Many app designers use wireframe software to create prototypes of apps for tablets and smartphones. Some believe that using wireframe software fosters creativity. By creating a prototype with wireframe software, designers have the freedom to experiment with their ideas before the programming stage of development begins. Wireframe software can be particularly useful for designers who want to draft interface designs in a field where there are not many previous apps to take inspiration from. One new area that companies are investing in is ‘second screen apps’. What does this mean? While we may watch TV while browsing on our laptops or smartphones, companies want to gain our attention through both screens. Creating apps that enhance the viewing experience can be a way for advertisers to achieve this.

The trick is to create an app that viewers will enjoy, that will also not distract too much from the program they are watching. Wireframe software is being used by some developers to draft smartphone and tablet applications quickly and at reduced cost. An app designer could use wireframe software to create a prototype of an app that gives bonus information about the television show, or even draft a game that can be used to play along with a TV show. A social media app that enables viewers to comment on shows could also be something designers might want to draft with wireframe software. As this is a relatively new field, there is a wide potential for apps to create. With wireframe software, designers and other stakeholders can be creative in the apps that they draft, which can help lead to a product that viewers and advertisers will love.

The e-book market is growing and the demand for online newspapers and magazines with it. Users can access articles instantly, making them more appealing to people on the go. Many magazine and book publishers would like to tap into the app market, but creating apps for these products can be more difficult than it seems, due to the challenge of transforming a vast amount of content into one application. Many designers use prototyping software to sketch out wireframes for web and mobile applications and this can also be useful for applications that have a lot of text content.

One of the challenges of creating apps for newspapers and magazines is that it can be difficult to organize information in a way that seems logical to the reader. While a newspaper has different sections, such as current affairs, international affairs, sport and comment, it can be interesting to experiment with how the information within these sections is organized and whether some articles should feature in more than one category. The home page of a mobile app is also important and prototyping software can be used to sketch out where different content should be positioned. With many types of prototyping software, you can use different sized headlines and edit text. You can even add text boxes and images with many types of prototyping software. If you are thinking of transforming an existing magazine or newspaper to a mobile app, I would strongly recommend taking an existing edition of your magazine and using prototyping software to upload the existing images and headlines. Even if you decide to use image holders, rather than the images themselves, this will give you an idea of the structure of your final application. With prototyping software, you can create professional-looking wireframes that can help you visually structure the content of your application. You can then show these wireframes to end-users for feedback to ensure that your app meets the expectations of your users.

In this blog post inspired by usability guru Jakob Nielsen’s newsletter I shall talk about the importance of using screen real estate when creating user interface designs for mobile devices. The user interface design arguments presented here  also apply (in various degrees) to desktops but for the purpose of this blog post I shall focus more on UI design for mobile devices.  The basis for the newsletter was an 8 year old study that found websites used only 40% of the user interface design on navigation and content of interest. Despite monitors increasing in resolution, size, and cheapness a number of user interface designers still don’t take advantage of the extra screen space. An example of this is how certain websites  open important features in tiny pop-ups that necessitate scrolling and generally add noise to the user interface design.

To provide concrete UI design examples, the report gives  the example of the ABC News iPad app. The user interface design of the ABC News app’s default home screen features a globe. At first the globe is interesting because users can spin the “world” to see what stories are making the world go round (excuse the pun). In the long run it becomes annoying as the user interface design means only one story is visible at one time. Users turn to the alternate home screen user interface design as soon as they find out how to. In short, the best way for UI designers to not waste screen space is by creating user interface designs with higher information density. This approach to UI design increases the chances of users seeing the content they want and thereby scrolling around less. However, care must also be taken to not cram the user interface design with too much information that it becomes overwhelming.