Designing user experience and interaction design for an Ipad: best practices part 1

The principles of design apps on an I Pad

This is the first of many post of me  exploring the principles of designing an app or a product on an IPad. This covers the preparation, brainstorming and developing a structure.  

Defining the audience 

One of the most common practices is to think of the 'design of the people'. Asking yourself about the why and the who. This process involves designers defining their audience by identifying their demography, profession, where they live and interest. Considering the Interest and profession enables the designer to create a product with the right content and purpose. 

In my case, it is producing a concise and interactive guide to reefs in a form of an Ibook. Sketching a visual brainstorm enabled me to identify that the students at Sussex Downs College are taking level 3 programs. This means that the book must not have too many confusing jargon terms, feature accurate information and the design needs a captivating look. 

Defining the machine 

In terms of identifying the gadget, it is best to think of lifestyle rather than the features. The things to considers is its weight, where would people access their device, does it need Wifi to make the interactive feature function. Doing this activity prepares designer to produces a product that anticipates the needs of the user. 

As part of my visual brainstorms, sketched an I pad and then define its features, such as it weight, touch scree  features, apps and among other features. Doing this enabled me to understand the machine and 


Minimalism Works Best on iPad

An experience designer on Smashing Magazine suggested that designers get carried away when dealing with the layout and features.  The best solution for this is to think of the relevant content and controls to ensure the app offers efficient user experience.  

When I was developing my content I was sketching a visual structure to establish chapters and sections. After this, I used Lowgren's method stating the problem and inserting a solution in parallel. This process involved me gathering the chosen ideas, such as the game, and then insert them into a table. This table contains 3 columns, idea, problem and then solution.  It was identified that the applying games into a page filled with loads of text may be too much for eyes to experience. The solution for this is to insert a page featuring a game looking visually pleasing to the eye. 

Don’t Do Crazy Navigation Unless It’s A Game Or One-Hit Wonder.

Although an interactive links is great for games, it is suggested to keep complex navigation to a minimum. Using my knowledge gained studying usability and interface design. users do not want an experience where he or she would get confused. As Neison argues, usability is about how the efficiency how the user feels about the produce and accomplishes the tasks. Applying an unlearnable navigation bar on every page would most likely cause the audience to leave the book. 

http://uxdesign.smashingmagazine.com/2012/01/31/ten-things-think-about-designing-ipad-app/
http://mobile.smashingmagazine.com/2010/04/16/design-tips-for-your-ipad-app/