I have picked some of them and analysed what they focus on, include and what works well etc.
TeuxDeux
'The one place for all of your interests'
This app allows for the user to have all magazine topics that would be of interest to them in one place, making keeping up to date easy. Downloading the app allowed me to see that you had a profile in which you could follow particular topics so that all magazine articles related to this could be delivered straight to your timeline. The explore page allows for the user to see what is popular, topics they may be interested in etc. The homepage has a grid of all of the articles that have been deemed suitable for interest and then clicking on one leads to a flip board style list which can be scrolled through to reveal all of the articles.
By clicking on the article, it leads to the webpage of which the content has been taken from. Personally, I don't think this works well as there is a lot of jumping in and out of the application. When designing, I will try to have a short summary of the article that can be read and then allow for the option to be navigated to a separate webpage a link that is optional. The option to create a personal 'magazine' (favourites list) of all of the articles you enjoy is something that I would incorporate into my design based news app so that if particular articles are of inspiration or relevance, they can be saved and easily accessed in the future. This feature is very handy, but it is presented as a very small icon in the bottom left of the screen, making it easy to miss and not be used to its full potential. I will need to bear this in mind when designing and maybe place it fairly high on the hierarchy when considering which elements need to be the most easy to access etc.
Dribble
"Dribble is the single most important social network for anyone that cares about design. It's done more to help us build our team ad brand than Facebook, Twitter and Instagram combined." - Dave Traver
'Show and tell for designers'
'Dribble' is a community of designers who share their current projects; telling, promoting, discovering and exploring is the purpose of the platform. The app has a very simple layout, making it easy for the user to navigate and engage with the app.
- popular page is good for general inspiration when not looking for anything in particular
- the navigation bar across the bottom of the screen is fully customisable like that of an iPhone
- the search page comes up with an alphabetical list of suggested search topics
- the colour swatches published under the pieces of work can link to other pieces of work uploaded on dribble in the exactly the same colour
- the app also allows for the pieces of work to be displayed in a two column grid style, or a single line of work across the whole screen
Behance
'A platform to remove barriers between talent and opportunity'
Behance is a platform that distributes work to other online galleries so that designers can get the exposure they need. The app works as a platform to simply browse for creatives, or actually upload your own work and have a profile. The app design works well at allowing the user to easily navigate around the content and allowing for personalisation of the content in which they see. A negative that I would identify with the app is that the filter menu does not fit with the aesthetic of the app overall, loosing consistency throughout. As a feature though, the option to filter the creative fields, country featured content is something I think is important to have for the users. The user is able to follow the particular topics they are interested in so that the tailored content makes it way to their timelines and not just everything.
I have also had a look at existing news apps so that I could see how the articles are presented and what kind of approach to layout design works well and promotes ease of use.
Apple News
Similar to the style of app that I want to develop for creative content, Apple News released an app that allowed you to have articles from a number of sources all in one place to help with keeping up to date and ensuring that no important news articles of interest are missed.
The app design is clean, simple but visually engaging; following a grid system that a lot of informative apps seem to use. Ease of use and organisation of the app content is something that I will have to consider very closely, seen as the app is about the ease of keeping in the 'know' on all creative articles and happenings. This news app shows the different platforms in which the user can follow to receive content from on the timeline. This is something more similar to what I will be doing, rather than topics. I think that offering the platforms such as 'itsnicethat', 'creative review' etc. would be more useful than just topics as the user will always get content of which they enjoy the style of, but they are opened to a wider spread of topics and discussions.
News App
This app is similar to the apple news app in that it allows you to follow different things and pulls all the articles from outside sources. The only difference is that this is based on topics more so. Snippets of the article come up and then the user is given the option to open up a separate tab in order to read the full article. This is something I like as it stops unnecessary backwards and forwards between the app and outside content.
- a design style that is not consistent
- no colour scheme or ideintity
- good grid layout, nice and organised
- large choice of platforms to follow
No comments:
Post a Comment