Designing the iPhone User Experience: A User-Centered Approach to Sketching and Prototyping iPhone Apps (Paperback)

With over 150,000 apps in the App Store, it has become increasingly challenging for app designers and developers to differentiate their apps. The days are long gone when it was possible to crank out an app over the weekend and refine it after receiving a few not so flattering user reviews. Users now have choices -- lots of them. If your app is difficult to use or doesn’t meet their needs, finding another one is just a tap away.

To illustrate, consider the ever-growing field of Twitter clients. There are hundreds of variations in the App Store but only a handful stand out from the pack (such as Tweetie or Twitterific). For most apps, it boils down to one thing: the user experience. The same is true for countless other categories within the App Store; well-designed apps are more likely to attract and retain users. Of course there are other critical aspects of iPhone app development: the coding, the marketing, the customer support. All of the elements must come together.

Designing the iPhone User Experience will help you tackle the user experience part of the iPhone challenge. Three key themes will be reinforced throughout the book: Know thy user, the Design Lifecycle, and Attention to Detail:

• Know Thy User
  Millions of people depend on iPhone apps to get them to work, find their next meal, and stay in touch with family and friends. Professionals of all kinds also rely on iPhone apps: doctors look up drug interactions; photographers fine-tune lighting; cyclists find the best routes. To truly understand how your apps can fit into their lives, designers and developers must learn how users do things today, what’s important to them, and what needs have not been met. Part II, Introduction to User Research, will introduce a variety of user research methods.
• The Design Lifecycle
  Award-winning designs rarely happen overnight; they usually only occur after many rigorous design cycles. To illustrate this point, consider USA TODAY's iPhone application, which went through at least seven iterations for the article view in their app. These kinds of iterations should happen before you launch your app, since it will save valuable time and money, not to mention the headaches a bad design could create for your user. More importantly, you may only have one chance to impress your users -- you do not want to sell them half-baked ideas. Part III, Developing your App Concept, will explain how to iteratively design and test your app concepts.
• Attention to Detail
  Most professionals know that attention to detail is important, but hundreds of apps fail to incorporate even the most basic design principles. This lack of attention is not merely an aesthetic issue (which is important) it also affects the way apps function. For example, a news article without proper alignment will be difficult to read, and a poorly rendered icon will be challenging to interpret. Apps with a razor sharp attention to detail will stand out because their apps will look good and perform well. Part IV, Refining your App Concept, will show you how to make to your app shine, from visual design and branding to accessibility and localization.

Mastering these three areas will help set your app apart from the crowd. You may not have an award-winning app over night. But knowing your users, iterative design, and attention to detail are important first steps.

在App Store中有超過150,000個應用程式，對於應用程式設計師和開發者來說，要使他們的應用程式與眾不同變得越來越具挑戰性。過去的日子已經一去不返，以前可以在週末製作一個應用程式，然後在收到一些不太好的用戶評論後進行改進。現在用戶有選擇的餘地 - 很多選擇。如果您的應用程式使用起來困難或不符合他們的需求，他們只需點擊一下就可以找到另一個應用程式。

舉個例子，考慮一下Twitter客戶端這個不斷增長的領域。在App Store中有數百種變體，但只有少數幾個脫穎而出（例如Tweetie或Twitterific）。對於大多數應用程式來說，最重要的是用戶體驗。對於App Store中無數其他類別也是如此，設計良好的應用程式更有可能吸引和保留用戶。當然，iPhone應用程式開發還有其他關鍵方面：編碼、市場營銷、客戶支持。所有這些元素都必須協同工作。

《設計iPhone用戶體驗》將幫助您應對iPhone挑戰中的用戶體驗部分。本書將貫穿三個關鍵主題：了解用戶、設計生命週期和注重細節。

- 了解用戶：數百萬人依賴iPhone應用程式上班、找到下一餐，與家人和朋友保持聯繫。各種專業人士也依賴iPhone應用程式：醫生查找藥物相互作用；攝影師微調照明；騎自行車的人找到最佳路線。為了真正了解您的應用程式如何融入他們的生活，設計師和開發者必須了解用戶如何做事情、什麼對他們重要以及有哪些需求尚未得到滿足。第二部分《介紹用戶研究》將介紹各種用戶研究方法。

- 設計生命週期：屢獲殊榮的設計很少一夜之間產生；通常只有在經過多次嚴格的設計循環後才會出現。舉個例子，考慮一下USA TODAY的iPhone應用程式，他們的文章視圖至少經歷了七次迭代。這些迭代應該在您發布應用程式之前進行，因為這將節省寶貴的時間和金錢，更不用說糟糕的設計可能給用戶帶來的困擾了。更重要的是，您可能只有一次機會給用戶留下好印象 - 您不希望向他們推銷半成品的想法。第三部分《開發您的應用概念》將解釋如何迭代設計和測試您的應用概念。

- 注重細節：大多數專業人士都知道注重細節的重要性，但數百個應用程式甚至沒有融入最基本的設計原則。這種缺乏注意力不僅僅是一個美學問題（這很重要），它還會影響應用程式的功能。例如，沒有正確對齊的新聞文章將很難閱讀，渲染不良的圖標將難以解讀。注重細節的應用程式將脫穎而出，因為它們的應用程式看起來好看且表現良好。第四部分《完善您的應用概念》將向您展示如何使您的應用程式在視覺設計和品牌塑造、可訪問性和本地化方面脫穎而出。

掌握這三個領域將有助於使您的應用程式與眾不同。您可能不會一夜之間擁有一個屢獲殊榮的應用程式。但了解您的用戶、迭代設計和注重細節是重要的第一步。