Iphone App Reflection

This project was a complete new level of interactive design. It was more challenging than just a webpage because you have to worry about the user interface and interactions in more detail. You only have a small screen and you have to use multiple screens to show the task, where on the web you have much more room. You also have to pay attention to tiny details, because this screen is so sharp and right in your face, any mistake will show. It has to be clean and simple, but complex in a way that makes your user feel at ease and comfortable.

I am not sure that I completely achieved this in my design. I think I improved on working through the wireframe process and the backbone for the app, but designing was challenging. I had ideas and wanted to convey them but it was difficult to get everything in there without feeling messy or uncomfortable. On the web there is a grid you can use to make it feel structured, but with this you have an empty rectangle and you have to make your own guidelines for spacing and putting in information randomly was challenging to make it fit in a structure. I think on my pages the main elements are done really well, like the header bar and the icon bar at the bottom, but figuring out a way to make the content work was difficult. I worked for a long time on them and I feel like they still dont feel quite right, or like I would not want to use this app until some things are re-organized or moved around. Sizing was completely different and somewhat of a challenge as well, changing over from the huge web screen to the tiny iphone screen. I think I want to re-work my first two pages because they feel too crammed, and then my last few pages dont feel believable, or real. I am not sure how to do that other than look at more apps to solve this problem.

Overall I am glad we did a mobile app because it helped me learn a new way of designing and it will be a good thing to say that I can do. I think that, like our first webpage, our first app will not be quite perfect because we are trying to learn something new, but considering it worked out pretty well.