Your app has become another victim of the latest trend, joining a whopping 41% of today’s apps that are abandoned after only a single use. The most impressive warship of the day, Vasa floundered and sank just one mile into its maiden voyage due to fundamental design issues. In this article, Greg Nudelman will explore how the lessons from the Vasa ship can help you keep your mobile project from sinking right out of the port. Before you begin, put your vision in place as a storyboard. Take the time to test it with potential customers and stakeholders — ensure that they are as enthusiastic about your idea as you are.
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There are three different scenarios for UI multiplatform adaptation: retaining brand consistency; aligning with the conventions specific to the platform; and seeking a balance between the two. We decided to analyze these three approaches by looking at the most popular apps out there so that you get some insight into what method might work best for you. When we design apps, we should always remember that we do it for real people to use on real devices in the real world. In fact, it’s not a brand, or a platform, or even your creativity that’s important. The only thing that matters is users.
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Alex Komarov wanted to make dealing with time zone differences less painful. So he started playing around with an iWatch app idea. Yeah, you read that right — 2014 and iWatch, before a watch had ever been announced. When you are trying to bring something new to life, there are risks and uncertainties associated with it. It’s a part of the game. Alex was aware of these risks and decided to take a shot anyway. He doesn’t regret it. History shows that Apple products become more open over time.
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Competition in the App Store is fierce, and if an indie app developer wants to get noticed, having an amazing product is no longer enough. As the number of mobile users grows, new apps pop up daily. To make yours a success, be strategic about how you design the “shop window” for your app — the app’s page. A/B testing and optimization of the icon, screenshots and video preview will give you a better chance of higher conversions, a higher volume of organic downloads and a better return on your investment in user acquisition.
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It’s no secret that the crowdfunding industry is booming. It seems like every day you hear about an exciting new startup crushing their campaign goals and launching their company via Kickstarter or Indiegogo. Up to this point most software startups have failed to take advantage of this growing movement. In this article Matt Ward will cover the highs and lows of app-based crowdfunding, the purpose being to shed light on common software flaws seen in crowdfunding to ideally help your campaigns prosper. And whether you choose to use crowdfunding to jump-start your startup or not, many of the following concepts go well beyond initial launch-stage success.
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Before the launch of the Apple Watch, Nikolay Morev’s iOS team at myMail (one of the popular alternative email apps for iOS) worked tirelessly with a simulator to create a new Apple Watch app. They wanted the first buyers of the Apple Watch to have the opportunity to use myMail from day one. What they learned through using the simulator and creating the app is described in this article and will help iOS developers get to results, faster, and avoid a few headaches down the road. Happy designing for the Watch!
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Because Foundation for Apps was only released at the end of 2014, it hasn’t yet seen widespread usage, so there are few good sources of information on using the framework. In this article, Stephen Saucier brings you a comprehensive guide to build a functional web app with Foundation for Apps from start to finish. The techniques detailed here are fundamental to building practically any kind of app for any client, and this tutorial also serves as a strong introduction to the wider world of AngularJS and single-page apps.
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Recently, with the creation of modern web frameworks such as AngularJS and Ember, we’ve seen a push to render on the client and only use a server for an API. We’re now seeing a possible return or, rather, more of a combination of both architectures happening. Web architecture definitely goes through cycles. We started out rendering everything on the server and shipping it down to the client. Then, JavaScript came along, and we started using it for simple page interactions. At some point, JavaScript grew up and we realized it could be used to build large applications that render all on the client and that use the server to retrieve data through an API.
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In the first part of this series, David Tucker walked through a messaging application demo powered by the Kinvey application. He explored how to leverage user management, file storage and the data store. To complete the demo, you need to leverage two key pieces of Kinvey functionality: the permissions provided by the data store, and push notifications, which are enabled through the business logic functionality. With this article, you will have seen ways that an MBaaS solution can help you to create compelling business- and consumer-focused mobile experiences. This certainly is a space with a lot of focus at the moment, and David expects rapid maturity and evolution of these services over the next year.
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Designing mobile apps requires a deep knowledge of devices, and it often means changing the way we think — even if that means leaving behind much of what we’ve learned from designing for the web. Changing one’s mindset to adapt to apps comes from the inside. No one will force you to do it. If you don’t adjust, you run the risk of becoming little more than an icon factory, just a small step in a larger process of design. Designing apps requires a new way of thinking. It’s time to leave our web design boxes and to understand smartphones, tablets and even watches as separate and distinct devices.
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