Preface to Essential Mobile Interaction Design: Perfecting Interface Design in Mobile Apps
Read a free chapter from the book on First Sketches of an App: Planning the Design of a Mobile Application or get up to speed with their article on Five Interaction Design Tips for Your Mobile App.
From the book
From the book
From the book
This text offers an introduction to and general overview of interaction design for all mobile computing platforms, with a particular emphasis on Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS platforms.
Mobile apps should feel natural and intuitive. Users should quickly and easily understand them. This means that effective interaction and interface design is crucial to the success of any mobile app. Few mobile app developers (or even designers), however, have had adequate training in these areas.
Touchscreen-focused, mass-market mobile applications are a type of technology that’s only been possible to create since 2008, and the industry has seen monumental shifts and growth in the six years between the introduction of the “app economy” and the publication of this work.
This book aims to help put you in a place to succeed as a designer in today’s app market by teaching proven principles and techniques that you can use in your next app, no matter what mobile platform, targeted device, form factor, or user base you’re targeting.
In short, the tutorial style used here aims to help you master the mindset, processes, and vocabulary of mobile interaction design so that you can start making better choices right away. This book guides you through the entire process of app design, demystifying many of the tasks and issues that arise during the many stages of developing, releasing, and improving a mobile app.
Cameron Banga has been working in mobile application development since 2009, and in the nearly five years since releasing his first app he’s contributed as a designer or as an adviser to more than 100 applications for iPhone, iPad, Android, and OS X. In that time, he’s seen firsthand the growth and change experienced in the mobile industry and has worked to meet client and customer expectations throughout the many evolutions of mobile platforms.
This book aims to serve as a central resource for programmers or designers looking to best determine how to establish themselves in today’s modern mobile landscape by offering advice formulated and acquired through Cameron’s experiences over the past several years as a pioneer of the mobile app economy.
Topics chosen for this book were selected carefully by Cameron with advice from and in coordination with several successful and award-winning industry colleagues. The goal of each chapter was to focus on a particular strong primary skill required of any successful designer, breaking that skill down into a few key components that any novice could focus on and, with some strong advice and clear guidance, work to master quickly.
No programming knowledge and only basic design knowledge is required to understand this book, as it’s been carefully crafted to be universally readable and helpful. In situations in which it does dive into extremely specific terminology or a topic for which prior information would be required, breakout boxes offer context and suggestions as to where the reader can look for further information that’s beyond the scope of this book.
Only basic design tools were used to create the example work included in this book, and the software or hardware that was used is detailed where relevant. Much of this book focuses on general theories and somewhat universal design practices that can be slightly modified and fine-tuned to the reader’s specific circumstances. Additional resources that are required or may be helpful have been posted online at http://cameronbanga.com/EMIDbook.
Praise for Essential Mobile Interaction Design
“In Essential Mobile Interaction Design, Banga and Weinhold do a great job of explaining what it takes to make a good-looking and easy-to-use app. The accessible language and visual examples of quality work combine to make this book a great resource for those looking to get into app design, or to take their craft to the next level.”
—Jon Becker
boom. reactive.
“Essential Mobile Interaction Design is not merely a book full of pictures and design concepts or one of straight technical drivel. Instead, it is a guidebook for creating human-based interfaces that feature simplicity, functionality, and value. Whether you have questions about how mobile design is different from traditional desktop design, how to work with a developer, or even what tools to use for the creation process, Essential Mobile Interaction Design demonstrates the answer for that.”
—Phil Dutson
Lead UX and Mobile Developer, ICON Health & Fitness
“Filled with nuggets of useful information, this book is a solid resource for the many aspects of designing a mobile app. I’ve found many recommendations in this book that we can use in our apps.”
—Lucius Kwok
CEO, Felt Tip, Inc.
“A well-rounded, easy-to-read book that provides a good grounding in mobile design and how to keep all those small details in mind so that your apps will really shine.”
—Dave Verwer
Shiny Development and iOS Dev Weekly