One way to think about designing a successful app regardless of the platform is to make the app almost invisible and design the experience. The experience is successful if the relationship ties the customer back to the company and therefore makes the brand useful. A useful app that gives the user a sense of enjoyment, information or a check mark on the todo list can do wonders for the longevity of the brand and its success.
 
At Rockfish Interactive I’ve had the opportunity to work on apps for great brands such as ESPN, Walmart, Listerine, Tyson, Silver Joe’s Coffee and Arvest Bank across many platforms such as iPhone, Facebook and online web apps. In all of these I always worked towards the experience the user should have while interacting with the app and defined the interface around that.
 
Applications should not be cumbersome they should use natural elements that enhance the experience instead of introducing a lot of new stuff. Don’t assume users will look for stuff because they won’t the application needs to be an extension of what I am already doing. Many great apps out there today already do just that and now we’re seeing a huge explosion in the mobile space that can provide a great extension of any brand if done correctly.
 
One piece of advice I received while designing an online banking application was to design the app the way that I would use it then get feedback and refine. This seemed to go well as the client was very pleased and the feedback was very minimal to the overall design. The client said the experience seemed spot on we just had to tweak a few colors and icons.
 
A great contributor to the success of your app is to have users provide feedback. I firmly believe unlike a website site an app design is never done and the more you listen to your users and refine the happier they will be. We hosted a user group of about 15 people the other night and the feedback was outstanding. We followed up the next day and ran through the list and discussed and itemized the crucial steps we needed to take before its launch in a few weeks.
 
Application design can be very rewarding for designers especially if it’s an app that you would get to use regularly. I’m pretty excited to debut a new app we’ve been working on at RFI in a few days to attendees at the F.O.W.A. (Future of Web Apps) conference in Miami and get more user feedback.

At Rockfish Interactive this year we have a lot of website redesign projects coming up. It always seems a harder more daunting task to do a redesign than to do a new site. So, this had me wondering why? And after many long hours of reading great articles, especially one by Cameron Moll called "Good Designers Redesign, Great Designers Realign" which can be found here on A List Apart's site, I figured I would compile a list of questions from my notes and see if I could help the next designer facing this task.

In 2009 at Rockfish I had the opportunity to go through a thorough review of two of our sites by the Nielsen Norman Group. These reviews opened my eyes to taking a different approach once a site is dubbed "Finished". Recently I saw a quote that read "The ink on a website is never dry." I find this too true as websites and applications can benefit so much by listening to the feedback users can give you and the insight analytics can provide. So, this is where I started with my redesign questions. When your faced with a redesign see if you can get site analytics, do some guerilla user testing and figure out the source of the question "Why?". So in no particular order is a list of questions I will approach every redesign with so that I can make sure the purpose is not just to keep up with the latest trends:

Questions to ask:
1. What is going on with the current site? If possible reference site analytics or conduct your own guerilla user testing.

2. What is the motivating factor for the site redesign?
Good reasons include:
  a. Company or product re-brand
  b. Desire for marketplace repositioning
  c. Implementation of much needed new functionality

3. How can the company or product become more successful with the redesign?

4. What is the Goal of the redesign?

5. What do you hope to accomplish?

6. What aspects of the current design are most effective?

7. What aspects of the current design are least effective?

8. Does the logo/branding need changed/updated/remain the same?

9. What is the company’s position?

10. Does the color scheme remain the same?

11. What are the focal points of the design?

12. How can the navigation be made more effective?

13. Clearly define desired audience, visual design style, message, tone, and technical requirements.

14. Start with what they want the site to accomplish.

15. Ask about CMS, updates, and maintenance.

16. How has the company changed since last site was launched?

17. How does the new look reflect who the company is and the experience they want people to have when they interact with.

18. Who is coming to the site?

19. What action do you want visitors to take when on the new site?

Good things to think about:
  1. Websites need to grab attention.
  2. Pay attention to details
  3. Carefully consider the messaging.
  4. Without content the redesign becomes a book without words. A business plan without a business.

Have you ever been called into a brainstorming session at the last minute or find halfway through one your asking what are we doing here again? I bet more of us have than successful ideas or products that have come from these sessions. Recently I attended the HOW Conference in Austin and had the pleasure of meeting the authors of “Caffeine for The Creative Mind” and “Caffeine for the Creative Team” both books available on Amazon.com and both full of exercises to use in brainstorming sessions.
This three-hour session provided exercises and principles that both invigorate and spark creative ideas that bring ideation and execution to your team and company. The session started with an exercise right out of the book and quickly we found ourselves describing Austin and what it meant to us using Play-Doh. After about 5 minutes my group had an alien with a head made out of a taco, a body that resembled a guitar, a BBQ burger and beer bottle in hand and we kept the “keep Austin Weird” message going.

Stefan Mumaw and Wendy Lee Oldfield the authors highlighted key principles that after hearing I was ready to share back with my team and make the next big thing. Below I will highlight some of these and for a more detailed version with over 500 exercises pick up their books.

