iPhone App Design

A company, Create with Context, has developed a presentation about iPhone app design based on research about how people really interact with their phone. In particular, they looked at an older demographic - 30 to 55 year-olds. From their research, they came up with 8 design criteria*:

1. Take advantage of learned behaviors - Put things where they usually are (i.e. the search box at the top) and make them work the same across applications. For example, make a plus button in the top right always be add.
2. Avoid interaction inconsistencies - This is quite similar to #1 but focuses more on the user action. For example, to edit, the user usually just clicks on what they want to edit. It is a bad design decision to make them go hunting for an edit button which they must click to edit.
3. Provide clear conceptual link across widgets - Put things that go together next to each other and separate things that don't go together. For example, put the "Go Search" button next to the search bar.
4. Put space between action widgets - Leave room between buttons. Remember that fingers are larger than mice and somewhat imprecise.
5. Plan for accidental overswiping - Similar to #4, users are imprecise.
6. Don't rely exclusively on multi-touch - It can be difficult to perform certain actions at times. For example, if the user is holding something in their other hand, they need to be able to perform the action one-handed.
7. Provide visual feedback for taps -Make it clear that the user hit the button by having some sort of action quickly.
8. Provide interaction affordances -Make it clear what the user is supposed to do. For example, if they can scroll up and down, have cut off pictures or text at the top and/or bottom

* Orange, italic Georgia font is taken directly from the presentation; black Arial font is my comments.

While these criteria were designed for iPhone apps, they are applicable to all touchable interfaces. The eight guidelines can be summarized as follows: Make the application interface look and act like other interfaces, leave enough space around buttons and provide feedback.