Eric – July 22 assignment
My name is Eric French. I’m from Costa Rica and I have a background in digital journalism and community organizing, and I am now working my way into UX design. Have been freelancing the last year or so doing UX research. My passions are participatory democracy and journalism so we get more people involved in the information-gathering + decision-making process that affects us directly. I also love futbol and Barcelona is my favorite team.
Things I didn’t know about the iOS Human Interface Guidelines:
Though I didn’t do it well in my own wireframes, an app should provide two versions of the tab icons, one to signify when it’s selected and the other when it’s not.
I like color, but the guidelines show how much more elegant and usable an app is if the amount of color is limited to what it’s functional so it doesn’t distract from the task at hand. At the same time, it made me consider how much testing should be done so the use of color is accessible to all users (so take into account color blindness or how the those colors might look in different settings/conditions).
In general, the guidelines make the case that less is more: not to crowd the navigation bar with too many controls for example. It is about communicating the essentials: what the user needs to know at that moment to do the task at hand. Is a file loading? What are the actions that I can take now? Also, haptic feedback can reinforce actions, and it’s something that, though I know it happens, I don’t notice it because it works seamlessly and it feels natural. And talking of which, didn’t know you could undo or redo by shaking your phone!
One thing that seems contradictory about the guidelines talking about consistency and usability. I can’t access the download button to get the Sketch UI Design resources!
App concept
The first thing that I thought of when Drew mentioned making an app involving food was a particular instance when my partner and her sisters began sharing things that they should cook for the week based on what one of them had already cooked. My partner has also created written cookbooks for her family members as gifts, so I thought that it would be cool to make this process more effective and instant. So the Collaborative Cookbook app aims to be a simple way to add cooking recipes (that a user can have as their own personal cookbook, with notes and other), but also a way to share those recipes that you love with your closest friends and relatives so they can also enjoy what you make. And if you want to create particular groups (like how you can create WhatsApp groups) that have particular tastes, like my partner and her sisters, then you can do so as well.
Site map:
Wireframes:
