iPad Contextual Screenshots
A selection of screenshots from my iPad accompanied by some notes about why they interest me.
This is the main homescreen. I will want to show this at the start of my demo to communicate simply & clearly that the app is for the iPad.
The main focus in the app Reeder is the actual presentation of content. The text is at a perfect a size perfect for leibility and the colours are designed to be easy on the eyes.
In the Kindle app the presentation of the content is similar to reeder but with the menus hidden away (and summoned with a tap on the screen). Since this app looks at books rather than (much, much shorter) blog posts this hiddenmenu system makes perfect sense.
The guardian goes for a threecolumn layout in landscape mode. which also works well. The ability to share and save content is also a useful addition for content like this, but would be unessary bloat in my own educational app.
Another Guardian page, this time with an image. I like how the content clearly still fits to the three-column layout.
This is the navigation system for the Wired magazine app. I especially like the full-page preview and intuitive sliding navigation system.
This is a page of content for the Wired app. I like the interenting layout and use of an illustrative title typeface. The little link included at the bottom left of the photography also shows that image is a still from a video that you can play within the app.
Another page of content from the Wired app. I like how the layout is slightly different but still aligned to the same grid-system and that come of the graphics and type overlays the photograph.
A lower view of the same page, this time showing a selection option. The user can select a different thumbnail close-up to reveal a differen caption of information above the grid of images.
Another content page from Wired, showing another page that includes selectable thumbnails that reveal different captions.
This page has an interesting link between the images that draws the attention of the reader.
This screenshot show the same page but with the menu displayed. The menu can be revealed with a single tap to the page (on noninteractive content). This system works well for content like this and the fact that the menu is very minimal helps a lot. The articles can be swiped between each other from left ot right, removing the need for a contstantly visiable navigation menu. This works excellently with linear content like this.
Flipboard is an excellent blog aggregator that uses a series of (re-ogranisable) boxes to contain the different feeds. This system works really well with me personally and I feel it would be a good thing to implement in my own designs.
Another example of a box-based category/organisation system within the BBC iPlayer app.
The main issue selection menu in the Guardian app.
The aticle-selection system within the Guardian app. The variation in box sizes and colour works well to create a sense of hierarchy in the content. The creation of a hierarchy could by useful in the main-screen of my revision app as some subjects will be weaker for the student than others.
An article page from the Guardian app. The focus is agin on readabilty but a lot of room is given to the main menu at the top of the screen (that is parcially collapsable but large by default) and it seems unnessary.
The featured article pages have a huge image and very impactful headline size which really catches the reader’s attention. Although it does take up the whole screen, the user can easily swipe down to the main body-copy of the article (although this isn’t main directly clear it is a pretty intuitive system).
An example of the full-screen video menu that is recovered by tapping the screen. All the apps seem to have their full-screen (and small-size) video supported by the in-built iPad video player, this is probably a standard model/rule for iOS apps.
An exapmple of video content (before being played/selected) in the Flipbook app.
And here is the flipbook video being played (with the menu hidden).
Any settings that might not be too important to show in the main app demo could be placed in the main settings hub within iOS.
This is an example of accounts settings on the iPad settings system. I will need to set-up an in-app profile/account system so that families with several children working towards their GCSE’s can let them all use it effectively (due to the smart revision suggestions) on the same device.
An example of the kind of simple settings content I will need to include within my app.
Another inutuive swiping menu from the Merck PSE (periodic table) application.
This screenshot shows the menusystem for the app Flipboard. I like how it can be easily swiped on and off the screen whenever the user needs it. Also, the navigation menu (at the top of left of the darkened (main content) area is usefully always shown but is very minimal and doesn’t distract from or steal much space from the main content.
This shot show the main open-app selection system on the iPad iOS. The menu is summoned by swiping upwards with 4 or more fingers and can be accessed within any app. The face that a swiping system like this is used as a fundamental part of the operating system shows its potention within my own app.