Mind map and Essay structures

Mindmap

Essay structures

For the future blog i will base on this essay structures to find more book and theory to support my essay due to my research previously are mainly base on article and journal. And I will use the theory to support my essay topic.

Mobile app design considerations

While searching for more research about app design consideration and interface design information , i find an interview about app consideration and suggestion from some professional in the industry.

Mike Gualtieri  explain that the importance of User Interface and the touch and gesture capabilities. These provide new ways of interacting with the app. Before designing the app, Mike advice that a great apps the designer need to understand your users better than they understand themselves. Mike also advise research before starting app is very important. Designer imagining what a user would find useful, usable, and desirable in the context of the app.

For mobile apps in particular, designers should consider the five dimensions of mobile design context: location, locomotion, immediacy, intimacy, and device.

J.D.Biersdorfer also give his opinion of what he think is important for app design. 

"I think the apps that work best are the ones where the user interface has been specifically designed for the phone screen and not apps that take the desktop approach (with lots of icons and menus) and try to cram too much into the space. A good app is also a stable app—well-tested and relatively crash-free."

J.D.Biersdorfer go straight which i totally agree and we find this in all the successful app for example like Instagram. The apps are focus on images and filter. There are not much of icon or design to confuse the user, and the simplicity keep the app relatively crash free. 

Best user interface need to include these specific element:

• Minimal features set optimized for compact screen size for common use cases.
• Nice font and readable font size is important for user to view.
• Features must be progressively displayed so user can view one screen at a time.
• Noticeable buttons are used to make interactions actionable.
• Interactions of the app should be conventional and consistent
• The interface design need to be simple and understandable so that the user needs little instruction.
• Information placement and arrangement need to be careful while design, don't allow too much font in one pages. Is very hard to get information from a small screen with so many fonts.

Webdesigner Depot. 2011. Mobile app design considerations for web designers. [online] Available at: http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2011/09/mobile-app-design-considerations-for-web-designers/ [Accessed: 4 Aug 2013]

I found this that tell about waht are the consideration while designing an application so that i compare with instagram app design.

Mobile design consideration

Design an application is not that simple. During my research on how to create an application I found out that there are few consideration need to concern.

From
Microsoft Application Architecture Guide, 2nd Edition
a book created by Microsoft Patterns & Practices Team

In Chapter 24 is a chapter about Designing Mobile Applications

Is this chapter it show some of the consideration when create an application. After reading this chapter there are 5 points of consideration that a app designer need to focus when they are designing an application.

1. Decide what kind of application that you will build. In the book it noted that it may desing for a thin Web client or rich Internet application (RIA). Depend on what  kind of situation,
   "If your application requires local processing and must work in an occasionally connected scenario, consider designing a rich client. A rich client application will be more complex to install and maintain. If your application can depend on server processing and will always be fully connected, consider designing a thin client. If your application requires a rich UI, only limited access to local resources, and must be portable to other platforms, design an RIA client''(Microsoft Application Architecture Guide, 2nd Edition}
2. Make a decision on the types of devices you will support. When choosing a platform, designer need to understand all the features of the platform, example like. screen size resolution, performance, memory, battery life , GPS system , camera and so on.
3. Consider occasionally connected and limited -bandwidth scenarios when appropriate. (This is a very important for app designer) base on my personal experience sometimes when there are no network access user can't even launch the app which give user a bad user experience.
   "It is vital in this case to design your caching, state management, and data access mechanisms with intermittent network connectivity in mind; batch communications for delivery when connectivity is available. Choose hardware and software protocols based on speed, power consumption, and granularity, and not just on ease of programming."
4. When designing a UI for mobile devices, mobile devices require a simpler architecture, simpler UI in order to work within the constraints imposed by the devices hardware. Make sure the design and icon are simpler and easy to recognize.These are some of the main constraints need to beware in mind when designing, memory, battery life, ability to adapt to different screen sizes and orientations, security, and network bandwidth.
5. Design a layered architecture appropriate for mobile devices that improves reuse and maintainability. Use the concept of layers to maximize separation of concerns, and to improve reuse and maintainability for your mobile application. However, aim to achieve the smallest footprint on the device by simplifying your design compared to a desktop or Web application. Designer need to beware on designing a mobile devices that can be update after getting some feedback. Although every app will go through alpha and beta test but the will always be some bugs that can't be recognize after the app had been launch.

