I love it when I’m reading something that makes me recognize my habits as a consumer – when an article or book brings to my attention the way I think as a user but have never realized. I really enjoyed reading the assigned excerpts from “Tapworthy: Designing Great iPhone Apps” because it did just that. It pointed out that the designer must think about what an app can do for a mobile phone user and create the application with that in mind if they want to find success. The author, Josh Clark, points out that smartphone users seek apps that uniquely solves a problem for them and that “features, content and gee-whiz animations may be crucial building blocks for your app, but they’re not the reason to use your app.” When first reading this, I mentally disagreed. I have dozens of applications on my iPhone that don’t solve my problems – unless you see the need to look at pictures of baby animals as a problem. However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized he’s right. The applications that don’t solve my problems or assist me in day-to-day tasks are the ones that sit on my phone unused. Sure, I CAN look at baby animals whenever I want to – but when was the last time I actually did? The developers created an application that was appealing enough to download onto my phone, but not to actively use. Which brings me to one of the questions I had in week one when identifying my class goals: what makes an application successful? Many apps are stand-alones – once the smartphone user downloads the app and pays the dollar or two, the goal of the application developer has been met, right? Or do they measure success by how often the application is opened? Are advertising rates based on the number of downloads an app has or how many times users actually access the app? For larger brands such as news organizations or different social media platforms, their application can help spread the reach of their brand, solving the issue of needing to be near a computer to use the company’s services. Their goals are clearer, but for the independent mobile app, what does success mean? “Tapworthy: Designing Great iPhone Apps” helped me realize what it takes to create an app that users need and enjoy, but I’m interested in learning at what point a developer sees their creation as successful.
2 Responses to “Reading Reflection: Week #3”