1.    Have the right number of brainstormers present. Usually 4-7 is good, 5 is their magic number.
2.    Don’t surround yourself around other you’s. Have many different personality types include the janitor if needed.
3.    No pop quizzes – give people notice (2 days) to bring ideas to the table.
4.    Value time 1.5 – 2 hours is ideal.
5.    Fresh input, familiar output. Experience the brand in its environment but come back to a familiar place to meet otherwise there will be too many distractions.
6.    Have something up your sleeve: bring elements into the area; this shows how important certain elements are.
7.    Start the fire with a creative match. Exercises of creativity.
8.    Bring in the strategic play. Have a creative catalyst Kevin Carroll at Nike has his own creative gym on their complex.
9.    Leave the judge at the door. No one will speak out if they say something stupid and get judged. Have people feel they are not developing a solution but possibilities.
10.    If you unroll it, they will draw. Surfaces that are drawable, Play-Doh, etc.  
11.    Be the coach not the owner. Look from someone else’s or things perspective, give stalls a push.
12.    Capture residual ideas – come back 1 day later in an informal visit and jot down any ideas that might have come up.
13.    Put on the back patter hat. We all like to be stroked so praise may make us generate more.

All in all I thought these ideas were excellent and half way through the session I had a calendar invite from my team for a brainstorming session the day I got back so I was looking forward to using these.

So today I had the privilege of sitting in a HOW conference session titled “Designing for more than three screens” by former CBS Interactive Vice President and Entertainment Creative Director John Couch, whom now runs his own technology consulting firm Titanium Sky. His presentation was focused on his work primarily with CBS and the hit show CSI. He discussed his role in the development of creating brand experiences across multiple platforms such as TV, mobile and Web. One key point he reinforced was once you have established your audience both on-screen and on the Web was to not let them get away. Even if the show is cancelled you may still have thousands maybe millions of viewers that can carry your brand and perpetuate it into new forms of revenue. Couch was one of the first to market the concept of short commercials with tie-ins to see continued media on the brands websites.

He spoke also on the subject of new media and where it is going, which seems to be the mission of his own website with the tagline “the future is sooner than you think” which can be found at http://titaniumsky.com. He highlighted some of the upcoming technologies that brands should and will embrace that will change the way we think of brand experiences and us as Experience Designers (IxD) should keep up with. Below I will highlight some of the technologies that are up coming and feature links to their websites that show demos and screenshots.

Cocoon – Tino Schaedler – 360degree screen that will immerse you. Video demo

Emotive Systems – Brain computer interface – You think it and the screen interprets it. view demo

Bionic Contact Lens – University of Washington in Seattle is working on this technology. view demo

True Holographic TV – Used for walk thru advertising. view demo

Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) – Screens you can bend (Sony is working on this technology) video link

Augmented Reality – Pioneered by Marco Tempest – so many possibilities here. Link

Gesture Controlled TV – Hitachi is developing this. Video link

X-Box 360’s Natal – Demoed at this years E3. Demo link

World Builder – Brandit VFX – Pioneered by Bruce Brandit – Holographic world shot over several weeks, took 2 years post-production work. Video link

TL Effect – A synergetic experience where value is added from the product acting as a catalyst to advance the end user.

So recently I purchased an Acura TL and let me tell you I love it! From the super-fast VTech engine to the Bluetooth syncing with my iPhone to the pounding super clear sound system this car has it all and more.

This past weekend my girlfriend got a dose of what I have dubbed the “TL Effect”. We were on our way to the movies Sunday night and stopped at a light when a jam from my iPod, plugged into the in-car USB plug, turned some heads and had the couple next to us dancing. I think Acura made an excellent choice promoting the TV commercials with Citizen Cope’s “Let My Drummer Kick” but in this case I found the perfect song for the perfect car. I have a remixed version of David Guetta’s “Love Is Gone” and the electronic baseline goes hard and nasty on the Dolby Sound system. Next we found ourselves ROFLOAO as the beats in the song seemed to be synchronized to our next moves. We pulled into a spot in the parking lot of the theater as if we were the stars arriving for the debut.

The next day I pulled up to a stop light and two young guys busted out a lame version of the robot cracking up as they did it. It was a classic YouTube moment probably worth millions of views but the 360-degree swivel-mount video camera option with one button upload to YouTube isn’t offered on the ’09 model yet.
 
Same story last night, passed by a local nightclub/bar and a girl exiting the club in a black dress threw up her hands and started dancing in the streets. It was awesome and entertaining to say the least. I’ve had people yell, “Hey give me my car back”, “can we go again” and probably broken more necks than an old Wrigley’s Double Mint double take commercial as they stare the TL down.

What I’m trying to say is that the experiences are worth more than what Acura had sold me for the car or promoted. They are moments and stories that are priceless and will be shared. The brand is rock solid the product ensures it, which makes for an enjoyable ride full of surprises each time I get in and push the big red button. More brands should focus on this type of experience design and weigh value and ROI on what the product can ignite and perpetuate in the user beyond just the sticker price. Thanks Acura you have a new loyal customer.

P.S. I would be happy to drive the next Great User Experience you create and share it across the web just give me a tweet at @RFIJoey.