Extra Info 

Aerion Technologies Blog - March 15, 2013

Key Considerations when Developing a Mobile App

I found some similar key point consideration while create an application form this Aerion Technologies website. In this website it point out some of the key consideration while design an app. 

1) App Features:

Understand what application that a designer are designing and what problem that the app is trying to solve. From the problem solving designer will base on it to come out a series of features to solve that problem. Besides that, keep the app simple and suitable to solve the problem and hit your goals. Main features need to fix as early as possible and should stay on track throughout the project. New features can be added with subsequent upgrades.

2)Target Market:

Try to find who is your target audience. Base on their need and problem, a designer can design a problem solving application. Another important consideration when addressing your target market, is the design and UI (User Interface)

3)App Design:

The design of the app is the first expression that user will get, the most eye-catching design that will attract their attention.

Design rules of thumb:

Follow the Design Guidelines for iOS and Android for more UI and design info. Create a strong app icon. The icon can attract attention and portray the app’s purpose/use. 

Keep the design nice and simple. Don't confuse user by adding unnecessary element. The design needs to make functional sense.

Text, symbols and photographs must be clear and easy to view. There isn’t a lot of mobile screen space, so take full advantage of what is there. Interface design within an app is the best way to build a relationship with your audience. 

References

Aerion Technologies. 2013. Key Considerations when Developing a Mobile App - Aerion Technologies. [online] Available at: http://www.aerion.com.au/2013/key-considerations-when-developing-a-mobile-app/ [Accessed: 3 Aug 2013].
This website show the consideration of creating an application which i use to compare with Instagram  

Unknown. 2009. Larger Cover Microsoft® Application Architecture Guide, 2nd Edition. [e-book] Microsoft Press. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee658108.aspx [Accessed: 3rd August 2013].
I find this Pdf file of a book that created by Microsoft that teach people what are the thing that app designer need to put in mind while design an application.

Case Study: Way to Success from analysis instagram.

By understand how Kevin Systrom create Instagram and how instagram UI and UX is design, I found an case study article from a Former ReadWriteWeb Reporter, Alicia Eler. In that article it showed there are 8 points that instagram did right when create a business or an apps design.

Let link it together with the analysis i did previous and see the connection.

1. Instagram Operated as a Nimble Start-up
2. Instagram Cashed in on the Mobile Explosion
3. Instagram's Interface Stayed Junk-Free
4. Instagram Didn't Get Creepy
5. Instagram Married Visceral, Visual Communication & Community
6. Instagram Created a Valuable New Data Set
7. Instagram Didn't Worry About Making Money
8. Instagram Embodied a Cultural Shift Toward Photo Inboxes

1. Instagram Operated as a Nimble Start-up
 As we notice, Instagram is app create by a team of 13 people in San Francisco. Although during the stage of "Burbn" they use 8 month on private beta stage which is something that Mr.Systrom think that can improve, but Alicia say that it stay enough nimble to switch gears from burbn to an Iphone apps focused on photo sharing. And instead of enlarging their company force, they focus on growing the platform , and the development of the app.

2. Instagram Cashed in on the Mobile Explosion
During that time that instagram was launch in iphone is the time that camera apps and smartphone are so famous and with the perfect time and problem solving application design. Instagram was launch on Iphone as iOS app, and it successfully targeted the iphone-app user and become a hit around iphone user. From the timing and target audience is also one key that make Instagram success.

3. Instagram's Interface Stayed Junk-Free
Instagram interface designs are so user friendly and the features that included in the apps are so useful.
With the simplicity of the interface, user can easily hook up with it. The design are very clean, the icon design easily well place and easily recognize. Which make the user can concentrate on the images with the beautiful filter.

4. Instagram Didn't Get Creepy
Instead of saying instagram didn't get creepy, i think we should say that although Instagram is design as a photo sharing app. But it didn't limit user to only post,share or like the image. As the blog i post about How Kevin Systrom created Instagram , he say that instagram is like an open space, it is available to use as you wish.

