Interview with David Lanham and Jonah Grant and Their iPhone Development and Design

April 5th, 2010 · 9 notes · #Apple #iPhone #iPad #Xcode #OS #3.0 #3.1 #3.1.2 #3.1.3 #3.2 #4.0 #Classics #Hotlinks #Ramp #Champ #Twitterrific #Pong #App #of #the #Day #Postman #Gowalla #Voices #Mathew #Rex #Jonah #Grant #David #Lanham

A new gold rush has been unleashed thanks to the iPad release, I’d like to go back and interview some people who were involved with the iPhone app gold rush and learn more about their amazing applications and their experiences with designing and developing them. Let’s get started!

David Lanham - http://www.dlanham.com - Artist, Icon Designer, and Illustrator.

What iPhone applications have you worked on? 

I was involved in the development of Twitterrific, Ramp Champ, Pickin’ Time, Frenzic, Classics, Voices, and Puzzllotto. I’ve also done misc graphics for Postman, Air Sharing, and Gowalla.

When you set out to develop/design the iPhone application(s) what did you have in mind for the interface? 

Most of the designs I’ve worked on deal with heavily customized graphics and interfaces so I try to give it an appropriate feel while keeping out of the way of functionality.

What makes a good iPhone UI in your opinion? 

My favorites are always the ones that make using the app fun and enjoyable while accomplishing the task at hand in a very simple manner. The iPhone is a mobile device and a lot of the time you don’t want to spend more than a minute at what you’re setting out to do and the apps that help you with this are the ones people will keep coming back to.

How important is a good UI in an iPhone application to you? 

Pretty visual graphics don’t mean as much as being useful and intuitive, they certainly help, but the underlying interface design is what matters the most.

Classics is a beautiful application! What was it like designing it? How was working with Sebastiaan? What gave you the idea? 

I really had a great time working on Classics, the metaphor for the bookshelf was a pretty obvious route for the app and something everyone can associate with.  I was still really new to iPhone design when I worked on it and I learned a lot about the structure and layout and how simple textures add a lot of character to interfaces.  The book cover illustrations were a lot of fun to work on as well, and working with Sebastiaan is always a great treat. Daniel Goffin worked on covers as well and between the three of us and our styles, we managed to get a great diversity of illustrations for the books.

Anything else you’d like to add?

Something I’ve been becoming more aware of lately is that many times when designing apps, it’s easy to over-think UI interactions or add things in that don’t really need to be there. Every once in a while, it’s good to step back and remember what the basic reason for the app is and then question everything you’ve done so far to make sure it all is necessary to solving that one basic problem.  Don’t be afraid to scrap work you’ve already done in order to make a more usable and beautiful product. Keep things simple, focusing on what people actually need, and learning to ignore things they only think they need.

Jonah Grant - http://www.jonahgrant.com - 14 year-old iPhone developer.

What iPhone applications have you worked on?

I have worked on many iPhone applications.  Some are on the App Store, while some are still in development, and some will never be on the App Store.  As of writing, I have four applications on the App Store.  Pong - iPhone Edition, which is the classic Pong game, brought to the future with in-game chat and Bluetooth multiplayer and its Lite companion  another app is Hot Links, which is basically speed dial for your favorite Social Media accounts.  

An app I built for Jordan Satok is called App of the Day.  With almost 160,000 apps as of now, it’s hard to find good applications.  App of the Day makes it easier to find these interesting apps that you may have not found by just searching through the store.  It is the mobile version of his website, http://appoftheday.com.  The app is not determined by Jordan himself, but by users of the site.  If you have an account, you can nominate one app everyday.

The app that I am working on at the moment with Matthew Downham is Walkie-Talkie 3000.  Walkie-Talkie 3000 is a beautiful Walkie-Talkie app for your iPhone or iPod touch.  It takes use of your microphone (on iPod touch, microphone plugged in) and Bluetooth capabilities.  Walkie-Talkie 3000 takes use a theme feature by making the UI even more beautiful.  With the shipping of the app, it will come with Futuristic, Military, and Steampunk, with more coming with each update.

When you set out to develop/design the iPhone application(s) what did you have in mind for the interface? 

I usually have in mind a clean UI that is easy on the eyes, while also being eye-candy, big time.  
Every app is different, therefore they should have different UI’s depending on what the apps purpose is.  If the app is a Twitter client, unless you are an amazing graphic designer (such as my counterparts in this interview) I’d stick to a UI similar, if not the, default UI.  

What makes a good iPhone UI in your opinion? 

As I said in the previous question, clean, doesn’t pull your eyes to a certain point of the screen it shouldn’t need to, and feels like a desktop application, while still being a mobile app.  

How important is a good UI in an iPhone application to you? 

Extremely important.  I will not download an app that has a bad UI.  Either it doesn’t perform like it should, or look like it should.  And about half of the apps on the App Store fit into one or both of those categories.  For example, I’m going to go to App Shopper and look at the most recent apps and find one that has a terrible UI.
Here: http://appshopper.com/productivity/kbkounter - I have no idea what in hell a KB Counter is, and why this guy named it KBKounter.  But look at that UI. Horrid.  Kyle Van Essen would roll over in his grave if he saw that.  If he was dead, that is. 

Why did you make Hotlinks? What gave you the idea?

Well, the app actually started way back in Feb. 2009 when I first got into iPhone software after playing around with Mac.  I was playing around with URL Schemes (http://, https://, tweetie://, etc) and I made an app with 6 buttons.  Twitter, Facebook, Last.fm, Tumblr, Posterous, and website.  Obviously, when tapped each one took you to my profile on that service.  Flash forward to August.  I was learning about NSUserDefaults (aka, settings) and I opened up the app I built in February, and changed the URL’s from my own, to one set by the user of the application.  After contacting my graphic designer, it was a full-out usable application by the end of the weekend.  Submitted it, and here I am now :) 

Anything else you’d like to add?

FOLLOW ME ON THE TWITTERS @jonahgrant OMNOMNOMNOM I EAT UP YOUR TWEETAR.
I’d like to thank both Jonah and David for taking the time to answer my questions, I’m big fan of both of them and hope you, my readers, are too.