Archive for the ‘As it goes’ Category

Mobile Web vs Native Apps

I was invited to speak at the ClickAsiaMasterClass today here in Singapore on the topic, “Mobile Web vs Native Apps”. There are qualified and obvious cases where native apps provide a means for a better product. Although, being an active lobbyist for open web standards, it comes easy for me to see when the open web trumps over proprietary platforms.

That being said, I am all game for the innovation that happens on new platforms. Don’t let standards stop you from innovating. Do keep in mind that you should be building for the user and not a platform.

It’s ironical, but easy to see that, the app wars are becoming the new browser wars.

You can download my slides here

Mobileweb vs iphoneapps

Product Design – Mobile Apps

If you have never been to Vietnam, I have a few tips for you from my first ever trip there (to Saigon):

  • When paying, count your zeros
  • When counting your zeros, decimal comma is not the same as decimal point
  • Don’t leave your $30 t-shirt in your $15 a night hotel room
  • Ice in beer can prevent hangovers
  • Saigon Red beer is better than Saigon Green

I was in Saigon, Vietnam over the weekend for BarcampSaigon and I really liked it. Loved the food, the people, the weather & the barcamp. At the Barcamp, I spoke about my workflow for designing products – mobile apps to be specific. I’ve uploaded the slides from the talk for download here

Slides for Product Design - Mobile Apps

Other links from my talks:

I’ll be going back to Vietnam in a month, this time to Hanoi – hoping it’s as good as Saigon.

Prototyping iPhone apps with Keynote & Kodak Picture kiosks

Last week I hosted the “UX Panel” at Echelon 2011 and after the event quite a few people asked me about my workflow for wire-framing and prototyping. I’ve been meaning to talk about my this at the next IXD Session meetup, so I thought I’ll write some about it here as well.

Below is a summary of my pre-production design methodology specifically for iPhone apps. It’s relatively cheap, allows for quick iterations and has been working well for me so far.

1. Sketching (pencil/paper or whiteboard)

Lately I’ve become very obsessed about sketching every Idea we discuss in the stage where we are brainstorming to define the product. This always makes me convey my thoughts better and helps me remember more.

2. Wireframing using Keynote

I know a lot of people who swear by Omnigraffle. Especially folks who’ve been wireframing since early OSX days, for instance my good friend Wolf. I’ve personally never been able to warm up to it. Instead I’ve been using Keynote & Mockapp. I start with a base template (outline of the iPhone) which you can download from the link below:

Download: iPhone4 base template for Keynote wireframing

I’ve found keynote simple enough and quite versatile to do quick wireframing. With Mockapp it’s just a matter of dragging and dropping the iPhone controls (and they are made as shapes so you can edit them within keynote all you want).

3. Prototyping & User testing

My keynote wireframes turn into my paper-prototypes. I export the wireframes as images, put them on a USB stick and print at the nearest Kodak Picture kiosk I can find. It’s cheap and I can iterate very quickly as well. I use these for testing – which ofcourse, is the most important part of the entire design process.

4. Final wireframes and design comps

After the testing I aim to have exhaustive wireframes with as many screens as possible – including error scenarios and detailed settings. From here, the mockups are designed in Photoshop/Illustrator.

This is a rough workflow and ofcourse gets tweaked depending on the project. Hope this can be of help to someone!

PS – I was totally excited and extremely nervous about moderating the panel at Echelon 2011, but a big thanks to my panelists who absolutely rocked! – Richard White, Ian McFarland and Dustin Curtis.

Nokia trying to change

Nokia CEO Stephon Ellop wrote, in a recent memo, to his colleagues:

Our competitors aren’t taking our market share with devices; they are taking our market share with an entire ecosystem. This means we’re going to have to decide how we either build, catalyse or join an ecosystem.

Very interesting words. Nokia definitely needs drastic measures. I wonder what stopped him from making this a public blog post? Call me the skeptic, but I find it hard to believe that this is not just another internal “motivational email” from the new CEO.

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Navjot Pawera (aka Nav)

UX, UI, Product design guy. These days, I'm working on creating new stuff at Bubble Motion. I am a silent partner at ExtraThought - a user experience design consultancy. I also curate the IXD Sessions in Singapore.

You should follow me on Twitter here.

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