5. Instagram Married Visceral, Visual Communication & Community
As Kevin Systrom had said focus on problem solving when he created the apps so user can use the apps efficiently. They focus on  capturing and sharing beautiful images. Kevin Systrom said that a simple images can tell an amazing story. And with this app, people have  an easy way to connect around images. By using instagram, it make the user easier to share their photo.

6. Instagram Created a Valuable New Data Set
As we all know the biggest Image data storage is from Facebook. But Instagram also has their own image storage database. When an Instagram user capture a picture, the app record a rich set of data that can be associated with a smartphone's sensors.  And with the hashtag that user apply will help categories the images into a group.


7. Instagram Didn't Worry About Making Money

Instagram only focused on building its community, user base and functionality rather than worrying about how the platform was going to make money. By not chasing the dollar on focus on the platform, it was able to focus on making the app better.
After Instagram was bought over by facebook, figuring out revenue streams is now something that Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and her team will have to worry about.

8. Instagram Embodied a Cultural Shift Toward Photo Inboxes
With the easy access to internet of smartphones and fast connection to share images this is a thing that make Instagram achieve to embodied a cultural shift toward photo inboxes. As the future of photo-only inboxes approaches, more people use photo-sharing apps to connect with their friends, the need for more visual communication will only intensify. The idea that social interactions will increasingly become visual and mobile is attracting widespread interest.


References
Eler, A. 2012. 8 Things Instagram Did Right. [online] Available at: http://readwrite.com/2012/04/11/8-things-instagram-did-right#awesm=~odnEYC63h49I37 [Accessed: 3 Aug 2013].
This online article that written by Eler to show and the analysis of the 8 things that Instagram did right .

Understand how to create app.

From the blog post that i post about how Kevin Systrom and their team succeed on creating instagram, he say that before start to create an app they focus on what problem they are trying to solve and for Instagram there are three problem they set to solve.

Beside that, there are a lot of consideration that we need to learn from instagram to create out a successful application. From i let from my class, we learn that User experience and User Interface is very important when doing interactive design such as website, application and even interactive installation. So for this blog i will try to analyse on the interface and the user experience of Instagram.

User Interface(UI) is a set of commands or menus through which user communicate with a program.User Experience(UX) encompasses all aspects of the end-user's interaction with the company, its services, and its products.

1. Friendly
2. Where is the location of the button
3. How to interact with it
4. what are the feedback after interaction
5. feature
6. stability
7. what people feel when using this application  

This are some of the consideration well we are designing an app interface. For Instagram, it use a very simple interface as their app interface design. By placing the button and bottom area so is easier for user to switch from pages to pages. To view the images, user just need to swipe to scroll up and down. To like a image user can choose to press on "heart' shape button or double tap on the image itself. And the comment is locate under the images.
When a user want to search for image or other instagram user. User just need to select the second page to key in at the search engine on the top of the screen to key in the name and search for the image or user.
When taking photo user just need to press the middle button which have a camera icon button to trigger the camera. After that just swipe the screen to scroll and select the filter that user need to use. After that user can choose whether they want to connect to their other social network to share their images.

Basically this is how it work. Very simple and direct. For my understand, the reasons why the interface is simple is because they are trying let the user focus on the images more. If the button is too fancy and complicated it will make the user out on focus and this will make UX no really relevant.

Although smartphones are very common to us, but the interface of an app still an issue for the app designer while they are design an app. Sometime the designer will go to over on the interface design and lose their focus on the problem solving and the user experience which will cause their application to a failure. Make sure button and font are easy to recognize; don't over due on the Graphic, keep it simple.

Besides that, stability and features are also some of the thing the app designer need to be more concern.
Even if an app has a good interface, you don't want it crashing every few seconds. Do some alpha and beta before release it. Test in different system to check is there any other bugs.
Features in the app is also one of the point that attract user. Don't combine everything, just focus something that had connection with the app and it is necessary to put it into the apps. Focus on what is the problem that you are trying to solve like what Kevin Systrom adviced.

How Kevin Systrom created Instagram

This blogpost i am going to analyzed how instagram became so successful.

After the meeting with lecturer this wednesday, he guide me to write my essay topic that link to our subject Multimedia design. And analyse how instagram became a success. And the way of success will give a some impact to the app designer on what to consider when designing a popular apps.

So i started to find some research on the research statement of instagram and some case study of instagram from the internet.

i found this video when i doing the research on how instagram success.

