Developing a Student Media App

Presented by Jeff Linwood on October 30, 2015 at the ACP/CMA National College Media Convention in Austin, Texas

Transcript

1. DEVELOPING A STUDENT
   MEDIA APP
   JEFF LINWOOD
   OCTOBER 30, 2015
   

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2. About Jeff Linwood
   Mobile App Developer for iOS and Android
   
   Adjunct Lecturer at UT-Austin School of
   Journalism - teaching mobile app development
   
   Biscotti Labs - http://www.biscottilabs.com/
   

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3. Developing a Student
   Media App
   Considerations
   
   Planning
   
   Design and Prototyping
   
   Interfacing with your CMS
   
   Taking Advantage of Native Apps
   
   Alternatives to a Full Project
   

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4. Considerations
   Who will develop the app?
   
   Which platform? Android, iOS, or both?
   
   Will you have enough differentiation from your
   mobile web site to make an app worthwhile?
   
   Can you work with an existing class or
   independent study?
   
   Fully responsive web site should come first
   

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5. Planning
   Mobile Apps can take a lot longer to put together
   than a content-driven web site
   
   Can be very hard to determine exactly what
   features need to go into the app, and how it
   should look
   
   Focus on design and prototyping first
   

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6. Design and Prototyping
   You can (and should) start the project without
   writing a line of code
   
   Use prototype tools (such as Balsamiq Mockups
   or Proto.io) to create low-fidelity mockups
   
   Can also just draw with pen on paper!
   
   Take them out to users! See if they would prefer to
   use an app instead of your web site - show both
   side by side
   

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7. High Fidelity Designs
   After refining your low fidelity mockups, you can
   start on visual styles
   
   Colors, fonts, margins
   
   Responsive Designs - many different device sizes
   

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8. Design Resources
   Google Fonts - Open Source Fonts - https://
   www.google.com/fonts
   
   Adobe Color - Color Themes - https://color.adobe.com/
   create/color-wheel/
   
   MediaLoot - Icons, Mobile UI - http://medialoot.com
   
   Design for Android - http://developer.android.com/design/
   index.html
   
   Design for iOS - https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/
   documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/MobileHIG/
   

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9. Planning Development
   Recommend 2-3 programmers per platform
   
   Helps to have someone on the team who has
   published an app before
   
   Could take an entire semester to have the most
   basic functionality
   
   May want to design and prototype in the spring
   semester, start development in the fall semester
   

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10. CMS Integration
    Integrating with the CMS will be the most difficult
    part
    
    REST API - what does this mean?
    
    Toolkits for WordPress and Drupal
    
    Other CMS vendors may provide SDKs or APIs
    

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11. Taking Advantage of Apps
    What could you do with wearables like the Apple
    Watch?
    
    Could you have an app on the Apple TV with your
    video content?
    
    Could you use push notifications?
    
    Could you use mapping or geolocation?
    
    Could you use the camera?
    

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12. Alternatives
    Don't have to recreate your entire web site as an
    app
    
    Creative ways to use existing content or get social
    engagement
    
    Restaurant review app - map with call outs
    
    Quick polls app
    
    Event Listing app
    

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13. Q & A
    Any thoughts on app development for student
    media?
    

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14. Wrap-Up
    If you have questions, reach out
    
    jlinwood@gmail.com
    
    @jefflinwood
    
    http://www.jefflinwood.com/
    
    http://www.biscottilabs.com/
    

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