Hello! I would like to present my findings and thought on these set of videos from the Android Design Website at http://developer.android.com/design/index.html. Under this website, we ;get to see a overview of the guidelines which Android developers should follow when they design an app for the Android platform. In this case, a series of videos, particularly this one, speaks of the philosophy behind Android Design and explains some of the key elements that make up the design of an Android app. Here is the video:
This video introduces not only the basic design principles, but it also shows the process that it takes to generate an effective design. To draw an analogy, the basis of functional Design is very similar to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.
This is basically a visualization of the order in which people delegate their efforts into and their relative importance. For example, a starving man cannot seek higher wisdom; he must satisfy his hunger first. Likewise, good, functional Design must fulfill the basic requirement for functionality, not just aesthetics. However, all apps must at least achieve a certain standard, which entails fulfilling the purpose, reasonable aesthetics and caters to the main demands of the audience. However, these core element must be met before an developer can help transform a good app into an excellent one. These are the little things like added functionality, a bug free experience and a better workflow ie. transition. These are the things that developer strive to attain. But how does a developer actually goes along and accomplish this goal?
Well, the guys in the video above has ideas; they strive to collect information first; a good app must be designed around the user experience. So, therefore, an observation of user activity can give strong clues as to how organize the app and its functional workflow. After establishing the actual usage, the first step of an Android app involves the main page, where navigation to sub-levels of the app could be accessed. THis main screen is extremely important and contains two key elements; the Action Bar
This Action Bar allows streamlined navigation to sub levels; they can provide more advanced functionality. This bar can contain things like an overflow menu, search function and other things like a social sharing function. This bar is implemented in almost every Android app because it offers such a versatile functionality but also a consistent Android experience. Then of course, the next most important aspects of an Android app is the actual content in underneath the Action Bar. A good app has a great splash screen that will allow high levels of practicality and aesthetics. The sub levels will have to be cleverly interlinked with the rest of the app to allow for logical progression which will aid in user productivity. The actual design is often consistent; often times an Android app will only provide, to an extent different colors and orientation, but the assets are the same. The Assets Pack under the Android developer's site allows for Designers to achieve this level of consistency. While it is important to try and distance from the competition, but often times, if a user has difficulty navigating your app, It will sway the users to competing solutions; It is the Google experience and it allows the functional audience to expand, thus widening the market for the developer.
How do I make out of these? A lot. First and foremost, I believe that these videos and tutorials shows that unique Design is important, but sometimes keeping with consistency is also good design, but instead it is called good functional design because users aren't using an app to look at pretty transitions, pictures or text. Also, it introduces me to the idea of collecting data before doing any designing. Design has always been about the artistic creativity for me, but the function is still extremely important. Sometimes, when one indulges in a good design, they lose a sense of practicality and purpose. To set guidelines based on information collecting is a very good habit for designers. Overall, I very much enjoyed watching those videos, because it not introduced me to different design perspectives, but it also made me appreciate the work that goes into designing an app.
