I’ve setup a resources page dedicated to tracking helpful tools, templates and tips for the Mac design application Sketch. It is a relatively new and promising vector graphics app, created by Bohemian Coding. Check out this new resources page.
I contributed an entry to the Pingup blog regarding the online booking of appointments (web and mobile). Read the full article here…
We’ve been working away on a number of efforts at Pingup and are now able to start sharing some of our high-level thinking in some recent blog posts. I wrote one that briefly describes our work toward creating a common UX for multiple types of ‘Scheduling’ activities. Here’s a snippet:
In looking at the challenge, we have been exploring how scheduling and transactional flows can be broken down into a series of similar high-level steps. While we realize that there will be nuances to the flows of different types of venues, our aim is to provide a consistent UX within our app for a variety of booking scenarios. Consistency doesn’t have to equal one-size-fits all, but the re-use of common UI patterns provides the benefit of familiarity. When our users open the Pingup app, scheduling a haircut, a dinner reservation or a mixed martial arts class should all have the same easy “feel”.
We are constantly refining our approach to helping users take immediate action, but here’s our current take. There are essentially 5 major steps as illustrated in this early App flow diagram.
Read the entire article, titled “One Scheduling Flow to Rule Them All” on the Pingup Blog…
Just a quick post to celebrate an app I’ve also tweeted about a few times before. We use Reflector for many things at Pingup. It’s great for things like:
Check it out if you haven’t already by visiting http://www.airsquirrels.com/reflector/. The next app I hope to write about soon is Sketch and it’s companion mobile apps…
Mobile smartphones and tablets have been on a meteoric rise since the iPhone initially shipped in 2007. However, there are conflicting trends that could stagnate growth in the U.S., if they are not adequately addressed in a user-centered way.
“Gambling genie” by Lisa Brewster
When Horace Dediu kicked off mobilism 2012, he presented an impressive animated chart that illustrated the ascension of the iPhone relative to its competitors. People generally attribute this rapid success to the genius of the iPhone hardware feature set. However, one of the main “features” that secured its success, in my opinion, was that it originally shipped with a single unlimited data plan via AT&T. People were fed up with being nickled and dimed with fees for internet access, email, downloading music, transferring photos, backing up contacts etc. The content-liberated iPhone hardware, plus the simple unlimited data plan, sealed the deal for many and justified the relatively high cost.
Ever since the iPhone took off and tablets got into the game, AT&T (and eventually the other major carriers) have been trying to stuff that unlimited-data-Genie back in the bottle. With tiered data plans, shared data buckets, throttling and other tactics, the redefined “unlimited” is a shadow of it’s brash 2007 incarnation. I could be argued that the iPhone was a better value in its first year than it is today. (more…)
