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The iPad, the Kindle and the Nook, Will They Influence a Paradigm Shift in our Approach to Design?

What’s up with these new gizmos - so much buzz and hype! It may actually be for good reason. I don’t yet own one of these devices but, believe or not, I had the privilege of designing one of the first apps to launch with the iPad. We pretty much had to design blind as the yet-to-be-launched device was under lock and key… I quickly came to realize that I had to approach design in a significantly different way. They say that the approach is similar to designing for the iPhone but even that’s a reach. The iPad is 4 times larger therefore there is much more room for content, navigation, ads, etc. not to mention various new gestures have been added to the mix.

Sure, we can make pretty pictures all day - that’s easy, but what about usability and way finding? How do we create new and intuitive visual queues that help guide the user down a particular path?

Writer Steven Levy of Wired Magazine paints a picture in broad strokes but I found his article inspiring. It may be a bit apple-centric but it’s worth a look!

Does Your Website Look Good on an iPad?

Thanks to the folks over at iPad Peek you can get a quick preview of how your site renders in the iPad both landscape and portrait modes.

The web preview has a few limitations. There, of course, is no touch scrolling, ads turn into pop-ups and flash will still render in the emulator. The real-deal doesn’t support flash. Either way it’s a convenient way to quickly get an idea of how your website will look in the iPad. Take a peek: ipadpeek.com

iPad Application Design – Pixelube’s First!

BigOven iconA couple years ago we had the pleasure of meeting and working with the folks over at BigOven. We collaborated to create the new brand and web site for BigOven.com. Since then the site has grown by leaps and bounds. They’ve launched a variety of new features, released an iPhone app and over the weekend BigOven debuted its new iPad application.

I have yet to purchase an iPad but it has been a true pleasure to work on the UI design for BigOven’s application. Due to a dedicated team made up of a handful of super-smart folks, we were lucky enough to be one of the featured apps in the iPad store upon this weekend’s debut.

The BigOven iPad application has a variety of great features. The app taps into BigOven’s database of over 170,000 plus recipes contributed by a gamut of users ranging from the novice to the professional chef. Users are empowered to:

  • Look up any recipe or post your own, free, to BigOven.com
  • Create grocery lists from recipes
  • Sync grocery lists via the web, iPhone and or Android
  • Post and organize your own recipes via BigOven.com
  • Post and read user-generated recipe reviews
  • View and post photos and much more…

ipad-anim

We try not to toot our horns much over here but felt compelled to quote our big BigOven client:

“Vince, I’m such a fan of the clean, crisp look you’ve created, from the logo itself to the colors, and the brand signature that you created just rules the roost. The graphic design of this app makes it really something special. ~Steve Murch”


You can take a quick peek of the application here.

All of the hype wrapped around the new iPad has been interesting, to say the least. Especially interesting are the variety of press and reviews wrapped around our application. They started to trickle in last Monday. If you’re interested, you can see a few of them here:

Oh, and of course, if you’re interested in purchasing the BigOven app, you can do so here:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/170-000-recipes-grocery-list/id364151212?mt=8

16 iPad Design and User Interface Resources

ipad_blog_01
A few weeks ago a client of mine shot me email indicating that he might be interested in creating an iPad application. By the end of that week my client was oozing so much enthusiasm for creating something that I was only happy to oblige. He already had a huge web site with a substantial amount of users and he was working on the 3rd iteration of a related iPhone app so it only seemed natural that we dive right into something for the iPad.

Where to start? Everyone’s completely green. I’m fairly certain the only real experts at iPad design and development would be the folks out at Apple and even they are waiting on folks like us to help interpret and define what the iPad is fully capable of.

Once I got the official “green light” from my client. I kicked of the project by mining for as much information as I could find. As a result I’ve compiled a list of iPad resources that I hope will be of use. Read the rest of this entry…

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Pixelube is a design studio based in Seattle Washington. We specialize in logo, identity, web and print design—design that sparks interest, builds equity and generates revenue.

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