Rachel Hinman’s going on a generative sprint for the next three months.
“For the next 90 days, I’m going to think about, sketch, draw, and prototype ideas about mobile design and post them here. Like folks recovering from any addiction, I don’t know what is at the end of these 90 days. I’m just gonna commit to thinking about it every day for 90 days and have faith that something good will be on the other side.”
Link: 90 Mobiles in 90 Days (90mobilesin90days.com)
Marek Pawlowski write about one of the topics at this year’s MEX conference: fashion.
“It may be limited to the high-end of the mobile market, but Vertu is a great example of two very important techniques which are applicable at all levels: total experience planning and customer involvement. The Vertu experience extends across the hardware, software, services and retail environment. At the same time, it involves its customers directly in the product development process, producing customised handsets and allowing customers to actually see how their device is built.
“These principles may manifest themselves in different ways at different levels of the pricing scale, but the fundamentals remain the same. A successful manufacturer must be able to see its products in the wider context of a user’s lifestyle and must structure its development process to respond quickly to the needs of individual customers.
“Perhaps this is indicative of manufacturers following ‘fashion’ or becoming ’style-orientated’, or perhaps it is just good user experience practice?”
Link: Is fashion a stronger motivator than functionality? (mobileuserexperience.com)
Sender 11 has published some stats on device screen sizes. Interesting stuff, though it’s important to note that the study doesn’t cover the user prevalence of particular screen sizes.
“Over the years the relative screen size difference has increased. The difference between the smallest (128×128) and the largest (800×480) is now a factor of 23. That means the largest screen is 23 times bigger than the smallest one.
“You can see that the smaller screens have a portrait orientation and the large screens have a landscape orientation. Between them are the phones that can change orientation, they can work in both landscape and portrait. 240×320 is the dominant screen size overall.”
Link: Sender 11: Mobile screen size trends (sender11.typepad.com)
TryPhone has online interactive simulations of a few handsets, hopefully with more available soon. A less expensive way to play with phones than buying a design review collection.
“Use our fully interactive online virtual handsets to test-drive mobile devices, applications, content and services, as well as watch demos – right from the comfort and convenience of your own computer.”
Link: TryPhone (tryphone.com)
Published by Gabriel White.