Paper by Studio 53

fifty-three-paper-app-4

Most of you all who have an iPad might already had this app installed in yours. Paper is an awesome drawing app with very intuitive interface. The app was released about a year ago by studio 53 which are consisted of mostly the team member who was behind the project Courier at Microsoft before the project was abandoned. While back then when the app was released, there were many drawing apps in the market already such as Autodesk’s sketchbook, and all other small developer’s app. However, Paper was able to get the spotlight from the whole tech scene not just because of the developers are already people in tech, but also the app itself took a very interesting design approach to how drawing app in iPad should looks like.

Paper draws the interaction design quality as if the user is using a Moleskine notebook, not a random papers like what the other apps had. The menu interface is borrowing from that older medium interactions of selecting a book, open the book, flip the pages, etc. Smooth transitions between each mode provided by genius coding (OpenGL?) also enhance this design approach dramatically. The user instantly understand what should they do within this app, as most interactions are ‘borrowed’ from what they already know.

Another point that I’m really interested in while look into this app is that the app is refined to the finest detail of interactions. Yet those finest details are possible because the app is very focused on  design for iPad. The app don’t have an iPhone variations, it is design for the device. And it also even don’t have a portrait mode interface. I like how they make a design choice of striping down unnecessary fragmentations and focused on the main value of the app.

While new recently added function like zooming or color mixing is doubtably a major improvement of the experience. I still admire the innovation the app provide. It’s kinda irony actually, to says that by bringing the old mediums interaction into the new device is an innovation. But I believe that how good innovative design should works: bring functionality that technologies provided to the hand of human in very intuitive way. And this became the inspiration of why I want to make the Giflip as my and Ceyda’s final project. It’s mashing older and newer medium together and ask the question to the user and allow them make the connection between the two. Lower the learning curve of ‘understanding the technology’ and empowering ‘playing with technology’ for the users.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/3/29/2909537/paper-drawing-ipad-app-fiftythree-brains-behind-courier

GIFlip

GIFlip (gif-flip) is a gif sharing social networks app that allow the user to record and share their creation of gif animation from their mobile phone. Not to overload the user with too much moving content, the app borrow interaction from our beloved flipbook animation. User have to swipe their finger through the picture to flip the gif and see the movement of the animation.

The app also simplify the process of making GIF physical by allow the user to order a print out version of their GIF from our preferred printer around the world and send your GIFlipbook right to your door.

 

wireframes

iPadGiflip

project ideas

1. thatthey – an iPad game.

UI design for my thesis in collaboration with Paul Cheng.
The game is focused on local multiplayer context and tablet devices. As gestural two player game, player have to hold the same device at the same time to play the game.

The chance to do this project for this class would also be a chance to design UI for future proposal in online/wireless multiplayer context for phone/small touch screen devices.
more info: thesis2013.tothong.com

2. parti – Internet of party app

PARTIes
PARTIcles
PARTIcipatory

UI design for my collaboration with Qiuyi Wu for AVsys and Sensemaker class finals.
PARTI is a participatory mobile data collection app for audio/visual performance in context of party and concert.

The app collect and feed user’s movement track by device’s accelerometer to the server (we are using Cosm for prototyping, server-side application might require for more powerful and realtime system.) The data would then parse live by VJ/performer to make a live visual that react to participant’s movement. Each individual would be represented as a particles on the environment. VJ would have a chance to perform a visual piece live with live feed data from participant by conduct how the data.

After the event, the data collected then can be playback in the web interface. You can see how dynamic the event was and how the audience was moved by the performance, literrally 🙂

3. sdub – listening device

Sdub is a sonic frameworks for ‘listening to’ data. The app allow user to access different data available on the internet and locally on the device and allow the user to make a composition of how the data and audio should interact.

This project was my final project for Major Studio 2. more info: interactivity.tothong.com

 

Dear future teammate

Hi what’s up class,

Just curious if there is anyone out there still don’t have a teammate yet. I was initially planning to pair up with Yong but seems like he has some kind of complicated situation that he might not be able to attend the class anymore. So if there is anyone without a teammate, please shout out to me or email me at litchirhythm at gmail dot com.

See you all on Monday,
firm

Monday Play: Ridiculous Fishing!

The most vocal app in my twitter feed (where I tried to stalked as many indie game developer as possible) these few weeks can’t be any other game aside Ridiculous Fishing by Vlambeer!

6 seconds trailer on Vine

The game consisted of a few ridiculous sequence of game play mechanic. First you throw your bait into the water and avoid the fish by tilt your iOS device to dive down as deep as possible. Then once you caught the fish, the bait now will go up back to the surface, and this time, you will want to catch all fish on the way (except those Jellyfish that cost you money if you kill them). I love this part because of the reverse background music make this part of the experience very enjoyable. And last step when the fish reached the surface, the fishes then fly into the sky and you have to pick up your gun and shoot’em up! All the fishes you can’t shoot in the air will go back into water and you won’t get anything from them. Rambo-style background music also make this part of the game play, although seems very violent, feels very pleasant.

