReviewPerhaps this is beside the point, but I was hoping that this book would contain some element of lighthearted humor while discussing such a dry topic. It does not.
The introduction states explicitly that the book is not intending to discuss either UI examples that are the most flagrantly hilarious, or examples that are the worst. Rather, the book critiques UI examples that are some of the most common. The examples are good, and described in depth, with specific reasons given for their classification as mistakes. There are also suggestions in some cases for how the designers could have avoided the blooper.
As a visual designer working primarily on the Web, I found this book as a good place to start learning more about the basics of an analytical approach to User Interface design. Even though the book focusses mostly on stand-alone application design, the principles can still be applied to UI issues on the Web, certainly in Web design using forms or heavy information structure. Some examples are hard to apply to the Web, for instance, the bloopers dealing with application menubar design issues are not widely applicable to Web pages. However, this book provides a great overview of the philosophy and process of UI design.
The worst thing I can say about this book, is that it isn't any fun to read, despite the impression given by the title. Since I come from a less analytical perspective on the topic, it definitely takes some determination to read this, although it is written in a straightforward and accessible manner. The most annoying aspect of the writing is that Jeff Johnson has apparently developed some bitterness towards everyone who is not a UI professional, and he rants constantly about developers, designers, marketing, and management. While his reasoning is usually valid, many entries read like the author is venting his issues to his psychiatrist after a hard week of consulting. With all the jaded complaining about developers (who seem to be his favorite target), I can't believe any of them can tolerate reading this book.
If you can get past Jeff Johnson's fanatical personality then there is much good insight to be gained from this book, for all User Interface novices.GUI Bloopers: Don'ts and Do's for Software Developers and Web Designers (Interactive Technologies) Overview

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