In this video,Kevin Rose ask Kevin Systrom the creator of Instagram how he created Instagram. 

From this video i understand by creating an successful, we need know clearly what is our objective. and what is this app trying to solve.

For Kevin Systrom he say that Instagram focused on one “must have” use case:

Sharing beautiful photos with your friends and family. You can see this line in the instagram official website. 

In the front part of the video, how Kevin Systrom talk about how he become a computer science engineer.

Instagram was initially “Burbn”, a check-in app where you could also add photos.Kevin Systrom was able to get the fund to create "burbn" and he find Mike to create it out.  They launched after 8 months of private beta, and saw little engagement from customers – apart from photo sharing, which was used actively. 

"Burbn" is not really an app. It is using HTML5, so people can use phone to open browser and login into website and it will pop out like a apps.

In the video, Kevin Systrom was in a trip and saw someone are using a photo app with filters and wondered why none of these apps had social functionality. And he realise that most of these apps make photo ugly. From that he and Mike Krieger starting to built a simple social photo app with just filter which is Instagram 

And during that interview, Kevin Systrom show that their focus is about photo.

First filter they created is xpro2.

From the use case they split out to the 3 problem they are trying to solve.

1. Making Photos Beautiful (based on their observation of filter apps)
2. Allowing You To Share Them on Multiple Networks (engineering for viral growth)
3. Making Uploads Go Really Quickly (making the user experience even better)

During Kevin study life he remember that the most famous photographic apps are mostly filter apps and this one the reason make him create this app.

They focus on the problem and try to create a solution that can use by everyone. Kevin Systrom also use his relationship with twitter co-founder and ask whether he want to use instagram and he get some help twitter co-founder.

In the end. Kevin Systrom they success to create this successful apps is although they are a small team of 10 people but they work hard on focus use case, and start up at a perfect timing .

He also noted that by creating instagram is like creating a database of useful (beautiful or entertainment and etc) images all around the world and show it on one platform. User have the freedom on how to use the app; it can use as an app to get information, to share image , to advertise and so on.

In the end of the interview, Kevin Systrom was asked to give advice on something he think he will fixed when he is able to go back on time, he advised that don't put your apps in the private beta too long, be confident and public it to get more feedback to improve on it.

And one thing that he think that they did great try focus on solving problem when creating an apps.


Extra information i get from the video is
Kevin Systrom studied in Stanford University
Had his 3 and half months internship with Odeo which created twitter. During the internship is when twitter are going to be launch. He also said that during the internship he get a lot of new experience that college didn't provide.
He also work in Google as the Associate Product Marketing Manager.
After he leaved Google, he starts up with Mike and create "Burbn" which became Instagram.

Reference

YouTube. 2012. Foundation 16 // Kevin Systrom. [online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nld8B9l1aRE#t=43m31 [Accessed: 2 Aug 2013].
This is a interview conduct by Kevin Rose with Kevin Systrom to discuss how Kevin Systrom success in creating instagram.

Case Study: 5 (Social media vs Professional in creative industry)

This article i found was posted by Olivier Laurent from British Journal of Photography. Basically this website share a lot of information about photography and lot of professional will share their experience and research on this website.

This journal that Olivier Laurent have do some research that are able to help on my research topic and this some of the point that are share in the article to support my argument. 

In the articles, Olivier used some quote from other professional to support that statement . Karim Ben Khelifa said that instagram  is a good tool to interact directly with the follower and is a social network that suitable for photojournalist rather than facebook. Karim also state everyone these days communicate with photographs.

Instagram was liberating for journalists and photographers, says Karim Ben Khelifa. "In most cases, we never really meet our audiences, and with Instagram you can interact directly with your followers. When you think about it, Instagram, more than Facebook, is the perfect tool for photojournalists. Everyone communicates with photographs today. Of course, when we post images on that platform, we're not necessarily telling a story like we usually do - with 15 images, for example. But there's a sort of romanticism, where we seek beautiful or incredible images."

This statement help me on supporting my argument on Instagram is social network app rather than just a photo editing and sharing application.