Another best part of the game is a series of refined feedback loops. For example, Fish-o-pedia that tell you how many kind of fish you have caught so far, an achievement system and new maps that unlocked through number of new kind of fish you caught, A store that sells items a the price that is always ‘a few session away’. That combined with an unexpected game ending with a meta-story, remind me a bit of a Monster Hunters series in PSP I used to play with my friends a few years ago. The game contains almost endless feedback loops, many of my friends spent 3-digit hours on each version of the game. While not as hardcore, a casual and refined Ridiculous Fishing can easily steal your two-digit hour to complete the whole game.

Rami, co-founder of Vlambeer, was at our thesis class (Colleen’s session) after a recent indie game conference, IndieCade East. I was lucky to play this game before it released and got many valuable feedback on our thesis game from him and others indie game developer that dropped by our class that day. In a long and windy road of indie game developer, self management is one of the most important thing you have to deal with, if you want to make sure what you doing can make your living, that is. We discussed work process technique like Pomodoro technique, that helps maximize the time with a short step goal.

Another interesting note about the game can be read here on article on the verge about the story about how the game had suffered from an iOS clone that was done by other company called Ninja Fishing and how game quality, originality and refinement won over the clone. http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/14/4102068/ridiculous-fishing-ipad-game-from-super-crate-box-team

Game art jam session: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sctsbf8baQ

4chette (previously known as arma cookbook)

wireframe can be seen here:
4chetteSketch

001

002

 

The name 4chette derived from french word, fourchette which means fork.

003

004

005

006

 

three main interaction on the platform: to read and navigate through content, to create and fork recipe, and to share with social networks friends.

007

interaction breaks down that would goes into the app’s tab bar

008 009 010

011

outline for upcoming recipe page012

two ways of user generating content: to create new unique dish or to fork a variation of existing dish

013 014 015 016

 

Feedbacks
– a bit too hard to imagine the app as a whole with out an app map layout
– similarity of home (feed) page and browse page, these two can be combined as one page.
– How could user check out his own contributed recipe, how that separate with the collection that user curated from other users
– every steps in food instruction shouldn’t need a photo
– saving draft of the recipe create/fork page is too much, can just take this function out to simplify the app as a whole
– adding content should be more significant function and should have its place in tab bar
– how to edit existing content in forking edit page

Arma’s cookbook

Here is a wireframe that reflect on 3 key elements of the app: recipe, friends/participants, and ingredient. First main interaction would be to explore recipe feed from subscriptions (self-curated, Flipboard-style.) While another main point of the app is about to collect metadata of friends, event become the main interaction of the system that all three main elements come together. Added friend’s metadata become a filter for menu selection page.

arma cookbook

 

POP interactive prototype can be played here

Dieter Ramble | Perfect Pinch

Dieter Ramble

The app with working title as Dieter Ramble, is an app that basically is a dynamic recipe app for cooking by yourself.

Remember your grandmother’s cookbook? She spent most of her life raising children and grand children. And by the time that you just started to remember anything at all. Your favorite dishes, or your sibling’s or even your parents are all recorded in a hand written small book. That dynamic of trial and errors combined with love and absolutely a lot of time goes into curating those ingredient just for you. The taste to be called ‘home’.

Inspired by Flipboard, the recipe is not curated by the admin or need to search to specific menu by yourself but it will automatically curate the menu depends on user’s input of:

  • participants > who is eating? what are their feedback from last time? Oh this guy can’t handle spicy food? ok no more spicy next time he join us!
  • favorite dish and style > it can suggest similar menu and variation that you can try next time you cook.
  • local availability of the ingredient > you can input your local ingredients to the system so that it can take you to the menu that use those. it will also ask you to look for new ingredient every once in a while. so that your taste range expand.
  • nutrient > balance meal is hard to find on any cookbook, the app will help you consider if you have a main dish in mind what is the best/ easiest possible side dish to go along with it.
  • allergy > it can provide alternative ingredient/ menu that avoid using those ingredient that the participants allergic from so that they can have their meal with ease.

You can keep record and add feedback to your dish. Those review will go into account of which menu should it be for the next cooking session!

 

Perfect Pinch

Like in music, people with perfect pitch is those who are able to “know exactly” what the notes are as they hearing it. This app, perfect pinch, is an opensource community with an perfect tongue that can “know exactly” what goes into an elegant menu in front of them. Like wikipedia, this app allow the user to contribute their take on guessing, share their knowledge, discuss about what exactly goes into making chef-like menu.

The app is location-based and navigate by restaurant. Imagine the new restaurant open up at the corner of your street and then perfect pincher start to put up the whole menu on the site then deciphering each key ingredient and possible technique used on each menu. A lot of fun, isn’t it?

Each user will interact through scoring system, similar to what stackoverflow have. Those who are curious about how to make this menu better goes into this app and put the flag on the restaurant. Those who come up with the most voted answer get points. There is also achievement system coming with these points. more point, more respectful you are in the community.