Learning iOS Design: A Hands-On Guide for Programmers and Designers, Rough Cuts

Description

• Copyright 2013
• Dimensions: 7" x 9"
• Pages: 350
• Edition: 1st

• Rough Cuts
• ISBN-10: 0-13-315752-0
• ISBN-13: 978-0-13-315752-9

This is the Rough Cut version of the printed book.

“This book contains everything you need to know to create awesome, life-altering applications. . . . I pride myself on knowing a lot about design, but when reading this book, I probably didn’t encounter a single page that didn’t offer at least one interesting idea, new concept, or clever design technique. It’s also written in a way that prevents you from putting it down. . . . You’re in for a treat.”

–From the Foreword by LUKAS MATHIS, author of ignorethecode.net

Transform Your Ideas into Intuitive, Delightful iOS Apps!

As an app developer, you know design is important. But where do you start? Learning iOS Design will help you think systematically about the art and science of design, and consistently design apps that users will appreciate–and love.

Pioneering Omni Group user experience expert William Van Hecke first explains what design really means, and why effective app design matters so much. Next, using a sample concept, he walks through transforming a vague idea into a fleshed-out design, moving from outlines to sketches, wireframes to mockups, prototypes to finished apps.

Building on universal design principles, he offers practical advice for thinking carefully, critically, and cleverly about your own projects, and provides exercises to guide you step-by-step through planning your own app’s design. An accompanying website (learningiosdesign.com) provides professional-grade sketches, wireframes, and mockups you can study and play with to inspire your own new project.

Coverage includes

• Planning and making sense of your app idea
• Exploring potential approaches, styles, and strategies
• Creating more forgiving, helpful, and effective interactions
• Managing the constraints of the iOS platform (or any platform)
• Crafting interfaces that are graceful, gracious, and consistently enjoyable to use
• Balancing concerns such as “focus versus versatility” and “friction versus guidance”
• Understanding why all designs are compromises–and how to find the best path for your own app

Register your book at informit.com/register to gain access to a supplemental chapter in which Bill Van Hecke discusses the design changes made in iOS 7.

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Sample Content

Table of Contents

Foreword xix

Preface xxi

Acknowledgments xxix

About the Author xxxi

 

Part I: Turning Ideas into Software 1

 

Chapter 1: The Outlines 3

The Process: Nonlinear but Orderly 3

Writing about Software 4

The Mental Sweep 6

More Inputs to Outlining 7

Outlining Requirements 8

Antirequirements 9

Define a Platform 10

Listing Ramifications 11

iOS and Featurefulness 11

Reducing Problems 12

Outlining Architecture 13

Your Outline Is Your To-Do List 14

Summary 14

Exercises 14

Chapter 2: The Sketches 15

Thinking by Drawing 15

Design Happens in Conversations 16

Tools for Sketching 18

Sketches Are Sketchy 19

When to Sketch 20

Using Precedents 21

Playing Devil’s Advocate 22

Sketching Interfaces 22

Sketching Interactions 24

Sketching Workflows 26

Summary 29

Exercises 29

Chapter 3: Getting Familiar with iOS 31

Navigation: Screen to Screen 31

Advice on the Standard Elements 41

Custom Controls 52

Summary 53

Exercises 53

Chapter 4: The Wireframes 55

Thinking in Screens 56

Thinking in Points 57

Optical Measurements 57

Tools for Wireframing 61

Principles of Layout 63

Typography 72

Layout: A Place for Everything… 74

Summary 79

Exercises 80

Chapter 5: The Mockups 81

When to Mock Up 81

Styling: The Apparent Design Discipline 82

Mockup Tools 85

Color: Thinking in HSB 86

Get Serious about Value 88

Contrast: Thinking in Figure/Ground Relationships 89

Styling for Good Contrast and Visual Weight 89

Good Backgrounds 92

Transparency 93

1+1 = 3 94

Presenting Image Content 95

Evaluating Contrast: Posterize It 95

Contrast Examples 98

Birth of a Button 100

Mockup Assembly 106

Resizable Images 107

Retina Resources 107

Designing for Layers 108

Summary 109

Exercises 109

Chapter 6: The Prototypes 111

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