In the article Olivier also give some example of professional photographer using instagram to do some data collecting. Tomas Van Houtryve, a VII photographer, Instagram has allowed him to take pictures he'd stop taking altogether. Tomas Van Houtryve said that sometime he hesitate to take a photo due to the huge raw files but with instagram  he can just capture the moment he want. Although VII need some the perfectly images but something he still can use instagram or phone to capture photo as a visual notepad. When the idea take hold he will only go out with the more advanced camera.

But that is some other issue that were brought out by Olivier during his research. Facebook is using Instagram's data and content to generate revenues, which the photographers that using the apps lost their ownership and copyright of the images.

"with the fear of Facebook using Instagram's data and content to generate revenues, photographers have been rethinking their approach to the platform. Should they take the risk of losing ownership over some of their images in order to create a community of followers, or should they stop using the service altogether?"

"We've become complacent with the only commodity we have as photographers - our copyright - in our near unfettered embrace of sharing our content with for-profit companies such as Instagram," says John Stanmeyer, one of the original founders of the VII Photo agency. He also said that he want to owe  Facebook, twitter and Instagram and whatever other brilliant means of digital communication is invented to thrive and survive. He also respect that his friend and colleague is sharing their meaningful photo to the people out there with social network without caring the profit the can earn with it. 

Beside that some photographer use Instagram as a tool create awareness and gather followers.

It's for that potential that photographer Peter DiCampo and writer Austin Merrill moved Everyday Africa, a photography blog about everyday life across the African continent, from Tumblr to Instagram last October. "It has actually been the ideal platform for Everyday Africa, considering the project's goal is to remind a general public that Africa is more than just a place of extremes," As of 28 January, Everyday Africa had more than 17,000 Instagram followers and nine regular contributors, including photographers Shannon Jensen, Holly Pickett and Laura El-Tantawy, among others.

Ben Khelifa also agree that using instagram is a benefit to get resource to support their work. By sharing the photo and message by using social network can easily get more attention from viewer and in the future maybe will have some people that are interested to finance them.  He add "we see it, concretely, with Emphas.is," a crowd-funding platform he created with Tina Ahrens to help finance the work of documentary photographers and photojournalists." Photographers have to accept that while Facebook, Twitter and Instagram can help them gather a community of followers, these platforms are not interested in helping their users monetise their audiences.

(Emphas.is is an online platform where photojournalists can submit projects for crowdfunding by the public.)

Ben Khelifa says the debate isn't about what platform photographers should use. Instead, "the debate should be about click-through rates. If you have 100,000 followers with a CRT of 1%, it sounds small, but actually it means that 1000 people are ready to spend money on you. On Emphas.is, the average spent in 2012 was $113. So, with a click-through rate of 1%, that means you'd be getting more than $100,000 a year. This allows you to be independent."

But when comes to copyright issues, not everyone agree on the way forward."It is impossible for us, as professionals, to accept these terms," says photographer Ed Kashi. "First of all, it goes against everything we've worked so hard to protect for decades - that we own our work and can control it. But more than that, how can Instagram expect to monetise images of people who are recognisable without model releases? They aren't thinking clearly."

But Ben Khelifa argues that with the advanced technology everyone can easily print screen or download the images from the internet so, the question should be: can we fight these advances and the millions of people who are consuming images in that way? Or should we accept this new form of consumption and instead look at how we can bring them closer to us, how we can interact and benefit from them. 

Ben also said that if there are no audience, the images are pointless. So they should change a position to re-figure out the situation maybe in some point they can monetise them. 

For photographers, there are one way to secure their image copyright is too watermark the image before they share it online, making them unusable in advertising.

The app Marksta, which was developed by John D McHugh, himself a photojournalist, is to watermark the image after capture from digital devices before sharing on the photo sharing apps. 

John D McHugh also been testing other photo-sharing platforms such as EyeEm and Flickr beside instagram and he say that the feedback from EyeEm and Flickr cannot compare with the kind of number you get from instagram . He tells BJP. "Instagram has a massive community."

References

Bjp-online.com. 2012. The New Economics of Photojournalism: The rise of Instagram - British Journal of Photography. [online] Available at: http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/report/2202300/the-new-economics-of-photojournalism-the-rise-of-instagram [Accessed: 2 Aug 2013].
This articles that post by Olivia had list down some of the famous photography though about the rise of instagram and how it affect their works.