Making your app nice for humans

At September 2011's LiDG meetup, I spoke about a good approach to take when designing software to come at it from the user's perspective.

Transcript

1. Making your apps nice for humans Alex Rozanski @alexrozanski
2. Make workflow your design focus
4. Burn movies movies
5. Burn movies movies “I don’t want to hear anything about drawers or pop-out [windows]” - Steve Jobs
6. • Design your app at a high level first • Draw a flow chart of your app’s workflow • Think about design at a user level, not a coding level • Changes are easier to make at this stage before any detail is added
7. Design away from Xcode
8. “In fact, do high-level design away from a computer (or equivalent device)” - Me (or equivalent device)
13. • Makes you think about the core function of the application • Not tempted to design from a code perspective • Not tempted to start to build stuff before you know how everything will fit together • Changes are harder to incorporate later
14. Optimise for screens and taps
15. Optimise for screens and taps minimum number of
23. 4 taps 3 screens ...just to turn off 3G
24. • Keep screens and screen transitions to a minimum • Optimise workflow for actions which are commonly performed • Optimise workflow for “micro- moments”
25. Form ≈ Function
26. Form ≈ Function “form follows function” principle:
27. Form > function
38. When your app becomes unresponsive to input, you remind your user that all they’re doing is touching a piece of glass
39. Form < function
41. • Strike a balance between aesthetics and functionality • People like apps which look pretty • But you are crafting the entire experience
42. Extend the standard interface
45. Navigation Bar
46. Navigation Bar Table View
47. Navigation Bar Table View Tab Bar
51. • Build custom user interface on standard patterns • Follow the Human Interface Guidelines • Doing these will make using your app easier to learn
52. Surprise your users
53. Surprise your users *in a good way *
63. • The little details can make a big difference to your user’s opinion of the app • Make the user feel like you’ve designed the app with them in mind.
65. Summary
66. • Think • User-centred design • Plan before diving in • Details can make a good app, great
67. Questions? Alex Rozanski @alexrozanski