Tapworthy

Introduction

DESIGNING APPS FOR DELIGHT AND USABILITY

“WE NEED AN IPHONE APP.” You’ve almost certainly heard that one at the office. Or in a conversation with chums. Maybe even around your own kitchen table. Since you’re reading this book, you’ve probably even said it yourself.

You’re right: you do need an iPhone app. Apple’s glossy gadget touched off a whole new kind of computing—personal, intimate, and convenient—that has become both passion and habit for millions of regular folks. That’s not going away; looking ahead, we’re not going to spend less time with our phones, our tablets, our on-the-go internet devices. More and more, getting in front of people means getting on mobile devices, starting with the iPhone. It’s a device with the following and technology to get your stuff out there with a rare combination of volume and style.

But First . . . Breathe

An iPhone app isn’t an end in itself. It’s not something to be hustled through, just so you can check it off your list. There’s a whiff in the air of the go-go website panic of the 1990s, when everyone rushed to cobble together some HTML just to have a website, any website, with little consideration of either usefulness or usability. It was at once a period of heady innovation and herd-following mediocrity. The same holds for iPhone apps today. There are mind-bending creations to be found in the App Store, but the store is also chockablock with time-wasting duds. You can do better.

Set your app apart with elegant design. This means ...